0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Blasto

       

Blasto is a third person puzzle platform shooter developed by Sony Interactive Studios America, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America and Europe. The game was released in both North America and Europe, with both releases coming out on the 15^th of April 1998.

Notable people who worked on this game, Allan Becker who was the Executive Producer on the game, has had a long career in the industry working on the Production and Business side of the industry. He has been involved in the development of games such as LocoRoco, Rogue Galaxy, The God of War series, LittleBigPlanet, Flower and Journey.

Blasto is a third person action, platform shooter the enemies that you will be taking down during the game are aliens that teleport in and around the player based on events that are triggered by the player as they explore the games environment.

The game has sections of strong platforming such as rotating sections of the environment while dealing with attacking and shooting enemies, puzzle elements in the game are largely limited to simple find the switch puzzles in order to proceed further In the level.

 

On the occasions where it is not just a simple switch finding puzzle, sometimes a particular weapon will be required in order to advance to the next area. Unlike many Playstation titles Blasto makes use of both analogue sticks, with the left stick providing much finer movement control than the D-Pad while the right stick provides improved aim control.

 

As mentioned before Blasto can be moved using the D-Pad with up being forward, back being backwards and left and right their corresponding directions. Blasto can perform a back flip using down on the D-Pad plus the X button.

Firing your weapons is done with the Square button, to perform a power blast the square button held down to charge up the shot. Blasto can perform a pistol whip by approaching an enemy and pressing the square button. Blasto also has access to a special weapon, to use your special weapon the circle button is used.

The L1 shoulder button when accompanied by the D-Pad will control the camera, when moving the camera the L2 shoulder button can be used to temporarily lock the camera in that position. When you want to interact with an object such as a switch the triangle button works as the action button.

Blasto can both walk and hover to do this the R1 shoulder button is used, he can also side step using the L2 and R2 shoulder buttons for their corresponding directions. You can also do a slow side step using R1+L2 to slow step left, and R1+R2 to slow step right.

The game also has swimming controls, to swim the X button is used by tapping it. R1 is used to float or tread water, when floating on the surface the directional buttons are used to move around. To quick paddle left or right the L2 and R2 shoulder buttons are used, you can also dive underwater by using the up direction button, pressing the down button will surface Blasto.

Blasto also has access to a Jet-Pak, to turn on his thrusts the X button is tapped twice, pressing the X button again will thrust up Blasto. The L1 shoulder button is used to stabilise Blasto, this also engages sniper mode, R1 is also used to stabilise Blasto in mid air.

The L2 and R2 shoulder buttons are used to thrust Blasto either left or right, up on the D-Pad or left analogue stick will cause Blasto to dive downwards, while pressing down on the D-Pad or left Analogue stick will cause Blasto to gain altitude.

During the course of the game you will face many different enemy types from the basic Pear Troops which come  in three different types the mark 1, mark 2 and mark 3. these are distinguished by their differing colour, with the mark 1 being pink, the mark 2 orange and the mark 3 red.

There are aquatic enemies which are a part of the Aquatic division, as well as airborne units known as attack saucers which are a part of the Bosc Air Force. Some other enemies you will face include the Centaur Cop, Uranium Red Ants, Wall Spitters, Uranium Nomads and more.

Captain Blasto returns from the 5^th dimension, upon returning to Uranus he discovers that the tyrant Bosc is hell bent on conquering the planet with his army, he also sets his sights on conquering the Earth as well. Bosc is aiming to reign supreme over the Solar System, this includes using his army to capture and enslave the Space Babes throughout the galaxy.

As a result Captain Blasto is the only hero who is capable of foiling his dark and dastardly plan, he sets out to rescue the stranded Space Babes along the way. Blasto is also the type of hero who doesn’t mind catching Space Babes in distress every now and then, especially when it comes to exploring and venturing through the Planet Uranus.

Critically the game received a mixed reception, on the one had it received plenty of high review scores even earning a couple in the 90s. A good chunk received however were in the above average to average range, with even a couple dropping below this.

Starting as usual with the best of them, which comes from Entertainment Weekly who rated the game at an impressive 91. the review found that despite the one too many Uranus jokes, sci-fi parody Blasto offers galactic side yuks courtesy of NewsRadio’s Phil Hartman, who supplies the voice of the burly space hero.

Dutch publication Power Unlimited were next up with their 90 rated review, the reviewer found the game to be definitely not unique, but is completely balanced in its gameplay, humour, graphics and controls. Moving on to the next review we head to GameZilla.

