Blast Corps

Well not your path exactly, usually this read fire truck type thing. I forget the story as it has been so long since I played it, but I am thinking the red fire truck thing would explode if it hit something. So you use a variety of vehicles to smash all things in the path of this moving bomb...if it was a moving bomb. Well the vehicles you have to help you level a clear path are a bulldozer (heck yeah!), a suit that can stomp down on buildings (awesome!), motorcycles with missiles (no way!) and a dump truck (what?). Yeah, I basically could not win this one thanks to the inclusion of a dump truck as one of your vehicles of destruction. What was wrong with it, you ask? Well, to pulverize a building or such with it you had to drive at the building and proceed to skid into it. That is right, no head on collision, you had to skid just right to take out said building. Very difficult, I am sure it was done to vary the game play a bit and maximize the difficulty, but it was a pain! All the other vehicles I listed and did not list were fun to use and while there was some challenge, nothing compared to that dump truck. They even had a vehicle with a couple of battering rams that protruded from both sides and it was not as difficult to use as the dump truck. When I saw the dump truck I felt dread as I knew the level would be hard if it was the choice demolisher. As for the game, a nice Nintendo 64 game, one of those that came out of nowhere. It was not a preexisting series, nor based off a movie or hero, it was all about crashing down buildings and other such stuff. One of the stronger games on the Nintendo 64.

There were several gems on the N64 that are forgotten today to some extent. Blast Corps is one of them. While not the most famous game released, it was its first released on the N64 and undoubtedly helped make their mark on the platform.

You control a Blast Corp. Worker clad in green clothing. Your primary objective is to clear a path for a runaway nuclear missile carrier by any means necessary to prevent it from detonating. You'll control an assortment of vehicles ranging from a bulldozer, muscle cars, a dump truck, and even thirty-foot tall robots. Occasionally you must exit your vehicle to quickly commandeer another one to accomplish your mission

Graeme Norgate composed a wide-ranged soundtrack including "Simian Acres", which has a country styled vibe, "Blackridge Works" with its groovy 70's theme. The rest of the soundtrack has a hardcore and metallic feel to it that fits the games genre like a glove.

The sound effects and graphics were amazing for the time. The vehicles would cause intense explosions and emit smashing sounds as you plow through buildings and other objects. You could see dirt and smoldering debris being kicked up and fiery smoke clouds created from all the destruction. A nice touch for the time.

But there's more to the game than just demolition and puzzle solving. Given the sheer size of the maps combined with hidden features, like as dishes and scientists add a bit of adventurism and exploration into the mix.

Some of the vehicles were hard to control, especially the infamous Backlash with its frustrating skidding attack. There's also the repetitiveness of the missions. Of course, the fun factor of breaking things with construction vehicles holds up for a while, but not forever.

Although it didn't reach the same level of success as other Rare titles like Banjo Kazooie or Goldeneye it's still a cult classic that is fondly remembered by many players who grew up in the 90s, including myself. I highly recommend this to people with a Nintendo Switch with an interest in Retro games.