Blaster Master: Blasting Again (PS1, 2000)
Graphics-7 Sound-7.5 Control-7/6.5* Challenge-7.5 Story-5
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Indoors
+
Mini-map+enemy radar and compass in one (rotates, pause menu map shows next objective and current sub area, doesn't show enemies, no topography in either, the menu map shows which room you're in but not your exact location)
Side jumping for both the tank and the pilot (can also do this in mid-air after jumping but only as the tank)
Lock-on system for the homing sub weapon (up to 6 targets at once when upgraded, tank only and you have to charge it for about 2 seconds each time, can't make the camera focus on the enemies you've locked onto)
One new sub weapon in the field guard (spinning shield orb that takes out enemies) and the pilot (Roddy) now has one with unlimited ammo (napalm - area of effect explosion around the avatar) as well as a charge-based one (hypersonic - a minor smart bomb of sorts with long cooldown during which you have invincibility time)
One other new tank move compared to the NES game (speed boost - lets you jump further)
Retains the in-vehicle/on-foot dynamic
Good bosses overall (good variation of attacks, multiple phases; you can fight some of them in- or outside of the tank here - not just outside like in the NES game)
Get frequent gameplay tips and directions from an assistant (press select to check the messages when prompted)
Difficulty options (easy-hard)
Control config (full besides select and start functions)
Ammo capacity and sub weapon upgrades (8 levels each; more orbs for the shield one and if you upgrade it to lvl 6 they start firing as well, somewhat longer range for thunder, the upgrade items cycle through the weapons so you can choose which one to upgrade)
A few hidden rooms (rooms that don't have an obvious door connection on the map) and items
Environmental effect in one indoors area (freeze the water by activating a machine)
Can use the stacked destructible boxes in some rooms to avoid some enemies
Some fun weapons (homing, thunder - hits from the tank rather than from above here though, grenade launcher-like/lvl 5 on foot weapon)
Some mini-boss like enemies
Shows enemy and boss health bars
Mixes in one surprise escape segment (indoors area in the lava area) and rail shooter segment (sixth boss)
Chain reaction mechanic (destroyed enemies' explosions hurt other enemies)
Temporarily upgradeable main weapon for the pilot
Enemy freeze/time stop+temporary max shot power+smart bomb power ups (these trigger when touched though)
Auto-fire for the main weapon
Skippable cutscenes (decent scenes before and after bosses)
Basic stealth element (moving laser sensors in a few rooms)
Decent switch puzzle in the last indoors segment
+/-
Several save points/maintenance terminals per area (this is also where you get new weapons added to your tank after the first boss and new moves after subsequent bosses, can also heal at these, these become the checkpoints when used - no other checkpoints)
Linear structure overall (small hub area with teleporters to sub areas (these aren't connected despite it looking like it in the manual - need to use gained movement abilities and backtrack to find new parts of these sub areas and to progress) that unlock in order as you finish the previous one - while you can get to the teleporters to later areas after beating the second boss and they look open you can't enter them and no reason is given, opens up a bit more after unlocking all the emblem doors after the fifth boss though it seems you can't backtrack out of the sixth area before finishing it),
Vertical aim assist (generally a good thing)
Destructible enemy spawner machines in some rooms (these and the enemies respawn whenever you exit a room)
The maps generally shows basic layout maps of each area (no topography besides a few overlapping paths on the mini-map)
Can teleport back to the tank from on-foot (your assistant tells you when it's available early on) but you actually have to exit the indoors areas first so it's situational in usefulness
More serious tone and realistic visual style, kinda cheesy music
Can switch sub weapons on the fly with the tank however this is mapped to the camera rotation buttons - see below
Seems to retcon the NES game's story (or perhaps it follows the JP ver. story) - pretty cheesy and generic anyway
The assistant only has a few lines rather than being fully voiced (see Burning Rangers for example)
Hazardous liquids don't do much damage if you keep jumping
Can't duck or crawl as Roddy
Can't fire the regular (red) sub weapon while firing the main weapon as the tank
Elfie the assistant's advice is sometimes useless and sometimes a bit too useful (like when she marks where you can use a new movement ability on the map - being able to mark such spots yourself would've been best, also when you're supposed to backtrack to the water area after the fourth boss she doesn't tell you about it which is bad considering you can't zoom out the menu map to view each area, after the fifth boss when you're supposed to use a boost jump she tells you that you can't open the door from this side and have to take another path - nonsensical)
Hover (really it's a limited flight move) is energy-based and you can only use it in short spurts (except for at one point where there are energy power ups in mid-air but they don't add much time) - regenerates on its own but it takes about 10 seconds which is pretty long (can still use it when it's not fully charged though)
Very light on hidden items or paths behind breakable walls - seems to use only rocks placed in the open (not part of the regular walls) to obscure some objects
The hypersonic attack is random (the pilot dashes in various directions for a few seconds) so you might miss nearby enemies with it
