Blast Chamber

[Jeremy]

Blast Chamber was developed by Attention to Detail and published by Activision in October of 1996 to little fanfare. Outside of a few print ads, this game had very little hype surrounding it, which is perplexing to me since this game was a refreshing change of pace from the norm being released at the time. Hell, it’s still a refreshing change of pace today. As you might imagine, Blast Chamber involves you going around chambers and blasting things. In this game, you’ll go throughout the game’s many unique chambers (which spin around every so often to mix things up a bit) in an effort to get one of your enemy’s crystals and place it in your chamber. If you can put more crystals in your chamber than your opponents before the time runs out, you win.

The gameplay, in execution, is kind of like a glorified, 3D version of capture the flag. Throughout the chambers, there will be power-ups and weapons thrown about to keep the gameplay lively between you and your three enemies. The color-coding system used for the game helps keep things simple. If you’re the red guy, you put your enemy’s crystals in the red chamber, if you’re the green guy, you put them in the green chamber, and so on and so forth. You’ve also got a blue guy and a yellow guy to choose from in this game, so, hopefully, your favorite color is represented in the characters.

The many chambers that you play in are pretty diverse, despite their similar design due to them all being big, giant boxes in the end. One chamber might be filled with lava pits, another might have platforms for you to spring to in order to get an opponent’s crystal, some are even littered with pits and bombs to keep things interesting. The diversity in the chambers gives each and every one of them their own unique feel and vibe. Each one has a certain mood that you can use to your advantage, mentally.

However, not everything in Blast Chamber is great. The far-out 3D perspective used for the game can really hinder the gameplay, and even though there are some camera options you can use to help alleviate the problem to a degree, it’s still there, and it can get in the way of you having fun with the game, or even just you being able to play the game. For starters, the perspective used has the camera placed about a billion feet from the actual chamber you battle in, which makes everything on the screen seem microscopic. The characters end up being inch-high, colored blobs, and the explosions effects are just plain worthless since you can’t appreciate them due to the far-out perspective. The camera options just tilt the camera up or down for you so you can gain a better vantage point of the goings on in the chamber, you’re still locked in the far-out perspective, which is the key problem.

The controls in Blast Chamber are pretty good, if a bit unspectacular. The controls are responsive, and the button layout is logical, which definitely helps out in the heat of battle. Sadly, that’s about where the controls end. There isn’t much to them, and they’re easy to pick up and learn quickly.

The graphics in the game are simply atrocious. The characters are too small, as is nearly everything else in the game, due to the aforementioned camera issues. On top of that, nothing appears to have any detail in it whatsoever, which may or may not be due to the camera issues. Blast Chamber looks like a low-end Genesis game with its drab colors are lackluster details.

Thankfully, the sound picks up some of the slack for the horrid graphics. The music in the game has a fast beat to it, which fits the frantic gameplay perfectly. The multitude of sound effects help round out the fantastic sound. The best sound effect used, in my opinion, is the beeping one used to convey time running out. It’s a simple effect that is used in just the right manner as to make it both helpful, and motivating. Other notable sound effects come from the background objects and things in the chambers. You’ll hear the crackling sounds of electric fields, and some blurping sounds from the lava to help convey the heat of it. These sound effects help add to the unique feel of each chamber, and help the game’s mood out quite a bit.

Blast Chamber’s replay value is pretty limited if you’re the type of person that has to get through a game quickly in order to feel like you’ve accomplished something since the game can be beaten in a matter of hours,. However, if you’re the type of person that enjoys playing a little bit of a game for a long period of time, you’ll love Blast Chamber. The pick-up-and-play gameplay makes it a breeze to just have some quick fun with the game without having to devote hours of your time to a single play session. Odds are, it’s a game that you will get years of enjoyment out of before you put it away for good.

