We can hardly believe it, but
Majesco's
Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy finally got released. It's
in stores right now. And now that it has the distinction of being
real and not just some
constantly-delayed pipe dream, reviewers can
play it and register their opinions.
But, really, how good can a Western-developed remake of a freeware PC shooter, with an editor mode attached,
be? The answer is apparently
"really, really good."
1UP: A -- Ray Barnholt found
Blast Works both a worthy shooter
and an awesome game construction kit: "The core game is cute and clever -- probably not a tide-changer, but it's definitely unique enough to be worth something within its genre (it's an awesome sequel to
Tumiki Fighters, at any rate). And if you've got the desire to design games (and share them with the world via
Blast Works' included online tools), the editor will teach you some basic fundamentals."
IGN: 81% -- Daemon Hatfield heaped more than 81 percent worth of praise on
Blast Works: "With
BlastWorks, what you get for your $40 is a unique, lengthy shooter, a powerful editor for creating your own levels, plus access to unlimited user-generated content from the game's official website, BlastWorksDepot.com. This is a great package, and although it's not going to appeal to everyone it's great to have something so unique in the Wii's library."
Game Informer: 80% -- Even the lowest-scoring review on the list doesn't have many huge complaints: "
It's certainly not perfect; the difficulty balancing is rough around the edges, and the co-op multiplayer is ruined by the fact that the camera doesn't pull back, resulting in total chaos as each player's hunk of junk grows in size. However, I'm pretty addicted to Blast Works, and this addiction might never end due to the amazing level editor and online community functions, which gives players the ability to create anything and everything in the game and share them for free online."
In 2004, Kenta Cho (under the name ABA Games) released TUMIKI Fighters, one of his many freeware polygonal shooters. Then, last year, Majesco baffled us by announcing plans to adapt it to a retail Wii game. Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is an odd candidate for AAA-ness: it's a game in a dormant, extremely hardcore genre, based on obscure freeware and developed by a company whose previous experience has mostly involved ports and licensed games, without any real input from the original creator. It's also published by a company whose success with Cooking Mama inspired them to go "casual."
_thumbnail.jpg "Mega Man 9")
_thumbnail.jpg "Smash Bros. Brawl Snapshots")
