BlastPoints Review

So what we have here with BlastPoints is a space shooter built with the Unreal Engine. One may say, While that sounds like ARC Squadron, a space shooter built with the Unreal Engine, the similarities end there: while that is a more on-rails shooter experience a la Star Fox, this is a free-roaming space shooter, which also has Star Fox similarities but also resembles many other genre entries.

Seriously, the games are actually quite different.

BlastPoints is all about earning the eponymous currency in short levels. Players pick from one of four random missions of varying difficulties, that encompass different goals. I mean, most of them are some variation on “destroy enemies.” There’s ones that require a prerequisite number of kills, or to eliminate certain targets, or to destroy a variable number of enemy ships before time runs out. Oh, and there are survival missions as well, but taking out enemies is a good way to sty alive.

I may be sounding a bit snarky about BlastPoints, and that’s unfair, because the game is quite fun. Its mission structure is great for pick up and play gameplay, and actually does present some variety in the game. The eponymous currency is handed out fairly: taking risks on tougher missions means bigger rewards, but there’s always money to be earned even from failed missions. And the game looks great, with some impressive-looking arenas to battle in.

The only particular thing that keeps BlastPoints from greatness for me is that the game gets a bit easy too quickly. Once I unlocked the railgun, which marauds enemies, I felt like even the hardest difficulty missions were not that difficult. And I mean the first tier railgun; later ones may make things even easier. Victories weren’t guaranteed, but the odds definitely spiked for me, and other upgrades were only going to increase them slightly. Also, the controls are generally decent, but trying to use the secondary weapon frequently led to me doing a barrel roll instead.

BlastPoints is well worth checking out for fans of space shooters. It looks great, can be played quickly, and has plenty of barrel rolls to boot.