0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Blast Chamber

         

Blast Chamber is a Sci-Fi themed action puzzle game developed by Attention to Detail and published by Activision for MS-Dos, Sega Saturn and Playstation. The game released for the Playstation on the 22nd of October 1996 in North America, and a month later in November in Europe, with a Japanese release in late December of 1996.

The games release on the Sega Saturn in North America also came in December of 1996, with the European Saturn release coming in 1997, also in the same year the PC version of the game was releases, this version released only in North America.

Notable people who worked on the game, Chris Gibbs who was the games Project manager, went on to be the Executive Producer of the 2005 released Battlefield 2 Modern Combat, Burnout from 2007 and the 2011 release of Fifa 12.

 

Andrew Wright who’s code is the basis for the game, went on to work on the Map Editing System for Rollcage Stage II in 2000. in 2008 he was the Core Programmer for Viking Battle for Asgard, before working on a couple of Operation Flashpoint titles. Since then he has worked on the Formula One series of games, working as the Principle Programmer.

Tony Heap who worked on the games Artwork, worked as a Digital Artist for the first Rollcage game in 1999. he was an Artist for Lego Racers 2 and a Track Artist for the 2007 released WipEout Pulse. The same year he is credited as part of the Environment Art Team for Heavenly Sword, he was a Senior Artist for LittleBigPlanet, before going back to Environmental Art in Killzone Mercenary in 2013.

  

The game has three modes to choose from, the first is the single player mode. In this mode you play your way though 40 different cube shamed puzzles known as chambers. In each of the chambers the player must collect a crystal orb and drop it into a reactor before the timer runs out. Failing to drop the crystal into the reactor in time will result in your character exploding.

 

At certain points around the chamber the player can kick the wall, this will result in the entire chamber rotating, which is vital for the player to be able to reach the end of each puzzle. The chambers also have obstacles that must be negotiated, these include platforms, spike pits, giant fans and others. In addition to the more visible obstacles some can be hidden and misleading.

The level is complete when the player drops the crystal into their reactor, once complete the player will be rewarded with 100 points for each second remaining on the level times, for every 10000 points earned, the player will receive and additional life.

 

Eliminator mode is for either up to 4 computer or human controlled players, this mode has 20 different chambers to face. The winner of this mode is the last one alive, each of the competitors has C4 strapped to their suit, with a timer that is continually going down, unless they are in possession of a crystal, when they have one their kill clock is frozen until they put it in their reactor or losing it by being pushed or falling.

Each side of the chamber is colour coordinated to the corresponding player, each side of the chamber has a pyramid holochamber where assigned to each player. When a player drops a crystal into their chamber their timer will increase, alternatively if the player drops a crystal into an opponents chamber time will be taken off of that players timer.

The final mode is the free for all mode, this works very similar to Eliminator mode, with the exception of the time being a fixed for a certain amount of time for the match. Each player in this mode has infinite lives, the player who dies the least in the mode is the winner.

Basic controls for the game, movement of your character is done with the D-Pad, jumping can be done using the X button, you can shove your opponent, this can prove very handy as you can push them into hazards in the chamber. Camera movement is handled by the shoulder buttons, with each of the shoulder buttons corresponding to a certain camera view.

The L1 shoulder button moves the camera to look at the floor of the chamber, while the R1 shoulder button will look at the ceiling of the chamber. The L2 and R2 shoulder buttons control the cameras view when you want to look at either the left of right of the chamber, the L2 button allows you to look at the left wall, while the R2 button allows you to look at the right wall.

 

The year is 2096 and you have been genetically transformed into a superhuman combatant, the only home you have known is the stable, an intense training complex. At the complex you have been prepared for The Game, an unknown competition between rival stables.

For your entire life you have been excluded from society for one simple reason, the spectator sport known as Blast Champed, you are owned by the stable manager and you are nothing but fresh meat for the highly dangerous sport, that involves fast passed action and life ending explosions. Should you be the lucky one and claim victory, you may have a shot at earning your freedom from the Blast Chamber.

Critically the game received one glowing review, with the reviewer giving the game a full 100 rating, it also received a good review scores and several decent scores, with the game never dropping below an average review score.

As usual though we will start with the best and that 100 rated review, which comes from GamePro (US), the review although finding the game to be difficult and devious when played alone, they found the game really heated up when played in multiplayer mode. The review finding it be a joy to blow opponents up, throw them into fans, or make them land on spikes.

