Blast Corps: Information from Answers.com

Release Date: March 24, 1997
Genre: Puzzle
Style: Action Puzzle
Similar Games: Body Harvest (Nintendo 64), Space Station: Silicon Valley (Nintendo 64), Charlie Blasts Territory (Nintendo 64)

Game Description

Four members of the elite Blast Corps face their most perilous operation yet: two nuclear missiles have started to leak while en route to a safe detonation site. The carrier supporting them has suffered heavy damage, and in order to reach its destination as quickly as possible, it has been programmed to follow the most direct path through populated areas. Your goal is to use every vehicle at your disposal to clear a path for the carrier so it makes it through unscathed. The slightest impact will have catastrophic results, so you need to work fast by demolishing buildings and removing any potential obstacles. You must also be on the lookout for six hidden scientists who can disarm the weapons.

Fifteen vehicles are at your disposal, some of which are needed simply to reach others on a particular stage. The "Ramdozer" is designed similarly to a bulldozer, and the "Backlash" is modeled after a dump truck. The "Skyfall" resembles a dune buggy, while the "Thunderfist" is a large robot with an enormous hand for bashing. The "Cyclone Suit" is used to tumble into structures, the "J-Bomb" is a flying robot that stomps on buildings, and the "Ballista" is a futuristic cycle with twin missile launchers. There's also the "Sideswipe," a truck with two powerful panels on either side to crush objects. More traditional offerings include a van, police car, train, and boat.

Players will be able to unlock 57 levels from a 3D map of the world. In addition to completing the main carrier missions, there are also four medals (platinum, gold, silver, and bronze) to earn by finding communication points, destroying all buildings, rescuing survivors, locating RDUs, and finishing levels within certain time limits. At the end of each stage, players will receive score breakdown and ranking. They can then start a new level or revisit a cleared stage to improve their performance. While accumulated medals are saved directly to cartridge, a Controller Pak with at least 14 free pages is needed to store additional statistics or save files. Blast Corps is developer Rare's second release on Nintendo 64, after Killer Instinct: Gold.

~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Roots & Influences

Blast Corps was first announced at 1995's Shoshinkai trade show in Japan along with eleven other games for the system. Blast Corps would end up being Rare's second title released on the Nintendo 64, with the Killer Instinct Gold being first, published in November 1996. Originally entitled Bull 64, the game is known as BlastDozer in Japan.

~ Glenn Wigmore, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Back in the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Rare developed over fifty games that spanned creative, original efforts to licensed endeavors. Many remember Battletoads, Wizards & Warriors, Solar Jetman, R.C. Pro-Am, Marble Madness, and Cobra Triangle -- all developed by Rare, but published by various companies. In the 16-bit Super NES days, Rare became accustomed to making countless Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct titles for Nintendo. With Blast Corps, Rare's second N64 game, the company was given a chance to hark back to its 8-bit days and make an original, addictive game.

Blast Corps can best be classified as an action/puzzle game with action taking place in a 3/4 overhead view and the camera rotating 360 degrees, zooming in and out several levels. All levels in the game (except the bonus levels) require clearing a path for the runaway missile carrier. Some levels also require puzzle solving along the way to make Blast Corps so original, addicting, and challenging.

You are a member of Blast Corps, the leader in the field of heavy-duty demolition , and a pair of defective nuclear missiles, en route to a safe detonation site, has begun to leak. Badly damaged, the carrier automatically locks onto the most direct route. The flood of radiation prevents anyone from getting close to the runaway carrier, and people fear that the slightest jolt could trigger a catastrophic explosion. It's up to you to clear the way, gather a team of six scientists, and counter the threat of nuclear winter.

There are twelve to fifteen vehicles (depending on how you classify them) at your disposal. Some do damage. The Ramdozer pushes items and destroys small buildings. The Backlash can do some major damage if its back-end slides into a building. The Skyfall can do major damage if it jumps down from above. The Thunderfist, a large, one-handed robot, somersaults into buildings. The Cyclone Suit, a small robot, tumbles into buildings. The J-Bomb, a third robot, rockets above buildings and stomps them. The Ballista is a two-wheeled cycle that shoots missiles. Finally, the Sideswipe is a weird hybrid vehicle that punches buildings from its left and right sides. Other vehicles are useful for other tasks. There are the racecars (the van seems inspired by The A-Team), police car, train, boat, and platform crane. Use the racecars, van, and police car to move from one location to another very quickly. The train is useful for transporting vehicles to previously unreachable, far away locations. You may need the boat so the runaway carrier can cross a river. And use the platform crane to lift something from one side to another.

