Blaster Master Zero 3 - Switch Review

Blaster Master Zero 3 by developer and publisher Inti Creates—Nintendo Switch review written by Pierre-Yves.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

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After having originally saved the Earth from the Mutant invasion in the original Blaster Master Zero, the SOPHIA's support android Eve was infected by their virus. Heading towards Eve's home planet of Sophia, plans didn't quite go according to plan in Blaster Master Zero 2. Having finally made it though, things took a turn for the worst, Jason must now turn rogue and escape from a wrongful imprisonment during a mutant attack on the planet Sophia to save Eve who's he's been separated from before things are too late as the whole planet is out to get them.

Now while I would readily recommend playing through the first two entries in the series to know exactly what's going on and who's who as there are a couple of people to keep track of including a previous adversary now warming your support chair, you can still easily drop into the new adventure without it. Will some points be lost? Sure, but, BMZ3 does a good job at telling you what you need to know for the adventure ahead including some of what's already been said and done.

Otherwise fans of multiple genres are in for a treat. Blaster Master Zero 3 continues the twists on classics by combining 2D Metroidvania platformers with 3D action adventure styles through a variety of environments both in the "real-world" and what is known as the super-dimensional space. Having previously thought of this as a really neat concept and having enjoyed it, the latest entry has upped its game adding in extra elements to both challenge and confuse you as the adventure moves on.

Starting off on a point that can either make or break the experience, the start of BMZ3 sees Jason starting from scratch as all of his equipment has been taken away and the Metal Attacker that he pilots has been stripped bare. Starting from nothing especially in a series can be tough especially when it's the same character as before and you have been loaded up to the nines with all of your gear. Some do this well, some others miss the mark completely, but BMZ3 does a decent job as it integrates it into the story and it makes the premise of this loss make sense.

So with nothing more than a voice at the other end of a comm, Jason breaks out of jail, grabs his weapons and the SOPHIA and moves to find both Eve and the dimension frog Fred that’s pulled them both out of a few jams with his portals. From there, the rest is a blast and I mean that literally as you’ll be jumping, running, dodging and shooting your way through a variety of mutants and planet Sophia security forces and it’s brilliant in how you go about it.

It’s really an interesting style that can take some time to adjust to as you have to constantly think about two separate styles and gameplays. While exploring in the SOPHIA, you’ll be in a 2D side scrolling view driving, wall jumping, thruster packing and eventually even driving on the walls and flying through water to reach your goals. Helping you out are a variety of weapons from the main cannon to missiles, guiding lasers, incendiary shells and more. As the controls only really allow you to move, jump, and use two weapon systems, there’s the ability to map other weapons systems, or exploration systems like dashing through things, to your triggers making things much more interesting once the giant bosses come out to play.

Being a tank though, the SOPHIA can’t go everywhere and often Jason is going to have to leave the safety of the tank to go out on foot. Like the tank though, Jason has plenty of gear to help him fight on the ground such as blasters, laser whips and other fun blaster type weapons, bombs and spiral blades. Upping his prowess, Jason also has the ability to counter enemy attacks from both ranged and melee which can turn even the most helpless of situations into manageable ones. It’s fun and the switch between the two styles helps keep things fresh as there’s a flow and it’s not always just more of the same.

New to Blaster Master Zero 3 is the integration of what is known as the super-dimensional space which acts as an added layer of puzzling and exploration for Jason both inside and outside of the SOPHIA. Inside, he’s safe but there can be some pretty crazy things that happen such as the reversal of gravity meaning that if you were trying to go down, you now have your work cut out for you as your tank is only ever trying to go up. On foot though, things are much more dangerous as it adds in a time limit to how long Jason can actually be there as there’s only so much of the added pressure that his suit can handle at a time before it collapses on him.

