Gamers Month ver. 2 - Blast Corps

Blast Corps



Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Rare
Platform: N64
Release: 1997

In 1982, two brothers from the UK decided to start their own video game development company by the name of Rare. What they didn’t realize at the time is that this video game development company would make some of the most successful video games of all time during the 1990’s for Nintendo.

Rare has created some of the best games for the N64 such as Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, and Banjo-Kazooie. It is also pretty much responsible for revolutionizing the first person shooter genre and giving a much beloved video game character one of the best platforming series ever seen on the SNES.

In 1997, very early into the lifespan of the N64 they were responsible for creating a game to this day has remained my favorite N64 game of all time. That game is Blast Corps, and it is a game that is completely overshadowed by the bigger titles that Rare has developed for the N64.

Blast Corps is pretty much an action/demolition game with puzzle and time attack elements. The gameplay is focused around destroying buildings with a wide array of unique demolition vehicles in order to clear a path for a vehicle carrying a pair of defective nuclear missles.

The plot of the game is as follows:

A carrier is charged with the task of carrying a pair of defective nuclear missiles to a controlled blast site. In the process the missiles begin to leak and therefore the carrier is forced to change its course to the most direct route to the controlled detonation site. The only problem is there are a ton of obstacles between the nuclear carrier and the controlled detonation site. You as a member of the Blast Corps team are charged with the task of removing those obstacles because the slightest jolt or nudge to that nuclear carrier will cause a nuclear explosion of epic proportions.

You won’t be doing this job alone. You will have a wide array of demolition vehicles as well as your other team-mates that will help you with this task. You will be able to use a total of eight different demolition vehicles:




Top Row (from left to right): Backlash, Cyclone Suit, Ballista, and J-Bomb
Bottom Row (from left to right): Ramdozer, Thunderfist, Sideswipe, and Skyfall

You’ll also have the ability to use civilian vehicles for many of the time attack and racing levels such as the Muscle Car, Sports Car, Police Car, and a Black Van.

In terms of the gameplay, it is an amazingly addictive game. It starts off easy enough, by giving you a few tutorial levels so that you’ll get use to how each of the vehicles work, but as you get through the main story levels the game progressively gets harder. Especially the final set of levels. Even if you finish every main level in the game you still have to find 6 scientists in order to overcome the main mission of the game of directing the nuclear carrier to its controlled detonation location. When you reach the last set of levels, from my experience there are two levels that will really get on your fucking nerves:

Diamond Sands: The only vehicle you can use is the Backlash (dump truck), and you have buildings on the railway that you have to destroy because the nuclear carrier will travel the entire length of the railway. The only problem is you can’t drive on the railway; you have to drive in tunnels underneath the railway. At the end you have this gigantic complex that can only be destroyed my moving tnt boxes to destroy sections of that big building. You need to use the backlash really well and really fast and having a lot of luck will help you defeat this level.

Oyster Harbor: With Oyster Harbor you have every obstruction in the book thrown at you. You need to use your crane and tnt to destroy a large scale obstacle. You need to fill square holes in the ground. You need to align ferry’s to make a clear path, and you need to bring a tnt box a really long distance to destroy the final building that can’t be destroyed by demolition equipment alone. This stage is very fucking tedious, with little to no room for error.

The best thing about this game is that it has so much replay factor more so than a lot of other games that I have played. With every level that you play regardless if its one of the main levels or one of the time attack/destruction levels you are graded on your performance in the way of a bronze level, silver medal, or a gold medal. The main levels you get as many as two medals while the bonus levels you can only get one medal. In order to get the best rating on the main levels, not only do you have to destroy every building, but you have to collect rdu’s and make sure all survivors are rescued. The best thing about it is that you can go back to any of the main levels and complete those tasks. One other thing I would recommend is that you should always be on the lookout for any communication satellites. These communication satellites are not only found on the main levels but they can also be found in some of the bonus levels as well. The purpose of these communication satellites is that it gives you access to more bonus levels.

Even when you think you have completed everything that this game has to offer. If you get every gold medal and find all six scientists, and beat the main part of the game, there is still a lot more to do. You have to clear a path for a space shuttle, and you take your demolition crew to the moon and beyond. Is the game done then, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then you have to do time trials for all of the main levels to get a gold medal for how fast you can complete them. Once you do that is the game done. NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

What remains is what many regard to one of the hardest completionist challenges ever designed. You now have the opportunity to get a platinum medal for every level in the game. I never knew of anyone that could do this, even myself; I have only got half a dozen platinum medals. Their all based one thing, finishing the level as fast as humanly possible. It is a lot harder than you might you think it is. For some of these levels there is no margin of error, you have to do it perfectly to attain these medals.

Just recently I just had seen a rare occurrence:

YouTube Video

I haven’t played a game in which you could have so much fun causing so much destruction. This is truly a hidden gem from Rare on the N64. For any gamers that are true completionists I highly recommend that you play this game and try the platinum challenge.

This game is not perfect, there are problems with the camera and I must admit that it won’t be a game for everybody. Some of the demolition vehicles will drive you nuts especially using the Large Dump Truck (Backlash). I have played this game so many times and I still can’t use that Dump Truck very well especially since you have to drift the rear of the vehicle to do any significant damage to any of the buildings. My favorite vehicle to use in the series has always been the Thunderfist because it is a relatively easy vehcile to use and it do a hell of a lot of damage in a very short period time.

In closing, when I had played this game for the first time I didn’t even know anything about it. I rented it on a whim because there was nothing left to rent at the video store. When I had first played it, I didn’t have any idea of what I was doing. The game started off very lackluster for me because I didn’t know at the time how to start a new game. I had started playing Blast Corps when almost everything was done. I found out later that you had to hold down the start button before the screen game on and then you start the game from scratch and once I did that I enjoyed the game so much, I rented it a few more times until I could beat the main part of the game. It was not until 2006, that I finally bought my very own copy, and from time to time I take my N64 out to try to get a few more platinum medals.

Anyway, if you truly want a challenge with a very fun and addicting game definitely give this one a try. In the meantime I think I’ll grab one of these from my work site:

Spoiler:

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