Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy

"A White-Knuckle action fix that may have more depth than the Mariana Trench"

Blast Works is a special kind of game. When I first saw it I had never so much as heard of the game, yet was oddly drawn to it. Despite the games subtitle seeming like something fit for a Pokemon clone, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game was a side scrolling shoot'em up! As a fan of these types of games I was in love at first sight, but when I looked over the box again I found another shocker, a built in Level, Ship, Enemy and Bullet Editor! This certainly grabbed my attention, although at the back of my mind I had already expected it to be no more than a simple Kingdom Hearts-esqe gummy clone. To make a long story short, I was dead wrong.


GAMEPLAY
Let me cover the Shooter portion of the game first. Blast works is based off of a game known as Tumiki Fighters. (This translates roughly to Building Block Fighters) The game has no traditional power ups, but incorporates a system you may find similar to Katamari Damacy. As you blast your foes out of the sky they will to fall to the earth, if your ship collides with this debris it will latch onto your ship, giving you additional armor and access any weaponry that the foe may have had. While you may think that you'll be able to simply add every enemy in sight to your ship and be able to blaze through the game, you're off by a mile. A surprising amount of strategy will come into play as you add foes to your vessel; if a gun attaches backwards to your ship, then it'll fire backwards. If it lands vertically, it'll fire either up or down, and armor will only protect what it covers. Without proper planning your ship will soon end up top heavy, with minimal protection to its underbelly and bow. This in itself adds a huge layer of depth to the game in the form of creating your own personal style. Will you spread out your guns and armor in all directions to play it safe, or will you add it all frontward to become a massive wall of fire power? The choice is yours to make. While the game play might become stale to after extended solo play, a quick round of four player action should be enough to pull you out of a slump. It starts to feel like a real party game when you and your buddies start trying to one-up each other for the 1st place spot. In a nutshell, lovers of shooters will enjoy the great arcade action, while the casual fan will enjoy its multiplayer options.

Score: 9/10, One point taken away due to the fact that solo-play can become old for some, yet is still solid enough to score a 9.

THE EDITOR
Here is where the meat of the game is. The main game offers 5 campaigns with 3 missions each, which depending on your skill may take either days or months to clear. Once your done with that however you may want some more, luckily Blast Works delivers more than you could have ever hoped for. As stated earlier the game features an editor that allows you to create your own content, ranging from player ships to foes to levels. The editor is amazingly robust, allowing you to create anything you could possibly wish for using nothing more than simple blocks. I'll spare you a long winded explanation since the creators of the game have posted many great tutorial videos online; just know that it is amazing. Every level of the game was made in this creator, meaning that YOU CAN MAKE THE ENTIRE GAME BY YOURSELF. Even if you aren't quite skilled enough to do this, it's a great feeling to have. On the downside, the editor's learning curve is a bit steep at first, but after you spend some hands on time with it you'll soon be crafting Bullets and levels in no time.

Score: 10/10, A point would have been taken away do to the learning curve, but the endless possibilities of creation held within this powerful yet innovative tool and the sheer amount of content you can make allow it to retain a perfect score.

ONILE
So, what do you do with that great new Vic-Viper model you just made in the ship editor? Send it online! That's right; the game offers a free and unlimited bank to store your creations in AND allows you to download content made by others. If you have online access for you Wii, then you have a game that will never truly end.

Score: 10/10, Hey, it works and it's free. What more could you want?

GRAPHICS
Honestly, this is a hard category to cover. The ACTUAL graphics of the game are great; the game keeps track of large masses of on screen action without skipping a frame. What may put some people off however, is the Style of the game. All the objects in game are created with nothing more than shapes. While you may think this would make the game look dated, just take a look at the images of the game in action. You can create some amazing this using these simple shapes, has made evident by the box art itself. The truth is that it's all a matter of opinion. I for one like the style of the game, but maybe you don't.

Score: 9/10, the game pulls off its style perfectly with no cut backs in quality. Take into mind however, that it IS pretty hard not to score well when most of the game is made of simple shapes.

MUSIC
Much like the graphical category, this all comes down to opinion. The games tracks are made up of Electronica, Techno and a good old bass driving rock tune here and there. Some of them are fairly catchy, I find myself humming some of the songs now and again, and if you've ever played any other shooter then you should have an idea of the musical style.

Score: 9/10, I really loved the tracks, but if you hate beep's and boop's then you may be less than impressed by the selection.

REPLAY VALUE
...The game has a LEVEL EDITOR, a SHIP EDITOR, an ENEMY EDITOR and a BULLET EDITOR. Do even want or need more than that? You do? Well good because Blast Works include four games by the creator of TUKIMI FIGHTERS, Including rRootage, Gunroar, Torus Trooper and TUKIMI in all their glory. The games are unlocked via clearing missions on various difficulties, giving you more incentive to enjoy the new campaign.

Score: 10/10, Do I really even need to explain why?

So, with a total score of 57/60 do I advise you to get this game? Let me give it to you straight, if you hate Shooters, have no interest in creating ships and the like, then avoid the game. If you're a fan of this style of game such as me, then you probably already own this game. If you're someone who's looking for something new to enjoy then by all means give this game a shot. Blast Works is like a new Lego kit, flipped upside down and spilled onto the floor. Anything is possible; it's just up to you to make it a reality. A Game like this is why we own Wii's in the first place.

My final score for Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is a solid 9/10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/08

Game Release: Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy (US, 06/11/08)