Blast Corps

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Blast Corps
Director(s)
  • Paul Mountain
  • George Andreas
Producer(s)
  • Chris Stamper
  • Tim Stamper
Single-player

Blast Corps is an

levels
, the player solves puzzles by transferring between vehicles to move objects and bridge gaps. It was released in March 1997 in Japan and North America. A wider release followed at the end of that year.

The game was Rare's first game for the Nintendo 64. Its development team ranged between four and seven members, many of whom were recent graduates. The team sought to find

building destruction game. The puzzle game mechanics were inspired by those of Donkey Kong
(1994).

Blast Corps was released to critical acclaim and received Metacritic's second highest Nintendo 64 game ratings of 1997. The game sold one million copies—lower than the team's expectations—and received several editor's choice awards. Reviewers praised its originality, variety, and graphics, but some criticized its controls and repetition. Reviewers of Rare's 2015 Rare Replay retrospective compilation noted Blast Corps as a standout title.

Gameplay

An industrial field with dirty grass and patches of dirt. A bulldozer is centered in the screenshot, traveling to the upper left towards railroad tracks and a bush. Nearby are lights along a road, both lit and unlit. Close behind is a red fire engine-like vehicle with two cylinders mounted atop, along its length. In the bottom left of the heads up display is a green radar circle showing obstacles in the upper left, and alongside the radar, a yellow arrow pointing to the upper left, indicating the location of the next structure in the red carrier truck's path. In the upper right of the heads up display is the number zero, preceded by a dollar sign, indicating that no damage to property has been scored.
Screenshot of gameplay in which the player uses a bulldozer to clear a path for the carrier. Radar and an arrow in the lower-left corner show the proximity of objects in the carrier's way.

Blast Corps is a

levels.[3]

The world is portrayed from a three-quarters

external storage.[2]

Plot

The game's story takes place on a parallel Earth, in which mankind lives in relative peace, until an event occurs that threatens the lives of the whole planet. The national government of an unnamed country discovers that the transportation of two defective nuclear missiles has gone wrong, after they begin leaking radiation. The automated carrier transporting them becomes damaged as a result and automatically sets itself on a direct course towards the site for a controlled detonation, effectively placing it in danger where the slightest jolt from hitting buildings or falling into pits would trigger the missiles, causing a catastrophic explosion.

To prevent this, the government hires the demolition company known as Blast Corps — founded by several former military soldiers who were stationed in the base the missiles came from, until an accident involving one of their members led the others to desert their post. Using a variety of different machines to assist them, Blast Corps assigns a new recruit to help clear the carrier's path, ensuring it can get past areas safely, while at the same time seeking out a group of missing scientists needed to conduct the safe detonation of the missiles. Dealing with an array of difficult situations, Blast Corps manages to prevent catastrophe, finding the scientists and putting an end to the threat from the missiles.

After Blast Corps successfully complete their mission, the company finds themselves contracted to help clear several buildings in a city in order to create an emergency runway for a space shuttle returning to Earth. The company successfully completes the mission, later earning a contract to clear debris on the moon, before its employees take a well-earned break after establishing a reputation for being the best demolition company in the business.

Development

If you knock down buildings, it will be fun.

Rare founder Chris Stamper famously gave Blast Corps its raison d'être.[4]

Blast Corps was among

Chris Stamper was the impetus for the project. He had wanted to make a game about destroying buildings for years prior to Blast Corps's development. The team worked to fit his idea to a gameplay concept and devised a "Constantly Moving Object" conceit that would give the levels a time limit. This idea became the nuclear missile carrier.[4]

The Nintendo 64 controller is light gray controller with three handles for the player's two hands. It has red, green, blue, and yellow buttons, an analog stick, and a directional pad. The controller is plugged into the charcoal gray Nintendo 64 with a light gray cartridge inserted. The sleek console is convex on its top, and has two power switches and four controller ports.
Blast Corps led a set of seven critically acclaimed Rare titles developed for the Nintendo 64.

Retro Gamer credited Wakeley for Blast Corps's idiosyncratic ideas and humor in light of the game's serious premise.

high score "goal medal" objectives, in which players would attempt to better a set completion time on each level. Blast Corps's Japanese and American quality assurance teams later competed to push the levels to their limits, which resulted in the game's platinum level objectives. Wakeley described these platinum challenges as "just insane" and said he could only finish four himself.[4]

Wakeley saw Blast Corps as a

game mechanic. He was also inspired by the Super Mario 64 demo at Nintendo's annual trade show in 1995, which introduced him to the 3D analog stick and spurred him to achieve something similar.[4] The team's technical accomplishments included character and environment models composed completely of polygons and the absence of distance fog to obscure the draw distance.[2]

