Blast Factor is a physics-based action game which takes players into a fierce microbiological arena to guide a nano-machine against viral swarms. Proceed from specimen to specimen, waging microscopic war against an array of deadly viruses. Tilt the SIXAXIS controller to send ripples through the arena that shove enemies into groups, and then blast ‘em into catastrophic chain explosions for big points! Immersive high adrenaline arcade action in full HD at 1080p.
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One of the first games on PS3 store. It's a short and pretty sweet inexpensive bullet hell style twin stick shooter game, worth of the asking price. Nice effects and good gameplay. It was released mainly to showcase you Sixaxis motion controls and full HD 1080 graphics.
hell fuckin yea used to BEAST this game with frank in college
Okayish twinstick shooter with coop mode.
But since it is an early PS3 games they just had to include motion controls
But since it is an early PS3 games they just had to include motion controls
At the time of this writing, PS3's online store was about to get shut down, but after tons of complaints Sony surprisingly caved in, even though it most likely will get shut down anyway sooner rather than later. This made me think to check out (at least some of) the games that are only available on PS3, for personal curiosity and posterity's sake. That was my only real reason to check out Blast Factor, a PS3 launch game that is meant to show off the console's particle effects, the sixaxis motion controls, and the fact that you can now buy videogames digitally. Might seem obvious now, but in 2006 this was a fairly big deal.
Other than being a good showcase for all those things, Blast Factor is actually not half bad as a twin stick shooter either. Its obvious surface-level similarities to Geometry Wars (another launch game, that one on the Xbox 360 instead) will show immediately, but there's nothing wrong in taking something that works and tweaking it a bit. Blast Factor's two tricks are the sixaxis controls and the fact that the main method of destroying enemies aren't specifically your shots as much as the chain explosions that an enemy will create.
Getting it out of the way immediately, obviously the motion controls are very tacky and stick out really badly from the rest of the game. You can slow down time by shaking the controller, which is an action that can be useful but was more of a hindrance because of how sensitive the controls are, leading this action to be triggered by accident more often than not, and you can tilt the field by literally tilting the controller, which is the worst offender. Not only is it a complete pace breaker but there's literally only one enemy that this move will be useful against, which really makes it feel like Sony told the developers to add some motion-based actions at the last second. The mechanic of having to use enemies' blasts to create a chain reaction that can very quickly wipe out entire waves is, instead, pretty fun. It makes the game feel pretty different from most other twin stick shooters as it makes you prioritize enemies based on size and/or positioning, and in general it's a fun gameplay loop.
I wouldn't tell anybody to start up their PS3s and go on PSN specifically for Blast Factor, but next to other purchases this can be a pretty ok time-waster. It offers some extra content, it's pretty easy to just pick up and play, and for the price of $3, you could honestly do a lot worse nowadays. Shame that Bluepoint became just a port/remake company after this, because the foundation of Blast Factor is surprisingly solid.
Other than being a good showcase for all those things, Blast Factor is actually not half bad as a twin stick shooter either. Its obvious surface-level similarities to Geometry Wars (another launch game, that one on the Xbox 360 instead) will show immediately, but there's nothing wrong in taking something that works and tweaking it a bit. Blast Factor's two tricks are the sixaxis controls and the fact that the main method of destroying enemies aren't specifically your shots as much as the chain explosions that an enemy will create.
Getting it out of the way immediately, obviously the motion controls are very tacky and stick out really badly from the rest of the game. You can slow down time by shaking the controller, which is an action that can be useful but was more of a hindrance because of how sensitive the controls are, leading this action to be triggered by accident more often than not, and you can tilt the field by literally tilting the controller, which is the worst offender. Not only is it a complete pace breaker but there's literally only one enemy that this move will be useful against, which really makes it feel like Sony told the developers to add some motion-based actions at the last second. The mechanic of having to use enemies' blasts to create a chain reaction that can very quickly wipe out entire waves is, instead, pretty fun. It makes the game feel pretty different from most other twin stick shooters as it makes you prioritize enemies based on size and/or positioning, and in general it's a fun gameplay loop.
I wouldn't tell anybody to start up their PS3s and go on PSN specifically for Blast Factor, but next to other purchases this can be a pretty ok time-waster. It offers some extra content, it's pretty easy to just pick up and play, and for the price of $3, you could honestly do a lot worse nowadays. Shame that Bluepoint became just a port/remake company after this, because the foundation of Blast Factor is surprisingly solid.