Where things can get really tricky, and this falls into a love it or hate it, are the boss fights. They are big, they are bad, but once you master their move sets, they are easy but some may take some time in order to get there. The love it or hate it though is that some boss fights will start in the super-dimensional realm and then move to the real realm, or, the other way around. In either of these cases, one phase will be in 2D and the other in a 3D format and if you fail in either stage, you’re going to have to restart from scratch. If I were to have had any issue, that would have been it.

So between the real and the super-dimensional worlds, the 2D platforming and the 3D action adventure sequences, there’s plenty to keep you on your toes as you move forwards in order to try to find Eve. Bringing back some of the previous cast both full time and as subplots was also neat as there are some things that you wouldn't have expected that work out great, and in other moments, the dialog is just gold as not everyone who’s made a comeback is a friend. BMZ3 has great gameplay, well written dialog, and some puzzles that will really make you think about how the hell you’re going to pull it all off.

Summary

Overall, fans of metroidvanias, 2D platformers and 3D action adventures will have plenty to look forward to even if you’ve never dipped your toes into the world of Blaster Master Zero. For returning fans? The finale is worth it and the upgrades to previous systems and the addition of new ones was just simply fun.

Score: 8.25 / 10

 

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Blaster Master Zero 2 - Switch Review

After the recent announcement and surprise release during the latest Nintendo Showcase, Blast Master Zero 2 became available for fans of the now one off having become a series. Reprising your role as Jason alongside the help of Fred the dimensional frog and the android Eve, you'll now be exploring the Galaxy in a new version of the SOPHIA. Your Goal? Head to Eve's homeworld in order to save her from the parasitic infection of mutant DNA that is currently taking her over, and yes, I love the nod to Parasite Eve!

A bit of disclaimer here, I've never played Blast Master Zero so I can't really compare the sequel to it's predecessor. What I can do however is state what a pleasant and fun experience it is. Merging a side scrolling metroidvania in a flying tank alongside smaller third person action dungeons when Jason gets out of the SOPHIA to explore smaller areas? Hours went by the first time I picked it up and man were they worth it.

Being new to the series however, BMZ 2 starts off with a quick recap of the events of the first while also setting up the direction of the second. Now unable to leave the SOPHIA as it's the only thing keeping Eve's mutations at bay, she, Jason and Fred set out to cross the universe in hopes of finding a cure to Eve's condition.

As nothing ever goes to plan, BMZ 2 starts off with the crew of the SOPHIA crash landing on a random planet that just happens to be inhabited by mutants that will kill you if you're not careful. Acting as a tutorial, it doesn't take long before figuring out that there are essentially three types of gameplays available. Split more into half of one and then two halves of the others, the core gameplay of BMZ will be in the SOPHIA as you drive, jump, wall jump, hover and shoot your way across plenty of alien planets. The controls are simple but add some complexity when you start to get newer weapon types that are more than your simple cannon fire and basic rockets.

Anything outside of your standard attack and jumps uses up power. Rockets, Homing Rockets, Hovering and a lot more, all use parts of your power meter. Your meter will fill up in time but it’s slow and more often than not you’ll probably empty it in the heat of the moment causing the SOPHIA to go into a power drained mode. While power drained, the SOPHIA takes added damage, does less damage, and is all around more vulnerable to enemy attacks. To circumvent this, falling from REALLY high will cause a spike in your power systems as it’s possible to recharge through kinetic energy. Who would have thought dropping from so high would have been a good thing and not kill you? Well in a tank it doesn’t, as Jason leaves the cockpit, you’d better be careful.

Unlike Trogdor who was a Man, a Dragon Man, no, he was just a Dragon! Jason is a Man and a fairly normal one at that. Jumping out of the SOPHIA'S cockpit is definitely not safe but it is often required in order to fit into smaller spaces that lead to either bonus items or items that are required in order to continue exploring.

The first of Jason’s gameplay modes plays out like riding around in the SOPHIA however a fall from what could simply look like a modest height is more than enough to end Jason's life. You have to be quite careful. Only adding to the danger are that the beings that attack you while in your tank are even more dangerous once Jason is outside of it and Jason's blaster is not quite the most powerful. So limiting just how far he needs to go before finding a space to duck into is always best.