Getting hit stops dodge and prevents hypersonic moves during the cooldown time after getting hit
Have to be moving forward to still use boost after getting the hover move (they're both mapped to triangle)
Boss rush - have to fight the bosses again the unlock the final boss fight
No life bar upgrades
The voice acting makes the pre-finale cutscene unintentionally funny
Somewhat easy final boss (can almost tank him if you've fully upgraded 3 of your sub weapons)
-
Some control/camera/interface issues (no proper strafe move (hold a button while moving around and aiming in the same direction) - makes fighting in the on-foot indoors segments kinda tedious and various 90s games had this, no dual analog support so you can't map camera rotation/pitching to the right stick (despite the manual mentioning the dual shock controller, actually can't pitch the camera at all during gameplay (only pick between two view modes before beginning) which can be a problem during some platforming segments as the "long" angle is pretty high besides for some tighter spaces and the "up" angle is basically behind the avatar at all times - they should've let you switch during gameplay) - d-pad control seems better here, have to be on flat ground and completely still to exit the tank, can only rotate the camera while outside the tank and only in incremental steps of 45 degrees - holding l2/r2 down doesn't work, no jump height control and the default height is pretty high, the maps don't show solid walls nor laser barriers/locked doors within rooms, no full world map view - can view only the current sub area via the pause menu, the menu map doesn't show switches/support items (sub weapon strength+ammo capacity upgrade - some can only be reached with new abilities later on)/save points/elevators/door switches and the mini-map doesn't show save points, no quick turn move, the view is too zoomed in during in-doors on-foot segments, no main weapon inventory for the pilot - the highest level is a flamethrower which isn't optimal in some situations (you tend to get hit by the blast from a dying enemy), can't access the control config after beginning - only at the title menu, gates to sub areas aren't marked on either map, can't strafe jump after jumping as the pilot, can't strafe underwater nor while hovering/flying, can't jump/hover out of water after swimming up to the surface as the tank - leads to some minor backtracking, no lock-on feature or upgrade for the pilot - makes some enemies not worth fighting)
7-8+ seconds of loading between rooms (also loads when switching to a cutscene showing what triggering a switch did, even loads when going into the options on the title screen, about 5 seconds during indoors segments but they are very frequent here) - 10+ seconds after some bosses
You still lose main weapon upgrades when taking damage as the pilot (you can take a few hits per level here but not at the sixth/highest level)
Climbing is too limited here - can only climb at a few spots where two walls are near each other (similar to Rayman 2) that the game marks for you and it's really slow and limited in movement as well so it feels more like slowly unlocking a door
Uneven difficulty curve (spikes at some boss fights - oddly you can avoid many of the first boss's attacks easily while outside the tank, big spike at the rail shooter boss and for some reason you can't use the homing sub weapon against it (thunder also seems less efficient?), no HP refill (via save points) after some bosses and no ammo refill after bosses)
Some backtracking from one-way paths or minor dead ends where you don't have the right ability or a key yet - being able to teleport between save points could've helped here, some dead space
Some trial & error (can find a sub weapon upgrade by shooting the tiny rocks near the one-way path in the unlockable southern water area segment - looks like rubble at the bottom of the waterfall when you first see it, some fast attacks by kamikaze bots from off screen in the indoors segments later on - can prevent getting hit but it breaks flow, tank only switch in area 3 - no clue from the assistant when standing on it as the pilot, sometimes the game doesn't show what opened when pressing a switch in the indoors segments - becomes the norm in the late game which is a bit annoying, the menu map shows a path in the southern unlockable water area going from the west which is really a one-way path from the east)
Some cheap hits (you sometimes get attacked immediately when entering a new room, when backtracking from the south in area 4/lava area, basically can't avoid some damage from certain enemies in the later indoors segments - some of these aren't even worth fighting)
Can't swim as the pilot here
So-so framerate at times and the game seems to run at 20.5 FPS max
Tedious bat boss fight (hard to hit most of the time due to it flying around and the camera being locked at a far angle (have to fight it as the pilot), lower framerate during the fight as well)
Having to find the bosses again in a fairly large new area for the boss rush
No challenge to finding many of the sub weapon upgrades in the late game - you simply backtrack/sidetrack and look for unexplored paths on the menu map
Keep finding consumable items that you have a full supply of (such as HP when at full HP)
Some invisible walls (sometimes where you'd expect there to be a narrow path to a different room)
Kinda repetitive - it takes a while before gaining movement upgrades and the indoors areas don't have any puzzles in them besides the last one nor do they change much in terms of the level design for the most part
Some waiting for slow moving platforms
Seems a bit poorly translated at times (father wouldn't have argued like that! - like what? made no sense in the context of the scene, if you continue on you might become depressed - huh?)