A sizeable drop to the next review score, but still a good score with a 82 rated review from NowGamer. They called the game an enjoyable affair, and a true next generation original, while being nothing overly special. The reviewer finding more work could have been made of the hardware to make contact between player and the ball more tangible.

Absolute Playstation were next up with a decent review score of 79, the reviewer calling the game literally a blast, the reviewer praising the many types of offensive and defensive tactics that can be used in the game. They called the games pace frantic and intense, especially when playing with three or four people. Concluding the reviewer found the game to be one of the few reasons to go out and buy a mullti-tap, and the game is one of the most original games to arrive for the Playstation.

Next we head over to Germany and publication Mega Fun, who scored the game at a decent 76. The reviewer finding the game requires quick reactions and spatial imagination, the game is also hectic and frustrating the review found, even in the training mode.

The reviewer found the solo mode to grow quite boring quickly, with the only option in this mode to face overpowering computer opponents. Like Absolute Playstation they found the multiplayer to be the much more fun option. Concluding the reviewer found the game does not stand out from the crowd, but is certainly suitable for a little game between friends.

Game Revolution rated the game at one point lower at 75, the reviewer finding in order to play the game properly you need a four player adaptor. The reviewer finding the single player puzzle solving game to be remarkably boring.

The review continued by saying, even playing multiplayer against computer opponents is not as much fun as playing with other humans. Concluding the review said, get a couple of generic controllers for about ten bucks. That way you'll save a little money and still get to play Blast Chamber for all it's worth.

Back to Germany for the next review, this comes from Video Games who rated Blast Chamber at a decent 70, the review again recommending that the game be played with other human players, they continued by saying if everyone struggled with the same difficulties it at least makes it fair.

The penultimate review comes from Game Players who rated the game at an above average 64, the reviewer saying that, Blast Chamber is worth looking at if you have a few friends who can appreciate a four player battle mode. Concluding they recommended that if you are looking for a single player game, your are better off looking elsewhere first.

The final review which comes from GameSpot and is an above average 60 rated review. The reviewer commenting that when four players take to the virtual battlefield, the action gets very hot. They continued however by saying, unfortunately poor sound and mediocre visual presentation bog down the package.

The reviewer finding that the game could have done with a bit longer in the over, and a greater variety of unexpected events and details would have put this game over the top. As it is the reviewer found the game to be little more than an enjoyable party game, which the review found too bad as it could have been a real blast.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, where if you are looking to trade in your copy of Blast Chamber, you will be looking at $3 for your copy at trade in. If on the other hand you are in the market for a copy from Gamedude, you will be looking at an outlay of $9.

 

Next we head over to Retrogames.co.uk, where we sadly don’t find this game available or even listed. So we will quickly head over to eStarland.com. Here we find just one copy of the game available, this copy is a disc only copy of the game and is priced at $4.75.

Also on offer at eStarland is a trade in for this game, with eStarland offering up to $4 for a complete copy of the game. This price reduces to just $1.40 for a disc only copy of the game. As well as the Playstation version, eStarland also have the Sega Saturn version available, with two copies on offer. 

The first comes with no box and is priced at $16.46, while the second is the game only and is priced at $10.98. there is also a trade in for this version as well, with eStarland offering up to $10 for a complete copy of the game.

 

Lastly we have Amazon.com where we find a decent number of copies on offer, the first few copies on offer are all disc only copies, but a good condition and complete copy can be picked up for $8.79. we find a few very good condition copies for between $8.94 and $10, these copies however don’t state their completeness however.

The next guaranteed complete copy of the game is another good condition copy, this copy is currently priced at $13.98 once shipping has been added in. we also find a very good condition copy available for $15.16 with free shipping, however this copy is shipped by Amazon so Prime users and those spending over $25 only will get the free shipping.

A black label good condition copy, which is also complete can be picked ip for $18.99. while another very good condition copy is available for $24.97 once the shipping costs have been added in. In addition there is a like new copy on the market, this copy will set you back $24.98.

As well as the used copies on offer there are a few new copies of the game available, these however will cost you more than double that of the best of the used on offer. With prices for a new copy of the game starting at $63.94, the remaining two new copies coming in at around the $70 and $73.50 marks.

Written by

P J Gibbon