All in all, Blast Chamber is a fun, if rough around the edges, game. I appreciate the unique aspects of the game, but the faults of it, however few in number, are quite glaring and can really detract from your enjoyment of the game. The fun gameplay should help you overlook some of the flaws, as should the fantastic sound. If you’re looking for a game that will provide you with a quick, fun fix, Blast Chamber is it.

[Josh]

1/10

[Tommy Tallarico]

Blast Chamber was developed by Attention to Detail and published by Activision in October of 1996 with little to no fanfare. In hindsight, the lack of hype surrounding this game can be attributed to the fact that it was different than what was being released at the time, when 3D was still in its infancy. Regardless of how little attention the game may have received. it still stands as a breath of fresh air at a time when gaming really needed it.

As you might infer from the title, Blast Chamber involves going around chambers and blasting things. You’ll go throughout the game’s many unique chambers (which spin around every so often as to mix things up a bit) in an effort to get one of your enemy’s crystals and place it in your chamber; it’s a take on capture the flag.
Throughout the chambers, there will be power-ups and weapons thrown about to keep the game lively between you and your three enemies. The color-coding system used for the game helps keep things simple. If you’re the red player, you put your enemy’s crystals in the red chamber, and so forth with the green, blue, and yellow players.

The chambers that you play in each have their own feel, despite their similar design. Certain chambers might be filled with lava pits, or bombs, or springed platforms. The diversity in the chambers gives each and every one of them an identity.

The controls in Blast Chamber are simple and functional. The controls are responsive, and the button layout is intuitive, which helps in the heat of battle. That is essentially where the controls begin and end, and you won’t find yourself having much trouble adjusting to them.

However, not everything in Blast Chamber is as well done as the level design or control. The far-out 3D perspective used for the game can really hurt the game, and the built in camera options never quite fix that. 3D games have always struggled with camera problems, and this early game was certainly no exception. It’s nothing that will make you turn off your Playstation, but you may find yourself squinting a lot.

The graphics in the game also leave much to be desired. From plain textures to the problems caused by the camera system, this is where the game failed the most. The graphics are comparable to 16 bit attempts at 3D, which is inexcusable for a 32 bit game, even an early one.

Thankfully, the sound picks up some of the slack. The music in the game has a fast, frantic beat that matches the tempo of the game step for step. Aside from that, the sound effects used in the game fit the mood of each section perfectly, from the crackling of an electric field to the bubbling of the lava. The sounds of Blast Chamber are sharp and functional.

Blast Chamber is likely something you won’t play for hours on end. However, because it is so easy to pick up and play for an hour at a time, it’s replay value is nearly limitless.

Rough edges and all, this is an enjoyable game, despite a few glaring flaws. The gameplay should help you overlook some of them, and the easy “pick up and play“ nature of this game will keep you coming back for more.

[Jeremy]

Thanks for the revision there, Masters.

[Tommy Tallarico]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

Buy it. Just wait until your mom wins at bingo again, and instead of opting for the new GMR, run down to your local bookstore and buy that book. Take it home, and read it twice. That book is the bible of the written word. One of the biggest rules he emphasizes in that book: OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. I managed to take out 400 words from your review that didn't need to be there. My reader learned just as much as your reader did, but in 550 words instead of 950. My reader is well informed, happy, and he is twice as likely to finish reading my review. You, on the other hand, shatter nearly every single one of Mr. Strunk's rules.

I'll say it again: OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS

[sleeve]

Hell, I have two copies of it lying around. I'll send him one for free.

[Jeremy]

Sorry for infesting the world with my opinion.

[Tyler_Durden]

Originally posted by Jeremy
Sorry for infesting the world with my opinion.

If by "infesting the world with my opinion" you mean "infesting the world with my boring-as-fuck videogame reviews that showcase little to no understanding of the English language", then your apology is not accepted.

[Jeremy]

Sorry.

[Tommy Tallarico]

Originally posted by Jeremy
Sorry for infesting the world with my opinion.

Shut up. I was giving you constructive advice. If you can't take it without being a child about it, and it seems you can't, then I hope Bahn really does ban you from this board.