Blaster Master Overdrive Review (WiiWare)

Yeah, because we always find laser-shooting crabs underground.

We could sit here and talk about how much we loved Blaster Master on the NES back when we were younger, but you’re better off just playing the game on the Virtual Console service for yourself, investing 500 points in a game that’s equally hard-as-nails and fun as hell.  If you require more of a modern-day combination of vehicular action and top-down shooting, however, you’re in luck.  The recently revived Sunsoft Games is back with Blaster Master: Overdrive for WiiWare, and, in spite of some mild problems, we’re quite pleased with its return.

Like the original NES game, Blaster Master: Overdrive provides three types of gameplay.  The first is riding around in a heavily armored tank called S.O.P.H.I.A., shooting at (or drilling) enemies and occasionally using gadgets to get across wide gaps (such as a rappelling cable).  The second has your main character, Alex, getting out of the vehicle and shooting at things on foot in a side-scrolling fashion.  The third has Alex entering specific rooms, taking on enemies through top-down shooting segments.  All of these combine together into a worthwhile retro experience, very reminiscent of the NES original.

This game isn’t really for the rookies.  Overdrive has a huge difficulty factor that may be hard for some of you to comprehend, particularly with the usage of its save points.  There is no auto-save option here, so you’ll have to watch your health very carefully or risk starting way back at the beginning of a stage.  Furthermore, buttons are automatically mapped out for you, with auto-strafing confusingly set on the B button.  It would’ve made more sense to optionally move it to another button, such as “A” or “2”, but that simply isn’t available here.

Once you gnash your teeth and overcome these impediments, however, you’ll like how Overdrive delivers.  The level design is simply fantastic, especially in the later parts of the game, where all sorts of unnatural freaks come popping up to the surface.  The boss battles are also fantastic, with patterns to memorize and no shortage of health restoring opportunities, should you take one hit too many.  If you’re a fan of the original, you’ll definitely like what Sunsoft did here.

Better yet, this is a sequel that definitely has heart in the presentation.  The music is clearly inspired from the original soundtrack, and manages to maintain its energy over the long haul.  The sound effects are good, too.  (Kudos to Sunsoft for not resurrecting the irritating S.O.P.H.I.A. voice that nearly ruined the short-lived PS1 follow-up Blaster Master: Blasting Again.)  The visuals are equally inspired, with beautiful 16-bit style backdrops, a splendid use of colors (the lava-filled stages are great to watch) and effective little animations.  Even the 3-D “zoom out” piece is here for good measure.

If you aggravate easily, you might want to consider holding off on buying Blaster Master: Overdrive in favor of something that’s trouble-free.  However, if you don’t mind holding your feet to the fire and taking some battle damage for a few hours, you’ll like what this sequel has to offer.  It’s good to see Sunsoft hasn’t lost its edge over the years.  Now, if only it could bring back Batman…