Blast Corps

 N64, Blast Corps (1997) game

This game had me fooled. Just when you think you've achieved everything in the game it comes up with yet another challenge to complete - you win golds on all the levels and you've got to win a second gold by destroying all buildings, saving all survivors and activating all the little RDU beacons. Then you have to find the scientists which can send it to the correct detonation location. Do all that on every level and you get a mission on the Moon. Do all that and you get a mission on Mercury. Then Venus. Then Neptune! But that wasn't the fooling part, I took all that as a matter of course since the game didn't take much more than a week to complete. I was thinking it wasn't that big a game. I was thinking N64 Magazine back in the day, when they claimed it was so tough, just weren't that good, because though a few levels were somewhat taxing and some of the puzzles needed to be worked out on other missions to get everything, I was generally surprised I was able to complete everything, and without too much grief. But I was wrong: once you do everything in the game and you think that's going to be it, suddenly the game comes back at you with 'now try for platinum medals.' And those medals are TOUGH. No, they're Super-Tough. Thought you'd done well getting the golds, now try and lop off another thirty seconds or more. You basically have to make a perfect run... As I was all geared up to move onto my next game I was a little frustrated to find the entirety needed to be completed again for it to be fully finished, and the tightness of the time limit seemed almost impossible at first... With perseverance you get that rush of satisfaction, and being awarded that dustbin lid platinum medal after an hour or more of trying is very rewarding.

The chance to play it all again would be meaningless if the game wasn't fun to play, but right away I experienced an immediacy that meant playing the levels and getting to grips with the various vehicles you must master was very easy, in marked contrast to many a game where I often find it's a bit of a chore at first to get through training missions or become used to the game's ways. Here you can jump into a mission that might take no more than a couple of minutes, but at the same time the game has enough of these bitesized levels to last. As I said, not that it lasted all that long at the standard difficulty, and I did feel the extraneous tasks after achieving the main objective of seeing the nuclear carrier safely through were a bit of game-lengthening filler. I also didn't fully appreciate the game's setup where you really only needed to clear the path first time round and do nothing else since you can come back later when there's no time limit, so I was carefully hoovering up RDUs and smashing as many buildings as I could along the way thinking it was helping. The actual gameplay is also quite as gratifying as the short time limit, making it eminently accessible. I'd played the game back in the day, but only briefly, a mate having lent it to me, but without it being mine and having certain levels already finished (you need a Memory Pak for more than one player's game file, always a negative to me), I wasn't drawn in and subsequently never owned a copy having never got into the game in the first place.

Over the years as I came to understand the significance of Rare's output I did retain an impression that maybe one day I should give it another go, but I still lumped it in with their first N64 title, 'Killer Instinct Gold,' a 2D fighter I had zero interest in ever playing, mainly because I tend to find fighting games too repetitive and boring, but also I had the impression their pre-'Goldeneye' releases were training steps as they got a grasp of the hardware. I've also never been much of a player of puzzle games, in which I lumped 'Blast Corps,' though somewhat unfairly. There are puzzle aspects to it, but it's much more about the mastery of individual manoeuvring skills required to succeed. Some of the bonus levels are much simpler, limited to racing around a short track, or destroying various buildings, and they on their own would have made a very small package of a game, but they serve to bring a change of, if not pace, then gameplay as the main missions are very specifically about the path that carrier is on and finding the right tool for the job. In some respects it reminded me of 'Body Harvest' for its multiple vehicles and ability to run around outside of them. Both games came fairly early in the N64's lifecycle, both had relatively basic graphics, too, in consequence, though the later 'BH' had more freedom and massive levels which made it a completely different experience overall. Even so, the simplicity of 'BC' was appealing.

Though I said it was a very accessible game to get into it did have its idiosyncrasies that may speak to its time of release so early in the console's life and before Rare had come to understand 3D camerawork as well as they would on their other games - I found it quite disconcerting that the camera was so stiff, it's like they prefer you to never change its position, rather like an old isometric game such as 'Micro Machines' or Rare's own 'RC Pro Am.' Being used to flowing camera movement easily centred behind your vehicle or character this took some getting used to. The unappealing noise when you do rotate it (which I assume came from 'Super Mario 64' and its pioneering style of camera), was a little off-putting at first and only emphasised the desire the game seemed to have that you should be happy where the camera was and stick with it unless absolutely necessary. But I came to view it as part of the challenge, especially as in the occasional level, such as the odd racing bonus, you can't actually change the view at all which makes it a different challenge to most missions. So rather than being a flaw with the game I certainly came to accept it as just another part of the experience. There are other niggles, as is the logic of most games, while you can take out entire skyscrapers a small tree will defy you as an immovable object when you can take down entire skyscrapers, or a touch of water ends your attempt, but you just accept and move on.