Each of the vehicles in Blast Corps has slightly different control, but all vehicles essentially control the same. On the vehicles with wheels, the A button moves forward, the B button moves backwards, the C group controls the camera, and the Z button stops and exits the vehicle. You can use either the Control Pad or the Control Stick to move on most. Use the shoulder buttons (L & R) to sound the horn, slide, turbo, shoot missiles, or activate side punches, depending on the vehicle.

The robots have slightly different control schemes. With the Thunderfist, press the A or B button to do a somersault. With the Cyclone Suit, press the A or B button to tumble. With the J-Bomb, press the A button to activate jets and the B button to stomp. To different people, the control in Blast Corps. will mean different things. Some vehicles are easy to control (Ramdozer), whereas others are downright difficult (Backlash). Most vehicles have more than adequate control, but can be a little imprecise at times. The major problem is that many people will experience a lot of frustration trying to control the Backlash, one of the major vehicles in the game. After all, the gameplay is supposed to make the game challenging, not the control, right? However, some people may see mastering the vehicles as an added challenge.

However Blast Corps really shines in gameplay. The actual game exhibits many qualities that can be likened back to the 8-bit days: clever level designs, multiple vehicles to master, several tasks to accomplish, lots of little secrets, and many other subtle touches that keep the game fun, fresh, and original. Every main level in Blast Corps. contains two tasks: to always make sure the runaway carrier makes it safely to the end of the level, and to destroy all buildings, free all survivors, and find all items.

In a very, very smart move, almost every detail in each level is saved. Clear a path for the missile carrier then go back to that same level to explore it without having to worry about the carrier. That's right -- the game keeps track of which buildings you knocked down and which ones you didn't. It also keeps track of the various items, survivors, etc., which you may or may not have found. To ensure all these details are saved, it's highly recommended you save your game on a Controller Pak rather than the Game Pak.

All of the main levels contain buildings, survivors, and RDUs (Radiation Dispersal Units) that you can find and/or knock down. Every time you complete or exit (through the 18-wheeler) a level, the game will bring up an information screen that displays the percentage of what you have found or knocked down. Some levels also contain Communication Points that open up bonus levels. Even more lucrative are the six scientists hidden in the game. You must find all six to dispose of the nuclear missiles.

Doing damage and finding items will give you commendations in gold, silver, and bronze. Gold is worth three rank points, silver two, and bronze one. Depending on how many rank points you have, you are assigned a title such as "Rookie Wrecker" or "Expert Destroyer," and receive a promotion for every twelve rank points. Earn one gold commendation per level for clearing a path for the carrier. A second commendation is awarded based on how much you found or destroyed. Your second commendation will be gold if you rescued all survivors, found all RDUs, and destroyed all buildings. Commendations are also awarded on the bonus levels, given out based on how much time it took to complete the bonus level. Furthermore, if you get gold on all the levels, other levels will become available, revealing the platinum commendation. Getting all platinum commendations is the only way to truly complete the game.

The graphics in Blast Corps are well done. Although it can be difficult to tell at times, everything in the game is made of polygons. This is a compliment. The polygons are so realistically modeled that one might think they are sprites. The explosions in the game are very cool, with multiple colors and patterns. The game moves along at a very quick pace with no pop-up, clipping or slowdown. The vehicles with tires leave real-time skid marks. Some might wish there was more detail and animation, but the amazing amount of variety helps make up for it.

One of the biggest concerns of Blast Corps was how the view would be implemented. As mentioned, you can rotate the camera 360 degrees and zoom in and out. The bad news is that there are only several levels of zoom. Most will pick the farthest out zoom that is not the "missile cam," making me wish it were even farther away still. On the plus side, some later levels have intelligently pre-programmed camera angles that automatically zoom in and out.

Like usual, Rare has done another fine job with the sound in Blast Corps. The sound effects of the buildings blowing up are decent, some of the vehicles have horns, and the music is pretty nice, too. There's some techno, hard rock, etc. -- the typical Rare mix. Somewhat surprising is the amount of voices in the game. The other members of the Blast Corps talk to you, and there is even a recycled "Warning" sample from the Killer Instinct series. The characters say such phrases as "I hope this works," "You're just trying to impress me," "You running away or something?" and more. A nice touch!

With not many surprises in the videogame world, Blast Corps is a pleasant surprise. The solid graphics take you back to your days playing in the sand, the rich and varied sound gets you grooving, the different vehicles beg to be mastered, the cunning level designs test your every skill, and all the items that can be found and destroyed make Blast Corps a thoroughly enjoyable gameplay experience. If it seems you don't get your money's worth in videogames anymore, Blast Corps is truly an exceptional value. The game even may make you think back to the NES days, when gameplay made the game. And gameplay makes this one!