Blaster Master

"An immersive experience, overlooked by many, loved by the few who have played it...and the stroyline is NOT about a frog."

Blaster Master was made by a company called Sunsoft in 1988.It got rave reviews by most people who played it, but for some reason, it was overlooked.This has been my favorite game for a long time, since I was 5 actually,and it deserves more credit than it gets.
Here we go, the score rundown.Yippee.(All scores are based on games made in the same year, and on games released before)
Gameplay:10/10
This game was just dang fun.It had an interesting blend of side scrolling shoot em up, with an extremely explorative feel to them, and top down areas, with a lot of up close and personal frag-em-till-ya-puke fun.The levels allowed you to backtrack at anytime, and indeed, you had to to get to new levels much of the time, and they were always do-able, provided you were careful and brought the right weapons.And among these weapons were your heat seeking missiles, three way missiles, and a downward lightning spread, each useful in certain situations.In the side view levels you drove around in a tanklike vehicle, blasting the enemies and finding doors to go in.You could also venture out of the vehicle for some man to mutant combat, but that had a lot of danger to it.You could also enter doors, and thats where you went to the top down section.In these sections you had to navigate your character through a top down building, full of narrow corridors, traps, and enemies, collecting power ups and looking for the boss.Enemies were always placed to provide a challenge, but still be passable, and granted, there were areas that were just plain cheesy in that it was almost impossible to not get hit.Each boss had it's own pattern, and there was always a strategy you could learn to beat it and take little damage.And you couldnt afford to take damage, as if you got hurt, your gun would lose it's power.Overall, the gameplay was very well balanced, and though there were some very difficult spots, and a bit of cheese here and there, this game never failed in this category.
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Story:10/10
This games plot has a bit of a misconception following it.Most people think it is about a guy going through a mutant filled wasteland to rescue a frog.This is not so.
The story was about a young man named Jason Frudnick.He had a pet frog named Fred, and a friend named Alex Bufoni.Alex dissapeared one day, and was not seen for a while.As people started looking for him, the earth began to undergo a series of natural disasters.Earthquakes,volcanoes,and the like.One day, Jason was feeding Fred, and he escaped.Jason gave chase, and Fred went off into the woods, hopping onto a giant radioactive chest.Jason saw him grow to a monstrous size, and fall through a hole that opened in the earth, along with the box.He foolishly and rashly jumped down the hole, and began to slide deep into the earth, not knowing where he would land.When he landed finally, a red haired woman approached him and told him her name was Eve, and that she had come from a planet far away.She told him that her planet had been destroyed by a group of aliens called ''Lightning Biengs'' and their leader was a beast called the Plutonium Boss.She had escaped to Earth, following the aliens in a combat tank named SOPHIA the 3rd NORA MA 01, but could not defeat the aliens herself.She also told him that the Plutonium Boss was now in the center of the earth, slowly destroying it from within, and if he was not stopped, Earth would collapse in on itself, like her planet once did.He now knew this was about more than his frog, it was about saving his entire planet, and avenging the deaths of millions of others.He donned a suit of armor found in SOPHIA, and together him and Eve trekked through the interior of the earth, mutated to suit the habitars of the alien invaders, and fought thier way closer to the center.Along the way, they found Alex, who had been expiremented on and toyed with, and then tossed aside to die like an animal.Together, the three found and killed the Plutonium Boss and destroyed his legions, saving the world.
This is the games true story, most of it based on a novel called Worlds of Power wrote about this game.It is not the story most think of, and it shows that it is deeper than most would think.
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Graphics: 10/10
The Graphics in this game were some of the best on the NES at the time, and were hard to beat in the years following.The backgrounds, while somewhat dark at times, were always crisp and detailed, and suited the levels they were designed for.And the level design itself was very good as well.You could tell what the level was supposed to be...a forest, a castle, an underground factory, a sewer system, a large body of water, an icy wasteland, the eearth's core, and the hive of the aliens, which looked like living tissue.The enemy designs were very good, but lacked color, as all the normal enemies were colored either grey or red.But the enemies varied greatly, and had wonderful design to them.Big and wierd looking as youd expect an alien to be.The sprite of SOPHIA is designed very well, complete with the moving gun turret, moving wheels, and it even bounces when landing from a jump.The Dive and Hover capabilities really look good, and the tank is very well designed.Jason's sprite when in the side view is a bit wierd, as the head is really too big and it looks like a bunch of squares all put together, but you can tell tis him...but once you get inside the buildings, you can clearly see the detail of his combat suit and his gun, and enemy designs get big, detailed, and very very good.The bosses in this game are great.Huge and screen filling, and all looking huge and scary.This game has VERY little slowdown, even when the screen is filled with enemies and shots, and things are moving.The only time I ever encountered slowdown is during the boss for Level 5, and at no other time did any slowdown occur.Overall, the graphics were great, and hardly rivaled before or after.
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Sound: 10/10
I'd give it a 165 if I could.Seriously, the music and sound in this bad boy were incredible.All the music was clear, catchy, and you could listen to it all day and not tire of it.The tunes for levels 3 and 5 are especially good.I've played this game just for the music before, and I can honestly say it is one of the best soundtracks to any game I've heard.Only soundtracks that I could say rivals it on this system is the track to Kirby's Adventure and The Guardian Legend.
The sound effects were pretty good too...laser sounding gunfire, jump sound effects, explosions, and hit sounds, are all well done and not misplaced.
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Controls: 8/10
The control stood out.Everything responded very well, it was very hard to lose control of SOPHIA, and Jason moved very very well when inside the buildings.The only qualms I have is that SOPHIA was kind of slow to stop, and to Hover you had to press jump twice.That was kinda tedious because you could hover without trying to.Jason also had his shortcomings in that it was very easy to send him walking off into an enemy or a bed of spikes without even trying.And when in the side view areas, Jason was a wee bit hard to control.If you sent him off a ledge that was too high(most ledges were(, youd die instantly.Also if you fell into a pit full of lava, it was impossible to save yourself.Overall, the play control was very good, with only a few shakes here and there.
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Fun Factor/Replay/Multiperson Enjoyment 9/8/6
This game was very fun.It provided a good playthrough every single time, and never really got boring, beause it was always so fun.It didnt provide you anything new for replaying it after you beat it, but it provided a satisfying playthrough each time.Maybe not for tohers a smuch as me, but it was good.I've never really seen anyone sit and watch me or anybody else paly this for long though.Dont choose this if you want to hold a large crowd, except if its me and the BMUG crew.
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Overall: 10/10
This game was extremely good, and extremely innovative for it's time.I recommend it to anybody who wants a satisfying action/adventure game, and wants to experience a true NES classic.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/10/02, Updated 02/10/02