Since discovering how to get the best possible N64 picture when I played 'Ocarina of Time' at the end of last year, I'd wanted to get into more of the console's titles so this was the ideal one to go for: a game I'd barely ever played from one of the best software houses on the system (you could even make an argument they were the best), and one that benefitted from having graphics as sharp as possible since they were a little fuzzy and the gameplay is so precise. But I found the visuals attractive in spite of themselves and it was a joy to have an almost entirely new experience on the console since I've mainly been reliving old classics I'd played thoroughly in the past - it even encouraged me to get some more little or entirely unplayed games so I could keep the N64 magic going longer. It remains my favourite games machine of all time, since none of my favourite gaming moments on that are ever likely to be surpassed, so to find another good game to complement all those others was something to savour. Other than that there isn't a lot to write about, being so simple and straightforward a concept and execution, but I suppose I should comment on some of the standout vehicles and levels that will remain in the mind: the bulldozer was probably most fun for simply bashing through the landscape. Backlash, the pickup truck, was one of most difficult to get to grips with as you had to spin it round at the right angle and speed to tear through the scenery, and thanks to the camera, Ballista, a missile-firing trike was also quite tricky to aim.

The main reason the game had a 'Body Harvest' tone was the fact you could use any vehicle that you could reach, which includes trains, cranes and automobiles (little police cars and others, including a hidden black van that can be hunted out with observation). Maybe the most fun was J-Bomb, the flying mech suit that enables you to soar into the sky and come stomping down in a cloud of destruction. Though again, the camera comes into irritation mode for not allowing you to see far and wide. I imagine it was because the levels were fairly compact so if you did have full control over it you'd easily be able to see the limits of the game world. This could be especially frustrating on larger levels, such as the final main one, 'Oyster Harbour,' where you can't quite see far enough ahead or barely spot that there are islands you need to get to, to solve the puzzle of making the carrier's path straight. If story logic really mattered that much I'd have complained that it should surely be as simple as shooting out the carrier's tyres, but then I realised it's also leaking and so needs to reach a safe detonation site, so that's fair enough. Other levels that will stick in the mind are the supremely tricky 'Diamond Sands,' where the carrier is going along train tracks lined either side by buildings and you can't cross the tracks except at subway points meaning you have to go back and forth to clear each side, a painful task, especially as you only have Backlash and its difficult to judge mode of destruction. Another memorably tough one is 'Outland Farm' which for some reason sticks in the memory as you have to take out various farm buildings, and in much the same way, 'Glory Crossing' where you have so little time to get started before the carrier is in imminent collision danger.

The off-world missions throw a whole new state of being in your way with your vehicle being almost weightless and bouncing around like a beach ball, but the altered physics are great fun after all those gravity-based missions on Earth. Some levels I almost despaired of ever gaining platinum in because they were so unforgiving, this is truly one of the toughest games on the system, but with regular attempts, occasionally leaving a level to come back to later, bolstered by the many to choose from, I slowly and surely whittled them down until there were only a handful left: 'Oyster Harbour' (you have to think on this one how to knock so much time off your original, but it becomes fairly obvious when you realise there's only one place with any wiggle room, though it makes it no less of a relief!), 'Magma Peak,' 'Diamond Sands,' and, with some surprise perhaps, the Pac-Man-like 'Baboon Catacomb,' simply because you have to take the exact correct route and time it perfectly to be able to activate all the RDUs, avoid the coloured digger 'ghosts,' all four moving at different speeds, to be able to clear the arena within the unforgiving time limit. That's the one I spent the most time on, as simple as it appeared to be. And 'Corvine Bluff' must be mentioned as the toughest racing level, working out how to bump up that hill...

I was almost shell-shocked once I'd got all the Earth-based platinum medals, then all the extraterrestrial medals as well, with the final one on Neptune giving me the ultimate title of 'You Can Stop Now.' Funny (and reminded me of the end of the original 'Monkey Island': 'Turn off your computer and go to sleep'), but also an utter relief. I half expected them to come back and say now you have to play the whole game in reverse mode, Aaaaagh! Like old (really old), games of the 80s and early 90s, it was very hard with little to no reward. I suppose you can say that unlocking extra levels and then being able to play the whole game again on a tougher difficulty were reward enough, but I was disappointed there were no closing credits or fireworks or anything to mark the gaining of the final platinum. The work brought its own rewards, granted, but also there was the untidiness of 'only' 57 of the gold medals being turned into platinum so you have 21 'loose' golds on your tally and I never worked out what the 30 stars were, either, so it didn't gratify my sensibilities. A small criticism for a game that pushed me to the limit and one that I will remember fondly, and recommend. I can't give it that extra star that would make it a classic, because despite it's immediacy (the word I'd use to sum it up), or perhaps because of it, I can't say I enjoyed it more once I'd completed the main game - often a game will open up like a flower once you've bested its basics, giving you new challenges, options and collectables, but this had that from the start. Instead it became a rock hard test of ability, and for that I respect it, but at the same time it is a sneaking relief to be able to put it aside fully complete at last!

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