Forums > Submission Feedback > honestgamer's Blaster Master Zero review

Cunning Jason Venter is very much aware that I have a soft spot for this series and deem it the one NES games I’m not ashamed of enjoying. The Master System had the epic tale of Phantasy Star, the NES had a tale about a boy chasing his magical frog with a sentient tank he found. That’s alluded to in this review, with magical frog Fred making a new appearance, which is great. Then it feels like the game is lambasted for doing the things it’s supposed to do.

I don’t think that’s what you meant, but complaints that end-of-game bosses are hard and a Metroid-like game involves backtracking are not complaints that stand easily on their own. These are things that are supposed to happen, so if they exist outside these standards, then this needs to be especially noted. The difficulty of the boss is diluted between stuff being too easy, so much so that you were killing them without the use of a special attack you had available all along Then you make fun of yourself for complaining that you had to start thinking about how you tackled these bosses as you had to come up with a strategy, which says more about you than the game. There are certainly games that have end of game fights that are far too hard and have your urge to complete the game battle with your rising frustration, but you don't make that sound the case.

Likewise, the backtracking complaint. Are you backtracking just for the hell of it or because you found new items that unlock previously impassable barriers. Because the second thing is a huge part of the genre as a whole and something people actively look for. I don’t feel enough is said to make this sound like the resounding negative you’ve framed it as. Then you jam the rest in at the end; we all do this, but that controls paragraph was particularly jarring.

You still almost made RotW, though. Which is why I typed all this out in the first place, so you might as well have it anyway, I guess!

For us. For them. For you.

My approach to reviews, which hasn't changed a lot over the years and likely won't, is to let the reader make up his own mind. I try to lay out the game in a way that establishes a decent understanding of its core design, and I try to provide my impressions and give a sense of why I settled on the score I did without turning in a piece that is too long to stand much chance of ever being read, but what I try most is to do all of that in a way that lets the reader say "Well, I think I would like the game more/less than he did!"

Which it sounds like I did here, but I also ran into some trouble because a few of the things I cited as flaws require more words than I wanted to spend on them in order to give someone like you a proper impression of why they are actually flaws (that's not a dig at you, either; it's a sign of your genre experience).

I don't mind backtracking itself, for instance, or even backtracking for the purpose of gathering useful gear. I've appreciated that in numerous games! I just think it's stupid when I complete levels 1-3, progressing steadily to the right, and then the game throws a level 4 at me without telling me that it's actually located just to the upper left of level 1. And then level 5 continues in that direction, and I believe level 6, before I then have to backtrack all the way back to the right for levels 7 and 8. It went something like that, as memory serves, and you have to waste all of that time going back over familiar ground even if you don't give a crap about collecting items you might have missed along the way (though I did).

Then there is the boss, who I could barely scratch after having only moderate difficulty with anything that came before him. I didn't want to go into a lot of detail about the specific nature of the trouble he gave me, because I want to avoid spoilers. But he's outlandishly difficult, and that's not a satisfying way to wrap up a game. The final confrontation should definitely have punch to it, but you should also feel that everything that came before has prepared you to face it and eventually to persevere. Otherwise, there is a lack of appropriate balance that is NOT to the game's credit.

But ultimately, I think it's a good game and I had a lot of fun throughout most of my adventure. I believe that you will too, if you play it (besides being on Switch, the game is available on 3DS). It sounds like you finished reading with those impressions in place, so I consider the review a success. As for RotW placement, I would have liked that, but I write every review for other purposes first and if those stand in the way of getting the nod in that topic, I just have to live with it. ;-)

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

I think Blaster Master Zero it's a good game and I had a lot of fun throughout most of that. Adventurious game!! :)

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