Easy third and fourth bosses
So-so voice acting overall
Your on-foot avatar's movement looks choppy when changing directions in mid-air
Kinda choppy backgrounds when moving around
Somewhat generic art direction and boring area names (cave, water, zzz; areas also look a bit samey and bland)
Item drops disappear after about 10 seconds
Notes:
-Max action power/critical charger and smart bomb/x bomb power ups are very rare (didn't find a single one afaict), warp power ups? (adjacent area supposedly) - didn't find a single one of these either; perhaps these are only there in Easy mode or the JP ver.
Comment:
This game isn't bad. But would it have killed them to use the dual shock when it's mentioned in the manual? Or add regular strafing to the on foot controls?
Besides that the game is above average, with the main standouts being the boss fights (some can be fought in the tank here), some of the music and being able to upgrade the tank's sub weapons in 8 steps which also affects how some of them work (the spinning shield orb becomes several orbs and eventually they add to your firepower, for example).
You have the tank movement upgrades and a mostly linear structure with some backtracking like in the NES game (a boost is added which also lets you jump further but it's not used that much), and they added save points which also heal you. The climbing is made more rigid and slower for some reason, but it's barely used. They also added a mini-map/enemy radar and a sub area map, which are alright though you can't zoom out to see the whole world.
The pilot indoors segments are very much like on NES, but with some rather annoying enemies at times and a too zoomed in view - you use two kinds of bombs to deal with them but sometimes it's just not worth fighting. These segments get repetitive but they did change them up a bit towards the end with some stealth and switch puzzles.
The biggest flaw on real hardware is the loading times, like 8 seconds between rooms, which are small so they're also frequent. In emulation it's not really an issue.
Also there's more of a story focus, with pretty frequent cutscenes (skippable), but it's pretty generic anime sci-fi stuff and the VA is bad; sometimes it'll probably make you laugh.
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Indoors
+
Mini-map+enemy radar and compass in one (rotates, pause menu map shows next objective and current sub area, doesn't show enemies, no topography in either, the menu map shows which room you're in but not your exact location)
Side jumping for both the tank and the pilot (can also do this in mid-air after jumping but only as the tank)
Lock-on system for the homing sub weapon (up to 6 targets at once when upgraded, tank only and you have to charge it for about 2 seconds each time, can't make the camera focus on the enemies you've locked onto)
One new sub weapon in the field guard (spinning shield orb that takes out enemies) and the pilot (Roddy) now has one with unlimited ammo (napalm - area of effect explosion around the avatar) as well as a charge-based one (hypersonic - a minor smart bomb of sorts with long cooldown during which you have invincibility time)
One other new tank move compared to the NES game (speed boost - lets you jump further)
Retains the in-vehicle/on-foot dynamic
Good bosses overall (good variation of attacks, multiple phases; you can fight some of them in- or outside of the tank here - not just outside like in the NES game)
Get frequent gameplay tips and directions from an assistant (press select to check the messages when prompted)
Difficulty options (easy-hard)
Control config (full besides select and start functions)
Ammo capacity and sub weapon upgrades (8 levels each; more orbs for the shield one and if you upgrade it to lvl 6 they start firing as well, somewhat longer range for thunder, the upgrade items cycle through the weapons so you can choose which one to upgrade)
A few hidden rooms (rooms that don't have an obvious door connection on the map) and items
Environmental effect in one indoors area (freeze the water by activating a machine)
Can use the stacked destructible boxes in some rooms to avoid some enemies
Some fun weapons (homing, thunder - hits from the tank rather than from above here though, grenade launcher-like/lvl 5 on foot weapon)
Some mini-boss like enemies
Shows enemy and boss health bars
Mixes in one surprise escape segment (indoors area in the lava area) and rail shooter segment (sixth boss)
Chain reaction mechanic (destroyed enemies' explosions hurt other enemies)
Temporarily upgradeable main weapon for the pilot
Enemy freeze/time stop+temporary max shot power+smart bomb power ups (these trigger when touched though)
Auto-fire for the main weapon
Skippable cutscenes (decent scenes before and after bosses)
Basic stealth element (moving laser sensors in a few rooms)
Decent switch puzzle in the last indoors segment
+/-
Several save points/maintenance terminals per area (this is also where you get new weapons added to your tank after the first boss and new moves after subsequent bosses, can also heal at these, these become the checkpoints when used - no other checkpoints)
