Lookin’ Back #14 – Blast Corps

Something a little bit closer to the present day this week.

Last week, I went all the way back to the start of my gaming time.  This week, I thought I’d take you to 1997 and what I feel was an underrated gem in the Rare back catalogue, Blast Corps for the Nintendo 64.

In Blast Corps, a pair of defective nuclear missiles are being taken to a controlled detonation area, but en route the missiles begin to leak and the missiles are set to a direct cause to the detonation area.  Unfortunatly, many build up areas lie in the way and it’s your job to clear a path for the missiles to get through.

So, you played through the game destroying all buildings in the path.  There were a number of different vehicles which you used throughout the game.  You got standard vehicles, such as the Ramdozer which could just run through small buildings, and the Backlash which was a slow dump truck that you could swerve to smash into houses.  As you progressed in the game, you could get other vehicles such as missile firing bikes and robotic suits for your character.  Some levels contained more than one vehicle, and you needed to use all the available vehicles in order to complete the level.

At the end of each level, you were awarded medals depending on your performance.  You got points for each level and earned a promotion with each one, to give you something to aim for.

As well as the main mission levels, there were also occasional time trial levels.  these would involve things such as going around a race track a few times or destroying as many buildings as possible within a set time limit.  These were fun diversions to break up the main missions.

The game itself was fantastic fun.  Who doesn’t enjoy smashing things to pieces, especially in robotic suits and big ol’ dump trucks.  It was a very challenging game as well, requiring you to work extemely darned quick to get things done.

This is a prime example of what Rare does best.  Games that are fun to play and are a little bit different from normal.  The Nintendo 64 is where Rare were really at their peak, and Blast Corps is definatly one of my top N64 games.  If you’ve never played it, you might want to seek this out, and play a true gem of the N64 era.

No related posts.