Blast Works: Build, Trade & Destroy

For the next 11 months, nothing could remove its images from my head. The retro controls, oversized enemies and impenetrable bosses came right out of the R-Type playbook. But the developers made it their own shooter. The player’s aircraft is like glue – as damaged enemies fell to their graves, I could sweep in and grab them from any angle. Within the first minute I had enemies attached from all sides. Their weaponry became my own, shooting automatically with every launch of my own ship’s cannon. Like all space shooters, the time eventually comes when you can no longer dodge every enemy attack. But it didn’t matter. My inability to maneuver perfectly would only mean the sacrifice of things I had collected.

In the time between the game’s unveiling and its release, these simple yet ingenious developments were heightened to new levels of space shooter mastery. Blast Works is, to put it mildly, an unrelenting blast.

Keep Your Eyes Open

Space shooters love to kill us. In addition to boss battles that take dozens (if not hundreds) of shots to defeat, they use excessive attack patterns to keep the average gamer – even the most skilled players – from being victorious. It’s like they don’t want anyone to win. Ever.

In a strange way, that’s part of the lure. Blast Works doesn’t shy away from that. Its “rookie” mode is hardly for beginners. Most players should get through the first three levels without breaking any windows. After that, you’d better play in a room with walls that are well padded, and board up any windows or TV screens not currently in use. Be warned: they are in danger.

In most circumstances, only a handful of enemies will attack at one time. This sounds user-friendly, but note that their attacks consist of several different patterns and multiple ammunition types. Bullets aren’t the only thing you’ll have to evade – there are laser circles that float around the screen; small rectangles that hover over the enemy (their size makes them hard to see and are thus hard to avoid); triangle clusters that stay in place for two seconds before jetting toward the player; and a mixture of each that can be unleashed in almost any formation.

But this beast is not without beauty. Though you may feel overwhelmed throughout most of the game, enemies often attack with a small window of evasion. You may not see it right away, and you may not be quick enough to reach it. But in between the clusters of bullets, lasers and everything in between are small spaces that are barely a centimeter larger than your aircraft. It’s just large enough for you to fit through, creating a tense and grueling experience that’s really exciting.

Unlike the E3 demo, which consisted of basic shapes and similar-looking spacecraft, Blast Works is much more diverse in its finished form. There are several different types of aircraft (helicopters, modern and old-fashioned planes, futuristic-looking boss designs, etc.), spaceships, boats, warships, balloons, floating space balls, and countless others. The enemy controls most of them, but you’ll be given a different aircraft or spacecraft of your own to control with each campaign.

As you defeat the enemy, acquire their ships and expand your attack capabilities, the controls don’t change. Your ship’s movement won’t either. But you will still notice some visual adjustments. The longer you extend your aircraft’s reach (with several helicopters attached to the front, for example), the more front-heavy it becomes. Your aircraft continues to move at normal speed but may feel slower because the attached aircrafts aren’t moving as quickly. This might sound awful, but it’s actually better than if weight and gravity effects hadn’t been considered at all.

What’s really cool is that, once you realize the true benefits of these apparent disadvantages, new attack and defense mechanisms become available. One cool strategy is to grab as many enemies/objects as possible, filling 1/3 (or more) of the screen. Then keep your ship to the far right side of the screen and fly up and down, performing a hammer-like maneuver. In most levels, an enemy or two will break through and destroy your plan of total annihilation. But if you’re quick (and very lucky), you could get through the entire stage without dying. That’s what I call a “Blast Works Miracle.”

Back to Work

Knowing how much players love to break windows together – I mean play shooters with friends – Blast Works offers two local multiplayer options: two-player co-op (campaign mode) and a four-player score-based competition (arcade mode, which is basically the same as campaign but with a limited number of continues).

As if that weren’t enough, there’s also the aspect of building and trading, just as the title promised. Using the extensive shape, bullet, ship, enemy and level editors, players can create and share (via WiiConnect24) everything in the game. Start from scratch or edit existing content. There are dozens of options to choose from, with both 2D and 3D views available, Photoshop-style selection tools and tons of pre-made shapes. It’s amazingly deep, greatly increasing the replay value of a game that already begs to be played through multiple times. There are also a few bonus games to unlock, but only if you’re good enough to beat the campaign mode first.

If there’s anything Blast Works doesn’t get right, it’s… You know, there isn’t much of anything it didn’t get right. I could fault it for being short, but all space shooters are short. I could fault it for being challenging (and frustrating on some of the harder difficulty settings), but all space shooters are like that. Even so, Blast Works isn’t cheap. It won’t kick you while you’re down. That doesn’t mean you won’t scream a few obscenities while playing – fans of The 40-Year-Old Virgin might feel the need to shout, “Kelly Clarkson!” a few times. But that comes with the territory, and this is territory that shouldn’t go unexplored.