Linear structure overall (small hub area with teleporters to sub areas (these aren't connected despite it looking like it in the manual - need to use gained movement abilities and backtrack to find new parts of these sub areas and to progress) that unlock in order as you finish the previous one - while you can get to the teleporters to later areas after beating the second boss and they look open you can't enter them and no reason is given, opens up a bit more after unlocking all the emblem doors after the fifth boss though it seems you can't backtrack out of the sixth area before finishing it),
Vertical aim assist (generally a good thing)
Destructible enemy spawner machines in some rooms (these and the enemies respawn whenever you exit a room)
The maps generally shows basic layout maps of each area (no topography besides a few overlapping paths on the mini-map)
Can teleport back to the tank from on-foot (your assistant tells you when it's available early on) but you actually have to exit the indoors areas first so it's situational in usefulness
More serious tone and realistic visual style, kinda cheesy music
Can switch sub weapons on the fly with the tank however this is mapped to the camera rotation buttons - see below
Seems to retcon the NES game's story (or perhaps it follows the JP ver. story) - pretty cheesy and generic anyway
The assistant only has a few lines rather than being fully voiced (see Burning Rangers for example)
Hazardous liquids don't do much damage if you keep jumping
Can't duck or crawl as Roddy
Can't fire the regular (red) sub weapon while firing the main weapon as the tank
Elfie the assistant's advice is sometimes useless and sometimes a bit too useful (like when she marks where you can use a new movement ability on the map - being able to mark such spots yourself would've been best, also when you're supposed to backtrack to the water area after the fourth boss she doesn't tell you about it which is bad considering you can't zoom out the menu map to view each area, after the fifth boss when you're supposed to use a boost jump she tells you that you can't open the door from this side and have to take another path - nonsensical)
Hover (really it's a limited flight move) is energy-based and you can only use it in short spurts (except for at one point where there are energy power ups in mid-air but they don't add much time) - regenerates on its own but it takes about 10 seconds which is pretty long (can still use it when it's not fully charged though)
Very light on hidden items or paths behind breakable walls - seems to use only rocks placed in the open (not part of the regular walls) to obscure some objects
The hypersonic attack is random (the pilot dashes in various directions for a few seconds) so you might miss nearby enemies with it
Getting hit stops dodge and prevents hypersonic moves during the cooldown time after getting hit
Have to be moving forward to still use boost after getting the hover move (they're both mapped to triangle)
Boss rush - have to fight the bosses again the unlock the final boss fight
No life bar upgrades
The voice acting makes the pre-finale cutscene unintentionally funny
Somewhat easy final boss (can almost tank him if you've fully upgraded 3 of your sub weapons)
-
Some control/camera/interface issues (no proper strafe move (hold a button while moving around and aiming in the same direction) - makes fighting in the on-foot indoors segments kinda tedious and various 90s games had this, no dual analog support so you can't map camera rotation/pitching to the right stick (despite the manual mentioning the dual shock controller, actually can't pitch the camera at all during gameplay (only pick between two view modes before beginning) which can be a problem during some platforming segments as the "long" angle is pretty high besides for some tighter spaces and the "up" angle is basically behind the avatar at all times - they should've let you switch during gameplay) - d-pad control seems better here, have to be on flat ground and completely still to exit the tank, can only rotate the camera while outside the tank and only in incremental steps of 45 degrees - holding l2/r2 down doesn't work, no jump height control and the default height is pretty high, the maps don't show solid walls nor laser barriers/locked doors within rooms, no full world map view - can view only the current sub area via the pause menu, the menu map doesn't show switches/support items (sub weapon strength+ammo capacity upgrade - some can only be reached with new abilities later on)/save points/elevators/door switches and the mini-map doesn't show save points, no quick turn move, the view is too zoomed in during in-doors on-foot segments, no main weapon inventory for the pilot - the highest level is a flamethrower which isn't optimal in some situations (you tend to get hit by the blast from a dying enemy), can't access the control config after beginning - only at the title menu, gates to sub areas aren't marked on either map, can't strafe jump after jumping as the pilot, can't strafe underwater nor while hovering/flying, can't jump/hover out of water after swimming up to the surface as the tank - leads to some minor backtracking, no lock-on feature or upgrade for the pilot - makes some enemies not worth fighting)
7-8+ seconds of loading between rooms (also loads when switching to a cutscene showing what triggering a switch did, even loads when going into the options on the title screen, about 5 seconds during indoors segments but they are very frequent here) - 10+ seconds after some bosses
