0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Blaster Master Blasting Again

Blaster Master Blasting Again know as just Blaster Master in Japan, is the fifth entry in the Blaster Master franchise and the only entry to appear on the Playstation. The game is an action driving shooter, with a Sci-Fi theme to it. As well as being the only entry in the series to release on Playstation, this release was also exclusive to the Playstation.

The game was developed and published by Sunsoft for it’s Japanese release on the 13^th of January 2000, they also published the Pal release in September of 2000 as well. The North American release which came the following year on the 28^th of November 2001 was published by Crave Entertainment

You play as Roddy, a sixteen year old boy at the helm of an all terrain vehicle similar to a tank named Sophia, the player navigates through a labyrinth of 3D rooms in search of clues for the enemies movements. Occasionally you will encounter enemy installations and structures as well as naturally occurring obstacles that will require Roddy to leave Sophia and traverse on foot.

The games environments are divided into two areas, the overworld and the underworld as well as gates. The overworld is a large area that is easily traversable by Sophia, as well as Roddy however it will be more difficult for Roddy on his own.

 

The overworld is divided into five areas, these are Ground, Cave, Water, Plant and Lava, with ground acting as a relay point between the different environment areas. Each of the different areas have a slightly different topography, these areas have enemy bunkers that consists of multiple rooms, elevators, equipment and stored materials, these bunkers can only be accessed by Roddy.

When piloting Sophia you use the D-Pad or left Analogue stick to manoeuvre Sophia around the various levels, when moving you can make Sophia jump by pressing the X button, this is needed to navigate small platform areas, the jump can also be used to just Sophia sideways, as well as being able to side jump while being in mid air.

 

Some areas will initially be inaccessible, water will also impede progressive with it slowing Sophia to half speed while traversing it. Roddy has a similar movement system, and will face and move in whichever direction of input is used on the D-Pad or left Analogue stick. Roddy can also jump however unlike Sophia, he can’t side jump when in mid air.

To navigate around the levels a head’s up radar is used as well as an auto map, the games radar appears on the lower right corner of the screen, this shows the area directly around Sophia and Roddy. The radar will not only show enemies which are shown as red dots, the radar will also show the boundaries of the area you are in, exits from the area, items, switches and also works as a compass.

To map can be accessed though the sub screen, when accessing a new area it will automatically be mapped when you enter, on the map both Sophia’s and Roddy’s position’s will be displayed, this only applies for which room you are in not you exact location in the room.

 

Gates and boss locations are also noted on the map, points of interest will also be recorded by Elfie. Garages which are used as save points are not indicated to the player on the map, neither are items and equipment which are shown as green dots on the radar.

The game has many items which can be picked up while traversing through the various areas in the game, most of the items that can be picked up are either hidden or dropped by enemies you kill. Items appear as wire frame pyramids with an icon floating inside, to collect the player runs over the item in Sophia or collect them on foot with Roddy.

The game features upgrades which can be applied to Sophia, these usually become available when completing a mission, Elfie sends the new upgrade parts to the nearby garage to be equipped to Sophia. These parts are used to improve Sophia’s power and manoeuvrability

When starting the game Sophia will only have one secondary weapon available, once you have completed the first mission of the game three more addition weapons will be made available to you with Elfie installing them, these are homing missiles. These are activated by pressing and holding the Circle button, the missile will charge before locking on to a nearby enemy. Homing Missiles however are not very agile and may not lock on to a target.

 

The second additional weapon is Thunder, this Is a close range weapon which discharges a blast of electrical energy (should really have been called lightning), again circle Is used to activate this. The thunder weapon will remain active until the circle button is pressed again, thunder energy is depleted or you change secondary weapons, L2 and R2 are used to change weapons..

The final additional weapon is Field Guard, this is not a weapon but a defensive ability, and launches a drone which will orbit Sophia. This drone does not fire at enemy targets or block their shots, it does however intercept incoming missiles and other projectiles. All of these weapons can be upgraded by collecting Multis.

Addition upgrades for Sophia can be unlocked as you progress though the game, these include. Climb which turns Sophia’s wheels into spike ended spider legs which allow for Sophia to climb up parallel rock faces. Submarine which turns Sophia into a submarine when submersed in water and allows for free movement when underwater.

Boost which us activated with the Triangle button, and will double Sophia’s speed, this will however deplete Sophia’s auxiliary battery. And hover, this is activated when either stationary or in the air by using the Triangle button, horizontal movement is possible while hovering, hovering will however deplete your battery very quickly.

Many years ago the Earth was threatened by the evil being known as the Plutonium Boss. The Plutonium Boss and his army of minions were devouring the Earth from within, had they been successful the Earth would have been destroyed.

The Plutonium Boss had however not counted on a plucky young man named Jason, a beautiful alien woman named Eve and their battle tank the Sofia MA-01. this underestimating results in the Plutonium boss being defeated by Jason, Eve and their tank.

Since the day that Jason and Eve defeated the Plutonium Boss they have defended the earth from any threat that it faces. Since the defeat of the Plutonium Boss, Jason and Eve have settled down to a family life, while still protecting the Earth, they even have two kids Roddy and Elfie.

Jason has trained his two kids to carry on his and Eve’s work, Elfie has been trained in Engineering while Roddy has been trained to take his fathers place as the defender of the Earth. A role he will have to step into after the sad loss of both of his parents, as an old threat seems to be arising to challenge the next generation of heroes.