GameZilla rated the game at a solid 83, the reviewer noticing that a lot of effort had been put in the game, from the nicely detailed and entertaining animation at the beginning of the game, to the ongoing one liner running commentary from Phil Hartman.

The reviewer also praised the technique used to allow for larger levels without the extensive loading times, concluding there is much to like about this game. Concluding the review found that if you find Phil Hartman funny, and if your afternoon includes the disintegration of a hostile alien force, then you are guaranteed to love Blasto from Sony.

Absolute Playstation also rated the game at an 83, overall the reviewer rated the game as a pretty enjoyable experience once you get use to the clumsy controls and learned to compensate for them. The reviewer found once you had compensated for them they were able to settle in and really appreciate all the game had to offer.

The review praised the games visuals calling them retro and rather surreal, but do a good job or portraying the overall outer space theme of the game. the reviewer also praised the games sound effects calling them brilliant, they also praised the voice acting of Phil Hartman.

Game Revolution also rated the game at an 83, the reviewer commenting that Blasto is not a game that comes out every day. They continued by saying had it come out before the likes of Mario 64 and Tomb Raider they may have been more excited.

The reviewer continued by saying, it’s got great graphics, sound, laughs, vixens and guns, but there is room for improvement. There reviewer continued by saying if you have had your way with Mario and Lara Croft and you are looking for a real challenge, I definitely recommend Blasto.

For the next review we head over to Sweden and Super Play, the reviewer praising the graphics and the strange eighties synth pop and space like elements in the soundtrack. They also praised the nice game control as well as how hard and smart the game is.

Heading down to the other end of the review scale we find PSM who rated the game at an above average 60, the review calling the game not bad and can be pretty good at times, they also praised the games characters and background design and voice over dialogue from Phil Hartman. The reviewer also found that Blasto controls well, which the reviewer called a definite plus with all of the Platform jumping you will have to do.

Back to Sweden for the next review from Svenska PlayStation Magasinet who also rated the game at a 60, the review calling the game an admirable and intricate platform game. They continued however by saying, unfortunately it’s not enough to live up to their intentions.

IGN were next up with their average as you can get 50 rated review. The reviewer found Blasto didn’t have any sense of pacing, with the end of the stage feeling like the beginning with no sense of accomplishment. The reviewer also had issues with the lack of feedback from actions like flipping switches, your end up not knowing what you have activated.

The reviewer also took issue with Phil Hartman’s performance, the reviewer finding that it felt like he was phoning in his performance. Concluding the review said, it all makes Blasto tiring to play, if you’re looking for a great platformer to play wait for Tail Concerto or Crash Bandicoot 3. If you need to play Blasto, wait and see if Sony puts out a sequel.

Another drop in review score next up with GameSpot who rated the game at a below average 42. the review finding the game to be the one of many attempts to distil the best of 2D platformers of the past into 3D. With large roaming environments that stream from the disc.

The reviewer found that Blasto does things differently than the likes of Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot and Pitfall 3D, and the reviewer certainly found the originality nice. The reviewer however found that it just hasn’t made the leap into 3D as well as it could have.

For the final review we head over to France and the publication Joypad. The reviewer finding the developers have tried to offer us something original, the problem they found the levels are empty and the gameplay that involves Blasto is sanitized and only brings relative pleasure in their 10 rated review.

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, if you are looking to trade in your copy of Blasto, you will be looking at an $8 trade in price with Gamedude. If on the other hand you are in the market for a copy of the game, you are looking at an outlay of $19.

Heading over to Retrogames.co.uk we don’t find the game available or even listed, so we will quickly head over to eStarland. At eStarland there is just one copy of the game on offer, this copy comes without a case and is priced up at $14.63. Also on offer at eStarland is a trade with up to $9 being paid for a complete copy of the game.

 

Lastly we head to Amazon.com where we find a modest supply of the game available, the first page of listings are mostly made up of incomplete and disc only copies of the game. a couple of good condition copies are available, priced at $14.99 and $15 however these two copies don’t state their completeness.

There is one like new copy on the first page of listings that is complete, this like new copy will set you back $28.94. Another complete copy, this one in good condition can be picked up for $29.03, a cleaned and tested copy in good condition is available for $30.07.

Prices from her continue to rise with the majority of used copies peaking at around the $50 mark, one copy is priced well beyond this at $76.04. In addition to the used copies on offer there are three new copies on the market, these start at a quite steep price, with the cheapest currently on offer being $109.94, the other two new copies on offer are priced at $109.95.

  

Written by

P J Gibbon