You still lose main weapon upgrades when taking damage as the pilot (you can take a few hits per level here but not at the sixth/highest level)
Climbing is too limited here - can only climb at a few spots where two walls are near each other (similar to Rayman 2) that the game marks for you and it's really slow and limited in movement as well so it feels more like slowly unlocking a door
Uneven difficulty curve (spikes at some boss fights - oddly you can avoid many of the first boss's attacks easily while outside the tank, big spike at the rail shooter boss and for some reason you can't use the homing sub weapon against it (thunder also seems less efficient?), no HP refill (via save points) after some bosses and no ammo refill after bosses)
Some backtracking from one-way paths or minor dead ends where you don't have the right ability or a key yet - being able to teleport between save points could've helped here, some dead space
Some trial & error (can find a sub weapon upgrade by shooting the tiny rocks near the one-way path in the unlockable southern water area segment - looks like rubble at the bottom of the waterfall when you first see it, some fast attacks by kamikaze bots from off screen in the indoors segments later on - can prevent getting hit but it breaks flow, tank only switch in area 3 - no clue from the assistant when standing on it as the pilot, sometimes the game doesn't show what opened when pressing a switch in the indoors segments - becomes the norm in the late game which is a bit annoying, the menu map shows a path in the southern unlockable water area going from the west which is really a one-way path from the east)
Some cheap hits (you sometimes get attacked immediately when entering a new room, when backtracking from the south in area 4/lava area, basically can't avoid some damage from certain enemies in the later indoors segments - some of these aren't even worth fighting)
Can't swim as the pilot here
So-so framerate at times and the game seems to run at 20.5 FPS max
Tedious bat boss fight (hard to hit most of the time due to it flying around and the camera being locked at a far angle (have to fight it as the pilot), lower framerate during the fight as well)
Having to find the bosses again in a fairly large new area for the boss rush
No challenge to finding many of the sub weapon upgrades in the late game - you simply backtrack/sidetrack and look for unexplored paths on the menu map
Keep finding consumable items that you have a full supply of (such as HP when at full HP)
Some invisible walls (sometimes where you'd expect there to be a narrow path to a different room)
Kinda repetitive - it takes a while before gaining movement upgrades and the indoors areas don't have any puzzles in them besides the last one nor do they change much in terms of the level design for the most part
Some waiting for slow moving platforms
Seems a bit poorly translated at times (father wouldn't have argued like that! - like what? made no sense in the context of the scene, if you continue on you might become depressed - huh?)
Easy third and fourth bosses
So-so voice acting overall
Your on-foot avatar's movement looks choppy when changing directions in mid-air
Kinda choppy backgrounds when moving around
Somewhat generic art direction and boring area names (cave, water, zzz; areas also look a bit samey and bland)
Item drops disappear after about 10 seconds
Notes:
-Max action power/critical charger and smart bomb/x bomb power ups are very rare (didn't find a single one afaict), warp power ups? (adjacent area supposedly) - didn't find a single one of these either; perhaps these are only there in Easy mode or the JP ver.
Comment:
This game isn't bad. But would it have killed them to use the dual shock when it's mentioned in the manual? Or add regular strafing to the on foot controls?
Besides that the game is above average, with the main standouts being the boss fights (some can be fought in the tank here), some of the music and being able to upgrade the tank's sub weapons in 8 steps which also affects how some of them work (the spinning shield orb becomes several orbs and eventually they add to your firepower, for example).
You have the tank movement upgrades and a mostly linear structure with some backtracking like in the NES game (a boost is added which also lets you jump further but it's not used that much), and they added save points which also heal you. The climbing is made more rigid and slower for some reason, but it's barely used. They also added a mini-map/enemy radar and a sub area map, which are alright though you can't zoom out to see the whole world.
The pilot indoors segments are very much like on NES, but with some rather annoying enemies at times and a too zoomed in view - you use two kinds of bombs to deal with them but sometimes it's just not worth fighting. These segments get repetitive but they did change them up a bit towards the end with some stealth and switch puzzles.
The biggest flaw on real hardware is the loading times, like 8 seconds between rooms, which are small so they're also frequent. In emulation it's not really an issue.
Also there's more of a story focus, with pretty frequent cutscenes (skippable), but it's pretty generic anime sci-fi stuff and the VA is bad; sometimes it'll probably make you laugh.