Not even the Wu-Tang Clan would dare to enter this chamber.
That’s not true, they totally would. Did you know there’s a Wu-Tang PS1 controller?
Sadly, I don’t have one of these, so I had to use a boring normal one for Blast Chamber, a game that apparently exists. Its developer, Attention to Detail, doesn’t have an especially impressive history – it may be best known for making Cybermorph, the pack-in game for the Atari Jaguar:
That game is…not great. Blast Chamber came a few years later, though, and was published by a still-not-colossal Activision back in 1996, and touts itself as a futuristic sport, of sorts. I’ll let the back of the case explain what’s going on here:
Frickin’ rad. It also has that mid-90s CGI that you all know and love (and by “know and love,” I mean gaaaaahhhh):
So you’ve got a bomb strapped to you. Now what? You have a solid number of options. The game’s seemingly primary mode is its multiplayer, and it is wild. Each player has a countdown in a corner of the screen indicating how much time they have left. Each player also has a ‘station’ that matches their color on various parts of the, uh…blast chamber. There is a constantly re-appearing crystal that you can fight over and take to any one of the stations – taking it to your own gives you more time, while taking it to an opponent’s station takes time away. That’s pretty much it. Here’s what it looks like:
“But wait!”, you might interject. “This is just a big empty room, and some of the stations are on the walls and ceiling!”. Well, that’s where things get really interesting. For you see, all you need to do is hit one of those arrows, and the chamber rotates, sending anyone unprepared falling to the newly oriented ground:
This is, if you’ll pardon my easy, unforgivable pun, a total blast. There are a couple of different multiplayer modes – one is a “free-for-all,” where everyone has relatively short timers and works to die the fewest times. The other is an “elimination” mode where everyone has one life and a larger timer to start. They’re both pretty great.
What impressed me the most about this game, however, was its single-player mode, which is called Solo Survivor. In each level, you have to collect a crystal and make it to your station/exit thingy, all while avoiding a bunch of traps and other obstacles. You’ll have to rotate the room a bunch to get to the exit and/or to drop the crystal to where you can pick it up, and you don’t have a ton of time to do it (remember, there’s a bomb on your back – it’s a sport). These levels aren’t extraordinarily challenging for the most part, but they’re still super fun (and there are a lot of them – 40 in total). You also have a limited number of lives, but can use a memory card or enter a password to keep your progress. All the while, there’s a soothing, disembodied voice to keep you company and remind you to not die.
Wait a second. Big series of test chambers, weird stuff with “physics,” and a monotone female voice reminding you of what to do? Well that sounds like…
Holy crap.
I’m kind of floored right now. I had absolutely no idea what to expect from Blast Chamber, but I came away very, very pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a Bomberman rip-off, but what I got was something closer to a predecessor of Portal. For a random, unregarded PS1 game, that’s…extraordinary. I need to get some friends together to play this right away. This is a pretty cheap pickup as well, and can be found complete for less than $10. It’s also on the Saturn if you’re weird and into that.
Our next game probably won’t be as good as Blast Chamber, which is a statement I truly never, ever thought I’d make. Honestly it looks pretty rough. Swing next week to see what it is.