Critically the game received a couple of decent review scores, but mostly It registered around the average to below average range. With one review score edging into the poor zone, while one critic game the game a truly abysmal review score.

As usual though we will start with the best, which comes from GameSpot who rated Blaster Master Blasting Again at a respectable 77. The reviewer finding in spite of the games flaws, Blaster Master’s first foray into the 3D realm emerges a successful one.

The reviewer did find the gameplay had been watered down slightly and the visuals were unspectacular, but the feel of Blaster Master remains. The reviewer finding the exploring of dungeons, blowing things up and hopping around like a madman still a lot of fun. Concluding the reviewer said, if you enjoyed titles such as Battletanx or Ghost in the Shell, but found yourself wanting more, Blaster Master Blasting again should be right up your alley.

Moving on to the next highest review score, where we see a slight drop but still a respectable 70 from Game Critics. The reviewer commenting that like its name the game is really stupid as is the main premise of the game. the reviewer finding that there is nothing remarkable about this game.

They continued by saying, if the game had retailed at full price, they would not recommend it at all, however with the game being as cheap as $9.99, the reviewer thought what the hell. It’s the right price for a game that is nothing more than mindless shooting, backed by a nostalgia factor for a dead franchise.

The reviewer admitted to only playing the game for the cheap buzz of playing a 32bit, 3D  Blaster Master sequel, which turned out to not completely suck, and was enough to sustain the reviewers interst for the money they spent.

Concluding the review said. However, I imagine those who have never heard of Blaster Master will see it for what it is, a mediocre action game with horrid graphics that is only partially redeemed by a pretty amazing tank.

From here the games reviews take a significant nosedive down at an average as you can get 50, we find two review scores at this, the first of them comes from German publication Video Games. The reviewer had some series technical issues with the game, with some major frame rate dips.

The reviewer finding that when only a few enemies on the screen, the frame rate breaks down to the point where firing your cannon is done in slow motion. The review also found the boss characters in the game, especially the first boss being  much too overpowered and time consuming to deal with. Concluding the review said, nice try but they would prefer to stay with Metal Slug.

The second 50 rated review comes from Game Informer Magazine, who’s reviewer found the game looked like absolute rubbish, with poor texturing and characters models that the reviewer called laughable. In addition to this the review had serious camera issues which reduce the playability, as well as screen tearing at nearly every turn.

Game Informer Magazine are up again with the next review, this is their second opinion review, this time the game as rated even lower than the first review. The reviewer commenting that Crappy-Crapper would have been a better title for the game.

The reviewer called the graphics subpar, and the games missions boring, they did enjoy the FMV sequences in the game and some of the lighting effects used were worth watching, however the reviewer found this to be too little too late, for a game that had a lot to live up to.

For the penultimate review we head back over to Germany and the publication Video Games for their second review of the game, this one is for the PAL version of the game. The review who rated the game at a disappointing 38, the reviewer calling the game infinitely long with tiresome missions, made worse by the harsh slowdowns, even when only a few enemies are on screen.

The list if issues for the review continued, with them finding the loading times for the game to be heavy, pixilated effects and a confused and uncontrollable camera draw any fun from the game. concluding the review said the 8-bit NES era Blaster Master deserves a better 32-bit revivial.

The final review comes from The Video Game Critic, a publication well known for truly abysmal review scores, and Blaster Master Blasting Again is no exception, with the review rating the game at the lowest of the low a 0.

The reviewer had plenty of reasons to back up their abysmal review score, the reviewer found they spent more time watching loading screen then actually playing the game, made worse when you accidently back up into the previous room.

The reviewer also found the stage design to be very confusing, with the player going in circles around the levels, losing a life results in the player returning to the start of the level, and dozens more loading screens as well. Concluding the reviewer recommended you keep a hold of your old NES cart instead.

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 the game is listed as just Blaster Master, if you are looking to trade in your copy of Blaster Master, you will be looking at 50 cent 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 $4.

 

Heading over to Retrogames.co.uk we find the game is not currently available or even listed, so wel will quickly move on to eStarland. At eStarland.com we find the game listed, but at the time of writing this the game is currently out of stock. 

The game has a usual used price of between $2.75 and $5.50, also on offer at eStarland.com is a trade in for the game, with eStarland paying up to $2 for a complete copy of the game. This price will fluctuate depending on the completeness of your copy, with a disc only copy worth just 70 cents at trade in.

 

Lastly we head to Amazon.com where we find a decent number of copies on the market, the first page of listings is however a big disappointment with all bar one being incomplete or a disc only copy. The only copy that is complete is an acceptable condition copy for $7.21.

Moving on to the second page of listings we find a few more incomplete and disc only copies, eventually we find a good condition and complete copy for $14.95, this copy however is shipped by Amazon so the free shipping only applies to Prime users and those spending over $25.

Just after that copy we find another good condition, this also comes complete and can be picked up for $14.97, this copy Is also the black label version of the game. For $1.54 you can get a very good condition copy of the game, this copy also comes complete, this copy also says it has been cleaned and tested and can be picked up for $16.51.

Hidden away on the final page of listings we find a very good condition used copy of the game, this copy has been professionally refurbished and comes complete. This copy is available for $9.78, another very good condition and complete copy is also available for $18.51.

A handful of new copies are also available, prices for a new copy of the game start from $36.78, with new prices not rising much from this point, with two copies currently setting the high price point, both of these copies are priced at $39.99.

  

Written by

P J Gibbon