I've been playing lots of shmups lately - Castle of Shikigami 3, Monkey King and, as of today, Blast Works.



Blast Works is a re-imagining of Kenta Cho's classic Tumiki Fighters. Tumiki is a shooter in which destroyed enemies became blocks that could be caught and became part of the player's ship. The game was imaginative and fun, if a bit easy. Budcat has taken the concept and run with it. The game is absolutely fantastic. The ship controls very smoothly and the hit box is appropriately small. Action gets rather hectic as the player's ship grows, taking up more screen space and gathering more firepower. Some enemy ships add extra guns and firepower to the player's ship when absorbed, which results in the player having some rather interesting bullet patterns. The absorbed ships also act as a shield until they're hit and fall off. At one point, my ship was the length of the screen. Luckily, the bulk of the ship does not affect the speed and control of the ship.

My wife and I played through the first 4 levels. We used the Wiimote, held NES style. We both had a great time and laughed quite frequently. Quote of the evening, from Emily: "I need some more helicopters and shit." That sums up the experience perfectly.

Beyond the main game, there is an editor that allows players to completely design new games. I'm excited to try my hand at designing a shmup. It's been a dream of mine ever since I took a videogame design class. The game doesn't stop there, though: four original Kenta Cho games are unlockable - Tumiki Fighters, rRootage, Gunroar and Torus Trooper. I cannot wait to play rRootage on my HDTV. Not a bad deal for $40.

If you have a Wii and like fun games and/or shmups, buy it.