Nintendo published Blast Corps for their Nintendo 64.[2] In its 1995 trade show preview, it was originally titled Blast Dozer, a name it retained for its Japanese release.[6] (The team had considered other titles, including "Heavy Duty Heroes", "Blast Radius", and "Power Dozer".[7]) Blast Corps was first released in Japan on March 21, 1997, and in North America three days later. Its European and Australian release followed on December 22.[2] The game had been in production for just over a year.[4] To promote the game, a three-part comic detailing the game's story was published in Nintendo Power issues #97–99,[8][9][10] later released as a graphic novel by Dark Horse Comics.[11]

Reception

The game received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator

Peer Schneider of IGN, in particular, lauded the game's originality.[2] Trent Ward commented in GameSpot that the premise taps into childhood fantasies, while "the unique relationship between the terrain and the vehicles you pilot ensures that Blast Corps will exercise your mind as well as your reflexes".[15]

Reviewers struggled to master the game's controls.[2][3][14] GamePro's Slo Mo praised this aspect of the game, saying that even mastering the extreme precision of the steering is fun, and rewards the player with both better gameplay technique and an appreciation for the strong distinction between the game's many vehicles.[20] Schneider likewise overcame his initial concerns to appreciate the complexity of the controls and the differences between the vehicles. He considered the locked camera view restrictive when compared to the unrestricted 3D camera in the game's contemporaries. Schneider thought the game should have been longer, with fewer bonus levels and more main missions, though he did appreciate the pacing, design, and difficulty of the included levels.[2] Slo Mo instead asserted that "Over 60 levels and hidden areas within hidden areas give you your money's worth".[20] A Next Generation critic agreed, asserting that the vast size of the levels and numerous secrets and bonus areas make Blast Corps "one of the few Nintendo 64 games that justifies its exorbitant price tag".[18] Shawn Smith and Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) thought the game was repetitive,[14] as did Computer and Video Games. The latter, though, praised Blast Corps's level design and difficulty progression.[6] Ward had fewer reservations, writing that "basically what you have here is a game with great graphics, great sound, and a great premise. What's even more impressive is that the game doesn't really have any substantial flaws to speak of – unless you want to count lack of a two-player mode, which really isn't fair."[15] Crispin Boyer of EGM wrote that the game's best feature was its "palpable sense of suspense" as the carrier advanced on resistant buildings.[14]

Critics praised the game's graphics and sound.

jaw harp.[2][14]

IGN wrote that Blast Corps exemplified qualities of enjoyable

Pilotwings with a kamikaze twist. It's a multifaceted game that melds a slick vehicle sim and a mind-thumping action/strategy challenge with massive destructive force."[20] Schneider said Blast Corps was on par with the quality of Shigeru Miyamoto games and an excellent display of Rare's potential.[2] Next Generation described it as "effectively every Tonka fantasy brought vividly and explosively to life".[18]

EGM named it a runner-up for "Most Original Game of the Year" (behind PaRappa the Rapper) at their 1997 Editors' Choice Awards.[26]

Blast Corps sold close to a million copies. The game sold reasonably well in Japan.[4] Metacritic ranked the title among the top ten games released in 1997. It remained Metacritic's highest ranked 1997 Nintendo 64 game after GoldenEye 007.[27] Blast Corps was selected as Electronic Gaming Monthly's May 1997 Game of the Month[14] and an IGN Editors' Choice.[2] Later the same year, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked it number 93 on their 100 best console video games of all time, remarking, "C'mon, not only are you driving all the vehicles you thought were mega cool as a kid – you're using 'em to plow through buildings."[28] Four of six Nintendo Power reviewers recommended the game.[3]

Legacy

Wakeley, the game's designer, considered making a sequel as an action combat game, but thought the concepts behind Blast Corps had been fully exhausted.

behind-the-scenes interviews with Blast Corps's developers.[31] Blast Corps was a standout favorite among Rare Replay reviewers.[32][33][34][35][36][37] The game was re-released on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in North America and Europe on February 21, 2024,[38], and in Japan on April 24, 2024.[39]

Rare's Blast Corps began a run of highly praised Nintendo 64 games, including GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and Jet Force Gemini. Retro Gamer wrote that Rare had doubled the number of classic Nintendo 64 games and was an important alliance for Nintendo.[4] Microsoft acquired Rare in 2002 for a record price of $377 million.[4][40] After the industry had changed, Blast Corps designer Martin Wakeley reflected a decade after the game's 1997 release. In 2009, Wakeley said, a studio would rarely entrust the scope of a project like Blast Corps to a team of four recent graduates.[4]

The staff of Nintendo Power (1997) and IGN (2014) both listed Blast Corps in the bottom halves of their top 100 Nintendo games of all time.[41][42] Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game 84th on a list of the greatest Nintendo games.[43]

