BLAST CORPS

How it was?

Rare has delivered to Nintendo 64 owners everywhere what may be the sleeper hit of the year in Blast Corps. Pretty pictures and some decent audio tracks abound, this title is more than meets the eye. Anyone who still thinks this is just a simple game of destruction needs to be examined!

For starters, the graphics are a visual tour de force. The game is almost entirely made up of polygon structures and vehicles that are all very solid. Clipping, pixelation, pop-up and other "glitches" are nowhere in sight. There's also very, very little slowdown and when it does show up it's just barely noticeable. Explosions, something you'll see plenty of during you're time with this gem, are fairly varied, ranging from thick clouds of dust to huge, bright yellow, orange and red fireballs with flying sparks and rubble. It's a treat just watching the debris and sparks go bouncing around, not to mention the shiny, reflective surface on the Thunderfist robot and Backlash. Sweet! There is a fair amount of "blurred" textures here, though, most evident when looking down at the ground, but the overall look of the game is very polished and delightfully colorful in the fifty or so various stages you're given.



Sounds and music are also well done. Breaking glass, thundering crashes and even vehicle specific horns sound great, with the exception of the guy's voice in the van who shouts "Get outta my way!" who sounds a bit on the muffled side. The music tracks are quite varied and most of the time the music is quite fitting with the theme of the stage you're playing. They range from the relaxing, slow-going tunes to the more upbeat, fast-paced beats that get you revved up for the challenge at hand and they all sound very good. Rare certainly seems to know how to use the N64 hardware to produce some quality sound.

So, what's there to do aside from stare at impressive visuals and listen to the wacky music? A lot more than most originally thought, apparently! It's true, you basically have to smash buildings using a wide array of vehicles in order to clear the path for the runaway missile carrier, but there is a great deal of exploring and puzzle solving to do here if you wish to ever complete Blast Corps. There are Radiation Dispersal Units (RDUs) to collect, Satellites to uncover, 6 cleverly hidden scientists to find and more than enough time trials to beat! Still sound easy? Well, it's not. Blast Corps is one of the most challenging games around and will drive you utterly insane trying to figure out ways to better your lap times or complete that last stage in the allotted time. It should keep even the most esperienced gamers playing for quite some time and if you aren't a hardcore gamer already, Blast Corps will definately make you one after all is said and done.

The controls are easy to get used to and some vehicles give you the choice of using either the analog stick or digital pad, but mastering some of the vehicles may take a little time, especially the Backlash (dump truck). Don't worry, though, there are some bonus stages set up to help you practice each vehicle so you won't be thrown in front of the missile carrier totally unprepared. The vehicles include a dump truck, bulldozer, ballista, dune buggy and a few robots, among other vehicles you get to control such as a police car, train, barge and even a crane. Each one is unique and plays like no other so it'll be a while before you've mastered all of them, which you will be forced to do eventually. Stages like Angel City and Oyster Harbor are very demanding and leave you very little room for error. The majority of the stages aren't too long, but the further into the game you get, the harder they become and you'll quickly find yourself playing a stage over and over again until your eyes bug out, trying to figure out exactly how to pass it. It can be quite frustrating at times, but at the same time Blast Corps seems to have an extremely addictive quality about it.

All in all, Blast Corps is great fun and a very refreshing change of pace. It's a long, quite varied and very challenging. It also progresses quite nicely towards the end of the game and is full of neat bonus games. Another excellent title to add to N64's library!

SCORE: 9.2

BLAST CORPS

Rated 4.6/5 based on 34 reviews