Much like the beat ’em up genre, the top-down shooters that were prevalent during the 8-bit generation are making a comeback, with more and more titles being added regularly (I’d be happy to see this trend continue with less focus on battle royale games). These are pretty straight forward games that have two goals: stay alive as long as possible and kill each and every thing in front of you, and FullBlast is no different.

The game places you in the cockpit of a fighter jet as an alien force modeled after gigantic bugs attack a major city. With some hilariously over dramatic bookend scenes that update you on the progress of the war on bugs, the game pulls off the story well enough, working as a throwback to storytelling from past console generations with the only negative point being tons of obvious typos and grammatical mistakes. Since I went in to kick butt and take names, this didn’t ruin the experience, but it manages to be one of the few low points of the game.

The gameplay is straight forward; simply hold down the fire button and move your plane around to dodge the enemy forces using precise movement, and activate an artillery strike when necessary, taking the place of the token bomb option from the genre. Along the way you’ll collect extra lives, score multipliers, and weapon upgrades. The latter is by far the most important, as your fighter’s vanilla attack leaves a bit to be desired, with its short rate of fire and single projectile. The upgrades add a bit of umph to your attacks, but overall are lacking in comparison to other shmups, with only a handful of upgrades being offered. You’ll retain any earned upgrades until you die, which is a rarity due to the overly forgiving life bar. While most games stick with a life per hit method, FullBlast lets you take pretty substantial amounts of damage before losing one of your two lives. The option to continue has been replaced with the ability to start the game from any previously unlocked level, making for an approachable experience for the genre novice while keeping the option to try to clear the game with one credit in place for purists.

The cartoonish visuals provide something nice to look at while shooting down the enemy fighters, featuring highly detailed landscapes showcasing the devastation the enemy forces left on the city below. Each level adds a few additional enemy types that keep the combat fresh, requiring you to adapt to their patterns and attacks. The only weak link in the chain is the less than thrilling “boom” that pops up on the screen each and every time you take out an enemy in a manner that would make Adam West proud, but feels a bit anticlimactic.

FullBlast takes place over the course of a whopping twelve levels, which is by far more than the norm. Each level culminates with a boss battle; these are the typical fights that only require you to pick up on the enemy patterns and attack when the opportunity presents itself. Most of the early battles only require you to save up your precious artillery strikes to win with ease. Only around the game’s midpoint do they actually require some strategy.

The game can be played either solo or with local couch co-op if you want to bring a friend along. I sampled this with my son, who was less thrilled with the game than I was, partly due to the lack of an option to continue once your lives have been exhausted. Regardless of how you play, the experience really doesn’t change, with the only downfall here being that the randomized pick-ups come at the same rate as they do in single player, leaving you feeling a bit underpowered.

While it doesn’t break the mold or offer anything substantial to the genre, FullBlast is a decent addition to any shmup fan’s collection due to the fluid gameplay and budget price point.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Well Animated Environments/Enemies
• Level Select Option
• Precise Controls

Cons

• Lacks Depth for the Long Game
• Boss Battles Are a Bit on the Easy Side
• Some Areas Feel Unpolished

FullBlast was developed by UFO Crash Games and published by Ratalaika Games. It was released on PC in January of 2018, as well as NS, PS4, PS Vita, X1 in September of 2018. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of FullBlast, check out the publisher’s site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

 

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