Blast Works: Build, Fuse & Destroy (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

The shoot-em up genre, more commonly talked of as the shmup genre, has seen some very innovative games over the last few decades, with the likes of Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga being two particularly memorable and fantastic titles. Yet, recently, they've been in decline and have become more of a common sight on the many download services available as consumers feel uneasy about paying specific amounts of money for a disc with the games on. Taking a chance, however, are Majesco who've teamed up with Budcat Creations to offer up a shmup game with an interesting twist. But does this deserve a spot on the store shelves or would it have been better suited to the WiiWare service?

Gameplay

BlastWorks: Build, Trade, Destroy takes its starting point from the freeware title Tumiki Fighters, one of Kenta Cho's creations, whereby you take control of a simple ship armed only with a standard gun and shot your way through waves and waves of enemies before meeting an end of mission boss, all the while allowing you to attach fallen debris from enemy ships to act as protection or to provide you with extra fire power to take down some of the bigger foes with ease. If you've played Tumiki Fighters you'll instantly be familiar with what is on offer here as the premise set out in that title remains unchanged, with the changes coming in the forms of new levels and new enemies. It acts as your standard shoot-em up title, with there only being one button for shooting, but the allowance to add fallen debris to your ship adds a much needed and interesting twist to make you want to play on and it's a mechanic which you'll need to get used to very quickly, both in terms of compiling the right pieces in the most effective orientation as well as realising when it is best to retract and hide these parts with the games only other button use, as the game continues the tradition of the genre by putting up a considerable challenge even on the lowest of difficulty settings.

Your staple of modes available to you include a campaign mode, which spans several campaigns each of which host a succession of modes, which can be completed in sections or, if your good enough, in a single go but this latter notion really will test your skills as a gamer. You also have an arcade mode where you can take to any of the game's campaigns and play through them for high scores with a limited number of lives and continues. The campaigns offer very little in the way variation between them, other than offering up different enemy types, but they are still plentiful and well done making for some great gameplay. Cooperative play is supported in all of these for up to 4 players but it becomes so chaotic that keeping track of what is happening can be extremely difficult. For completing the campaigns in their entirety, as well as accomplishing other, more strenuous tasks, you'll unlock access to 4 other games created by Kenta Cho, these being the original Tumiki Fighters, rRootage, Gunroar and Torus Trooper, all of which add substantial alternative gameplay options that will keep you coming back for more.

Yet, with these things, the game perhaps could have easily made it as a WiiWare title but the inclusion of the most robust mode, the editor, certainly justifies the retail release. The editor allows players to create their own content, from new levels and ships to enemy designs and formations. While the editor is initially frustrating to use, once you've gotten the hang of it all, you'll be able to create as much content as you want with ease, all the while uploading them to a BlastWorks server for others to download. It's a fantastic edition to the game allowing for a near endless list of possibilities and while there is substantial enough gameplay already on the disc, having user created content makes it easily stand out from the rest of the games in the genre.

Controls

You have 3 control options at your disposable here, with the Wii-mote and Nunchuk being the default setup. You can opt to use the Wii-mote on its own or the Classic Controller but all combinations of controls work extremely well. The developers have shied away from implementing any form of motion control, thankfully, as the game would be far worse and perhaps unruly when things become overly chaotic. But with the use of an analogue, or d-pad should you be using the Wii-mote on its own, setup it works smoothly and responds well to your inputted directions, which is the biggest issue that can crop up in these titles. As mentioned earlier, you have one button to shoot and one button to hide any of your attached parts and so there's little here that will confuse anyone who picks up the controller to give the game a shot. There can, on occasion, be some slight issues with the aiming of your shots as the trajectory is affected by the movement of your ship, with movements up and down moving your ship at an angle making it slightly difficult to line up your shots. But this is something which you'll easily adapt to, using it to your advantage when the screen has multiple enemies or a screen filling, end of mission boss battle.

Graphics

Shmup games of old have been known to be showcases for the power of a console, with the number of enemies and the amount of action taking place on screen coupled with some impressive visuals. While those impressive visuals may not be here in any of the 5 games available to play, what you get is a very simplistic looking shooter that will neither draw you in nor turn you away. The ships, planes, and the various other vehicles and weapons that make up the visual playing field are all produced in a simplistic 3 dimensional style using simplistic colours and while 'basic' is the key word, it has a charm its own. The screen will be filled with colourful bullets and objects at all moments, which does occasionally come to the detriment of the game with the frame rate suffering some drops when the action gets rather heavy. The backgrounds, however, have taken an even more simplistic route and bar a few bare trees and buildings, there's very little to see here making the whole experience somewhat diluted in comparison to some of the other, earlier games in the genre which have shown impressive backgrounds upon which the action takes place.

Sound

Much like the visuals, the game's accompanying music and sound effects have also taken a backseat to the on screen action. The music, while present in a mix of techno infused beats, never extends much beyond simple pleasantries which you'll ultimately never really notice until the mission ending boss battles, signalled by a resounding siren noise. Sound effects fare a little better, with there being plenty of explosions and bullet firing sounds to carry the gameplay. Yet, they sound so minute in their quality that the fall flat when you compare it to other similar titles.

Final comments

BlastWorks: Build, Trade, Destroy is a unique title that takes uses a standard formula but adds just enough variation to it to allow it to become its own. The 5 games included on the disc will have you playing for a significant amount of time, due in part to the hefty difficulty that awaits even at the lowest of difficulties, and the attachment mechanic really makes for an exemplary game. To top it off, the addition of a robust editor and online connectivity means that once you've had your fair share of entertainment from what is on the disc, there will always be something for you to come back to should you invest the time, which cannot be recommended enough.

Pro: 5 fantastic and unique games on one disc, interesting gameplay mechanic in each, provides a great challenge, editor gives limitless potential
Con: Not much in the way of variation in the main BlastWorks campaign, presentation has a few issues although they're not huge
Final score: 8.3

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