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miffy495

Blast Works

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Wow, they really could have done a better marketing job on this one. I had to go out of my way and look it up out of curiosity about this new game I have to sell at work. Turns out it's the Wiification of Kenta Cho's superb Tumiki Fighters. I loved Tumiki, and yet still would have had no idea if I hadn't done that search just now.

Anyway, now that I know what it is, I'm very curious to know how it made the transition. It was a fantastic free shooter, does anyone know if it can hold its own as a $40 game? If I had the cash to throw around, I'd be picking it up tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don't. Anybody out there in thumb-land tried this one yet?

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Well I don't know about their marketing, but I've been hearing lots about it from game videos/podcasts for a while. Although I often forgot what the hell it was from the name.

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Always mistake this for Blast Corps. It's a really bad rename and seems like a largely fruitless retail exercise. Don't think it's going to sell at all well at that price point; half that would be more like it.

But why bother with the huge expense of pushing a game like this to retail in the first place? Nintendo should be driving their online retail business with this, much like Sony did with fl0w.

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So after much hemming and hawing and almost picking it up on Friday, I came into work today and Blast Works was $25. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we've sold one copy in over a month. Whatever. It's now mine. I've played through "Campaign 1" now (about 20 minutes...) and here are some impressions.

Firstly, YAY! This is actually a really fun game. Controls are tight, building up a giant wall of death is intuitive and fun. All works well.

Second, (at least on Rookie level) it's incredibly easy. I was given so many extra lives I thought that the "you got a life!" noise was part of the background music. Didn't end up needing a single one until I got to the boss of the third level. Dying on the third level of easy mode isn't what I'd normally associate with a cake-walk, but for a traditionally styled shmup this is like getting to the boss of a shooter without being hit by a single bullet. For my standard shmup skill level, anyway.

Third, major props for including some of Kenta Cho's other games on the disc. Haven't unlocked them yet, but knowing that the original Tumiki Fighters, Torus Trooper, and Gunroar is awesome. Love those games.

Overall, this game definitely seems it would be worth your time and money if you can find it budget priced. To think that the cheap box art would have kept me away forever had I not read into the story behind it. I'm going back to play some more soon, and may try my hand at the editor as well. Whee!

EDIT: Holy crap, the boss of Campaign 4, coupled with the massive engine of death I had going, crashed my Wii. One thing I started noticing as the bosses got more elaborate and my fighter did as well is that the system does start to chug a little bit. Never in any really bad way, but noticeable. Once the ship started taking hits and losing parts and got down to a reasonable size again, game goes back to super-smooth. Honestly, if I weren't scared that the summer heat (it's like 35 in this room right now...) combined with the performance demands may hurt my Wii, I'd be right back in there playing as I type this. Super fun game. Actually enjoying it far more than Mario Kart, and sorta wishing I'd bought it first.

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Finally got a chance to pick this up for cheap. I agree that the easy mode is far too easy. I'm pretty mediocre at shooters (only broke 500,000 in Geo Wars 1 once or twice, only made it to level 3 in R-Type, haven't passed level 6 in a full run in Everyday Shooter yet, etc.), but I ended a full playthrough with around 50 extra lives (most of which were earned in the last level to be fair). It was fun enough that I'm probably going to go back to it later to unlock some of Kenta Cho's earlier games and check if the other difficulties are more balanced.

Miffy, have you checked out any of the user content? Anything you'd recommend?

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