Blast Works: Build, Trade & Destroy user review

Blast Works combines a great online experience and editor.

Review written by
Chris

September 25th, 2008

Though a young console, The Wii has seen its fair share of several shooters over it life. Most of these include classics on the virtual console. However, Blast Works truly stands out as one of the most original and engaging experiences you will find on the Nintendo Wii. It combines all the things you want in a shooter as well as fresh gameplay to produce an amazing experience.

I'll get the worst out of the way first, Blast Works' graphics will not blow you away. However, they do serve their purpose. In addition, the music does get a little repetitive. In most games this would seriously flaw the game, but in Blast Works it makes level creation easier for the player (more on that later).

A gameplay mechanic introduced in Blast Works is the ability to attach enemy ships to yours after their defeat. Dozens of ships can be attached to your ship and all of their weapons automatically fire. Players have to choose when to unleash and draw in attached enemies. This encourages players to form strategies, building up their enemy stockpile for bosses.

The biggest draw in blast works is the editor. If you can think it, you can make it. Editor types include ships, shapes, bullets and enemies. Then you can combine your creations in the level editor. It's very rewarding to see a finished product.

However Blast Works takes it one step further. After you create something, you can upload it to your friends or to the blast works website (No friend codes!). From there, you can view other people's creations or download them to your Wii. Blast Works' online experience is seamless.

You will be spending most of your time in the editor, but for those less creative there is a campaign mode. It's short but its high level of difficulty will force several retries.

Blast Works is an amazing 2-D shooter for the Wii. It delivers what you expect from a shooter as well as adding fresh new game play mechanics. The immense editing system and the online depot will keep you coming back for more. I recommend you pick up Blast Works and I can't wait to see your creations.