It'll take more than nostalgia to redeem the horrid gameplay of Blaster Master. *long*
This is probably the deepest the story can get.
Blaster Master is a mixed bag of frustrating consequences. After the game has treated you with a clunky CGI introduction, everything else that you remember from SunSoft's 1988 NES game becomes familiar territory. You still have the vehicle that uses jet propulsion to navigate and traverse seemingly high cliffs. You'll also encounter your assortment of baddies that litter the maze at random with no true purpose except to kill you. You will also bring back fond memories of backtracking very often from room to room shooting switches and taking down barriers from the corners of the map. Blaster Master also takes this stroll on memory lane a step further through the miracle of "respawning enemies". This is the case where you enter the next room and return only to find the same guys you killed 30 seconds ago.
Many games have used backtracking with good results but this would not be so bad with Blaster Master if there were more incentives to kill enemies than just refill your health meter. It would also help if the enemies were at least pleasant to shoot at but most of the time they are the typical uncreative bunch such as turrets on cliffs or spiders with missiles. The loading times between each room doesn't help either and most of the time you will have to find a way to take down that barrier - Blaster Master's favorite objective. The game also loves to do platform jumping in a variety of cliffs, pointless floating platforms, and the like. Put this all in 3-D and you're left with a bevy of very frustrating gameplay. The camera is also problematic. When you jump out of your vehicle and navigate the smaller dungeons by foot, Blaster Master's camera can only be turned at 90 degree intervals via L2/R2 buttons and it turns very slow. You can be surrounded by many enemies but turning around to see who's shooting from behind takes several seconds and by the time you do get a pulse on your target, you're dead. This gets worse when there are platforms and cliffs involved because Blaster Master has also given you the ability to side jump. Now this sounds good on paper when quickly evading incoming fire until you find out that the buttons (L1/R1) for this "feature" is conveniently located next to the camera controls (L2/R2). If you find yourself on a square cliff, you may find yourself side jumping into a chasm when all you really wanted to do is turn around and get in your vehicle named Sophie. Go figure.
Elfie, who's also supposed give you tips on what to do next, is hardly a help. Her most specific instructions are usually "take down that barrier somehow". Even when playing for the first time, you're never prompted when you've reached a save point. Make sure you've taken note of this after reading this review. The game makes alot of assumptions that you've read the instruction booklet. Otherwise, when you do die, you might as well rename that "Continue" option to "New".
Blaster Master tries very hard to mimic alot of the gameplay that made the original a good game but the translation to 3-D is messy. The game seems more or less rehashed to take up the players time than anything which can only hold your interest for so long. The game doesn't have much character and it shows through its uninspired enemies, and weaponry. The design of the levels are messy animated textures and the music seems more like an afterthought than a revisiting of the older game.
Blaster Master is more or less a simple cash in on the license. This game is mediocre at best. You can make better use of your time with a better game.
radcastro.com