Blastful (PS4, Switch)

Blastful is a single screen arcade style space shooter that combines elements from classics like Asteroids and Missile Command.  It’s available on PS4 and Switch, but reviewed on PS4 here.

You view the action on a single screen, and use the left analog stick to move your spaceship around.  Use the right analog stick to point your ship in one of eight directions.  Any of the other face buttons fires your weapons.  Avoid waves of missiles and shoot ships for a few minutes, then shoot all the turrets on a boss ship and destroy it to complete the level.  Power-ups will appear from time to time.  These include health and shields, as well as new weapons and ammo.  You can switch weapons with the L and R shoulder buttons.  They all have limited ammo except for your default projectiles.  There is also radar on the bottom right of the screen, but it seems kind of pointless since the action is all on one screen anyway.

One small problem the game has is that there are no instructions.  Granted this kind of game is easy to figure out, but it still took me a bit to discover how to switch weapons and such.  And if there are any features in the game I’m missing, then I’ll blame the lack of instructions on that, too.

But you know what the biggest problem with the game is?  Surprisingly, it’s that the game is TOO easy!  Which is unusual for me to say that because I stink at shooters, and I normally complain about games being too hard.  And I even had this game on the Normal difficulty setting, not Easy.  I was able to go through all the levels in about an hour, and got all the trophies, too!  Yup, this is the second PS4 games I’ve gotten a platinum trophy for!  (the other one being Storm Boy)  I guess I could play the game again in Hard mode, but because of the lack of enemy variety, the game is also kind of boring, too.  When I got to level 20, I said, “Well, I’ll play to level 21 and then stop,” but the game ended afterward so that took care of that.  I guess if you want a game that’s easy to get a platinum trophy for, this is a good one.  But if you are a shooter pro, you won’t be challenged at all.

Kid Factor:

You shoot at generic spaceships that explode when defeated, but that’s about as violent as it gets.  One good thing about the game being too easy is that it may be a good game for younger players, as no reading skill is required to play either.  Blastful is rated E for Everyone.

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