In this review, we blast the colored blocks in the GameCube game worms Blast. We find out how well this puzzle game plays.
This game was released in 2002 and is a spinoff of the Worms franchise.
There’s no real story behind this other than you find yourself traveling on the world map beating levels.
If you remember this game for being a turn-based strategy like Worms:Armageddon, then it is easy to think that this game will be just like that. As far as this game is concerned, you’ll be in for quite a surprise because this game plays very differently.
Perhaps the only thing that is similar to other games is the use of the worms and a small sampling of a couple of classic weapons from the main series.
Your main weapon is the traditional bazooka. This weapon allows you to fire with an ability to control the power of your shot. The stronger the shot, the more distance you’ll get. There is also the shotgun which permits two shots. Dynamite can be collected and used to stick on objects when thrown. Once stuck, the dynamite will ignite. That’s a few of the weapons you can get in the game.
So, what is so spectacularly different about this game, then? It’s not turn based nor is it a strategy game. Instead, it is a game very similar to Super Bust a Move. The objective is to fire color coded shots at identical colored tiles on the screen. If a matching shot hits the tiles, you clear all those tiles. For extra points, you can also eat all the food that falls down as well. If you hit a tile with a different color, then every tile in the small blast radius will change to the color of the shell you used. This can help or hinder things depending on the situation.
In addition to this, if you isolate a bunch of tiles in the air, they will fall down, eliminating them from the screen as well.
What separates this game from the Bust a Move franchise is the fact that you can move your worm around the bottom of the play space. This generally allows for better control of your shots. The pitfall here is that if you let falling tiles hit you, you take damage.
Another thing worth noting is that if you miss the field entirely, the game will also throw a heavy falling object at you which also causes you to take damage if you get hit.
The game features multiple modes of play: Puzzle, Tournament, and vs. Puzzle is the main mode of play for single players. You first encounter an optional tutorial that tells you the basics of play. After that, you take on the multi-branched progress tree as you guide your character around the world.
Puzzle mode compels you to clear different objectives. This can range from shooting a target, shooting stars, clearing the play space, or hitting specific colored tiles. The range is quite large. However, making this game challenging is the fact that you’ll typically encounter a time limit to clear your objective. In some cases, you might also encounter a limited supply of shots on top of it all. So, precision and speed are both keys to your success.
Tournament mode is also single player. All it is are slightly modified versions of some of the levels you’ll encounter in the game. The goal is to get the highest score possible and obtain the levels high score.
Finally, there is vs. mode. When you go up against the computer, you’ll be able to choose between three different modes: Death Match, Star Collection, and Tide Trial. All three operate on a best of three match. You pretty much keep playing until you are bored.
Death Match is a standard vs. mode. You have two lives. The surviving player wins. The playing field gradually moves down. You can keep plucking away your play field to make sure it is as clean as possible. Along the way, you’ll encounter stars. This will lower the water level. Additionally, you can obtain weapon crates. These carry special weapons that you can use to either defend yourself or attack your opponent.
Star Collection is similar to Death Match mode, only a winning condition is collecting 5 stars. Beware because you can accidentally shoot stars. This removes the stars from the play field and does not count toward your total collection.
Finally, there is Tide Trial. This also operates like Death Match, only you get far more stars and the tide goes up much more quickly. Surviving player wins.
One thing that these modes all have in common is a randomly opening barrier between the two play fields. This allows you to shoot either your opponent or your opponents play field. If you hit your opponent, they will lose health. Alternatively, if you hit your opponents play field, you can turn tiles black (this will require your opponent to change them to another color or isolate them in the air to eliminate). Beware, however, because if your shot matches the color on your opponents play field, it’ll eliminate those tiles for them (thereby helping your opponent).
That is the general gist of this game.
For me, this one is a huge disappointment. I mean, I can definitely tell that the developers are desperately trying to turn the Worms franchise into an action game. In fact, this isn’t the first time an attempt like this is made. In this case, it really didn’t work here.
For one, the way the firing works, you are given a limited period of time to make a shot. This forces you to take a look at trajectory, power, angle, and (in other games) wind speed and direction. This requires some thought to get reasonably close. In this game, you basically not only slap a time limit on these levels, but also require some extremely precise playing as well. As a result, the game play styles clash a bit in this game.
To make matters worse, the controls are actually not that great. You also have to account for subtle drift as well. This can cause your perfectly lined up shot to clip other tiles. Given that many of your shots not only have to be tile specific at times, but you are also sometimes going after moving targets to boot. This makes for some rather frustrating play. In addition to this, trying to fire in rapid succession can be annoying because even slight movements will disable your ability to fire for a moment. So, it really is a mess.
Moving over to the puzzle mode, I found it to be a highly flawed experience over top of this. First of all, the game does allow you to go through a tutorial mode that can be a bit challenging at times – especially if you are new to the franchise. Once you make it through to the other side of the tutorial mode, you’ll be able to start exploring. The first few levels are definitely challenging, but doable. After that, the game’s difficulty ramps up considerably. By the third or fourth level, the game seemingly requires the precision and speed of a speed runner. This is because requirements and time limits are so tight, it leaves little room for error – if any at all.
On the plus side, the vs. computer mode is at least rather reasonable even if some of the modes are quite challenging. Even then, it felt like this mode is a bit on the aimless side because you seemingly endlessly collect trophies. At one point, I racked up 10 trophies and noticed opponent characters being recycled. It might be fun for an hour or so, but that’s about it.
Considering this franchise contains some incredibly fun titles, this one really takes things way off course. It’s almost like the developers had a situation where a game idea sounded good in theory, but not only did it not work out in practice, but it was also poorly executed as well. I found myself throwing my hands up in the air and asking, “What the heck is this? How can developers who can produce such enjoyable titles turn around and churn something this bad out?”
Generally speaking, it might be faster to just point out what worked in this game: the vs. CPU mode. Even then, the enjoyment you get becomes fleeting after an hour or so. Puzzle mode, the main mode of the game, is badly implemented thanks largely to bad controls and a steep difficulty curve. The fact that two different playing styles were badly meshed together just didn’t help, either. Having to navigate between levels on puzzle mode is a pain because you constantly have to select “no” to move to another space. So, a game I couldn’t even begin to enjoy.
Graphics are extremely basic. With this style of game, you’re already limiting yourself to what you can do. The effects are decent, but after that, all you get for the most part is some background art, a few simple models, the water level, and basic 2D art. As console games grow increasingly further away from 2D style of play, you have to really justify why the playing style is still 2D. This franchise delivered in the past, but not here. This one is far below expectations of your average GameCube game.
As for audio, this one wound up being a bit of a miss for me. The music, when isolated, is actually quite decent. However, when you combine it with other elements of play, it tends to get lost in the shuffle. Sound effects are OK, though limited. Finally, voice acting is OK, but nothing too spectacular in this case. So, disappointing on this front too.
Overall, considering the clout this franchise has built up in the past for me, this was a very big letdown. The controls are frustrating and the difficulty curve is quite steep. Navigating the puzzle mode levels is annoying and tedious. Meanwhile, the vs. CPU mode does offer some mild entertainment, but that entertainment tends to be quite fleeting. Graphics are quite basic and the few good points about audio gets somewhat muted while in play. So, for me, a title I would avoid unless you want to toy around with vs. CPU mode for a bit.
Overall
Furthest point in game: Beat 6 puzzle levels.
General gameplay: 13/25
Replay value: 5/10
Graphics: 5/10
Audio: 2/5
Overall rating: 50%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
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