Archival Review: Blast Corps

Archival Review: Blast Corps
Nintendo 64

Some games pretend to be more than they are. This game is not one of them. The story is like that of a B-movie: A nuclear missile carrier, en route to a safe disposal site, begins to leak dangerous radiation and is locked in a straight course. If it hits a building, it would cause a nuclear explosion. The solution? Destroy every building in its path to ground zero!

To accomplish your destructive desires, you get a variety of vehicles to rend the landscapes clean:

• Ramdozer--A bulldozer that destroys what is runs into. Simple at first, but later levels require pushing blocks of TNT to destroy stronger buildings or block to fill holes in the path.
• Backlash--A dump truck that destroys buildings by sliding its rear end at it. Much practice is needed for later levels.
• Ballista--A motorcycle that fires missiles. However, you need to grab black ammo boxes first.
• Sideswipe--A vehicle that launches its side panels that can destroy buildings on both sides. Collect blue ammo boxes to recharge its batteries.
• Skyfall--A dune buggy that uses timed turbo boosts to launch itself off cliffs and up ramps against buildings from above.
• J-Bomb--A large mecha that flies into the air and stomps even large skyscrapers from above.
• Thunderfist/Cyclone--These mechs somersault or roll into buildings to destroy them. Thunderfist can destroy stronger buildings.
• Cars--There are four hidden vehicles for use in racing-type stages. Rather than being used to destroy, they are used to zip quickly across the landscape.

Of course, the story is an excuse to destroy, and the game knows it. This is why there are a bunch of bonus levels where you race against the clock, which run from running laps to levels taking place in Pac-Man style stages, with one taking place on a pool table. And let's not forget some levels that are literally out of this world...

Graphically, Blast Corps shows its age, as expected from earlier N64 games. Soundwise, the music consists of a rockin' techno soundtrack and realistic sounds. Voices, however, are passable. The game was released before the Rumble Pak, so there's no support for it. The biggest downside would be the somewhat bad physics, namely when you land from a jump. It's not always a noticeable flaw, but it's irritating when it rears it's head.

All in all, it's a good game for action fans that don't care if a game has illusions of grandeur, whether it considers itself "epic" or not.