Once you get Jason into an area though, things spice up a bit as the 2D platforming is replaced with a 3D action / adventure type of gameplay in which Jason is truly the main star with plenty of weapons at his disposal. Becoming essentially less squishy, these segments had to have been my favorite part. Running around shooting your enemies, solving puzzles and performing boss fights. It was fantastic as it was never overly complicated nor was it ever drawn out to the point of boredom.

Now it’s not that you don't have boss fights in the SOPHIA, but it really isn't the same. There’s a bigger stress as you have a squishy body and all depending on your performance, you’re penalized which can severely limit your combat options. Acting like a reverse power meter, Jason can pick up power ups that allow for bigger moves to be performed that require xth amount of power to perform. While this sounds rather standard, if Jason is hit, the power meter drops. This teaches you very fast to learn enemy patterns and use what you have as effectively as possible.

Blaster Master Zero 2 was loads of fun. Coming out of nowhere for fans of the first and for me, I have zero regrets and will now head out in order to play the first to see just how the two compare to one another. With more or less three varied modes of gameplay, slick controls and plenty of new abilities to pick up and use against standard and boss mutants alike, there’s plenty to enjoy for both fans of metroidvanias and platformers!

Game Information

Platform:
Nintendo Switch
Developer(s):
Inti Creates
Publisher(s):
Inti Creates
Genre(s):
Action
Platformer
Metroidvania
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Week in Review - March 20th to 24th

Following on the back of last week, here's this week's Week in Review!

Monday Rémi asked everyone to dance with a preview of The Behemoth's Pit People that is currently available through Steam's Early Access. What did he think? He believes that it's a gift to the gaming world:

"Wrapping this up, here. Because yes, I believe Pit People indeed IS a gift to the gaming world (gift… wrapping… yeah), or at least it's shaping up to be. Its appeal, style, quirkiness and extremely diverse gameplay, alone, would make it a recommendation, but the Behemoth touch, through the narrator and the truckload of personality the game exudes make this one a special kind of game. "

- Rémi

A little hard to follow up on that, Tuesday saw Robert's Review of 343 Industries's Halo Wars 2.

"Halo Wars is a comfortable and appropriate evolution of the original and is a glowing successor to the original's daring attempt at creating a real-time strategy game for consoles. A new threat, an old friend, Halo Wars 2 fits into the entire Halo franchise quite well."

- Robert

Wednesday Richard tackled the differently styled Shoot 'Em Up Blue Rider.

"While not necessarily best in class or most unique, Blue Rider offers a fresh new 3D take on an old 2D style of game. Environments are bright and transition between each other fluidly, controls are smooth and easy to handle, and stage design was overall well done."

- Richard
 

The Switch saw a bit more action on Thursday with Nick tackling Blaster Master Zero by Inti Creates. Worth it? I would already say so being from Inti Creates but don't take my word for it!

"Blaster Master Zero hearkens back to a much older age in video gaming, but it does so with a certain loving care that does more than just rely on nostalgia."

- Nick

Finally yesterday I tackled Hollow Ponds' Loot Rascals. Like Adventure Time's art style? Like Roguelikes? Stop waiting and start playing!

"Loot Rascals was one of the more entertaining Roguelikes that I've played in a while. The visuals are pretty to look at and the mechanics are different than the "norm" making for a new and fresh experience to a style that I know very well and love for some strange reason."

- Pierre-Yves (Me)

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend!

- Pierre-Yves

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Blaster Master Zero - Switch Review

Blaster Master Zero hearkens back to a much older age in video gaming, but it does so with a certain loving care that does more than just rely on nostalgia. In truth, the original Blaster Master on the NES always felt somewhat ahead of its time when I played it, mixing genres a little and providing some outstanding platforming and action thrills. Blaster Master Zero is a really strong release title for the Switch and should readily appeal to fans of the older games.

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