References

  1. ^ Kuchera, Ben (July 10, 2015). "Listen to N64 GoldenEye's soundtrack in beautiful, uncompressed form". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 10, 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Schneider, Peer (March 26, 1997). "Blast Corps". IGN. Archived from the original on July 12, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Now Playing". Nintendo Power. No. 95. April 1997. p. 93.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Crossley, Rob (August 2007). "The Making of Blast Corps". Retro Gamer. No. 41. pp. 86–89. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  5. ^ "Nintendo Ultra 64: Rare". Computer and Video Games. No. 171. February 1996. p. 19.
  6. ^ a b c d "Blast Corps Review". Computer and Video Games. No. 189. August 1997. pp. 57–60.
  7. ^ @RareLtd (March 7, 2016). "Blast Corps had many names including Heavy Duty Heroes, Blast Radius, Power Dozer and (its Japanese title) BlastDozer #FunFactsAboutNamesDay" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 4, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2016 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ "Blast Corps Episode One: Juggernaut". Nintendo Power. No. 97. Nintendo. June 1997. p. 56.
  9. ^ "Blast Corps Episode Two: The Gathering Storm". Nintendo Power. No. 98. Nintendo. July 1997. p. 72.
  10. ^ "Blast Corps Episode Three: Big Bang Theory". Nintendo Power. No. 99. Nintendo. August 1997. p. 58.
  11. ^ "Blast Corps :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics".
  12. ^ a b "Blast Corps Critic Reviews for Nintendo 64". Metacritic. Archived from the original on June 13, 2009. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  13. ^
    AllGame. Archived from the original
    on December 11, 2014. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Review Crew". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 94. May 1997. p. 52. The magazine's disaggregated scores were 9.0/9.0/8.5/8.5.
  15. ^ a b c d e Ward, Trent (April 28, 2000). "Blast Corps Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 2, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  16. ^ Nash, Jonathan (May 1997). "Blast Corps". N64 Magazine. No. 2. pp. 44–51.
  17. N64 Magazine
    . No. 5. pp. 36–47.
  18. ^ a b c d e "Smashing". Next Generation. No. 31. July 1997. p. 157.
  19. ISBN 978-0-7893-2090-2
    .
  20. ^ a b c d e "Nintendo 64 ProReview: Blast Corps". GamePro. No. 104. May 1997. p. 76.
  21. ^ Wainwright, Tom (November 6, 1997). "Reviews: CD-Roms: Blast Corps Nintendo 64 (cartridges), pounds 60". The Guardian. p. 9. Archived from the original on October 28, 2017. Retrieved June 4, 2016 – via LexisNexis.
  22. The Weekend Australian. p. S07. Archived from the original on October 28, 2017. Retrieved June 4, 2016 – via LexisNexis
    .
  23. ^ a b "A Rare Glimpse". Retro Gamer. No. 84. December 2010. p. 36.
  24. ^ "Letters". Computer and Video Games. No. 188. July 1997. p. 14.
  25. ISBN 978-0-7864-7257-4
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  26. ^ "Editors' Choice Awards". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 104. March 1998. p. 94.
  27. ^ "Best Video Games for 1997". Metacritic. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  28. ^ "100 Best Games of All Time". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 100. November 1997. p. 104. Note: Contrary to the title, the intro to the article explicitly states that the list covers console video games only, meaning PC games and arcade games were not eligible.
  29. ^ McFerran, Damien (April 2016). "How Rare Ruled the N64". Retro Gamer. No. 153. pp. 76–85.
  30. ^ McWhertor, Michael (June 15, 2015). "Rare Replay for Xbox One includes 30 Rare games for $30 (update)". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 17, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  31. ^ Machkovech, Sam (August 5, 2015). "Canceled Rare game details emerge thanks to Rare Replay achievement hunters [Updated]". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  32. ^ Machkovech, Sam (August 3, 2015). "Rare Replay review: Incomplete, but still plenty of timeless gaming smashes". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  33. ^ Totilo, Stephen (August 3, 2015). "Rare Replay: The Kotaku Review". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 4, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  34. USgamer. Archived
    from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  35. ^ Whitehead, Dan (August 4, 2015). "Rare Replay review". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  36. ^ Hilliard, Kyle (August 3, 2015). "Rare Replay: A Rare Occasion". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  37. ^ Kollar, Philip (August 4, 2015). "Rare Replay countdown: 30 Rare classics ranked from worst to best". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  38. ^ Robinson, Andy (February 21, 2024). "Classic Rare games have been added to Nintendo Switch Online". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  39. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHo0HfQnNDM
  40. 1UP.com. Archived from the original
    on May 28, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  41. ^ "100 Best Games of All Time". Nintendo Power. No. 100. September 1997. p. 96.
  42. ^ "The Top 125 Nintendo Games of All Time". IGN. September 24, 2014. p. 3. Archived from the original on December 29, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  43. ^ "100-81 ONM". ONM. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved September 9, 2022.

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