BlaZeon: The Bio-Cyborg Challenge (SNES) review "BlaZeon is one of the many SNES shooter titles that went unnoticed by the majority of the general public and after spending a lot of time with old school shmups I have to say that I agree with most that the experience of bog standard shooters like blah-zeon rival Melatonin in being making gamers drowsy, I have to say it's got a few charms scattered in its evidently flawed game design. "

BlaZeon is one of the many SNES shooter titles that went unnoticed by the majority of the general public and after spending a lot of time with old school shmups I have to say that I agree with most that the experience of bog standard shooters like blah-zeon rival Melatonin in being making gamers drowsy, I have to say it's got a few charms scattered in its evidently flawed game design.

For one, it's worth noting that this is a port of the arcade version meaning that the 2 player mode has been cut out for no good reason and so have the jaw dropping graphics (for their time anyway).

Interestingly, the backgrounds to BlaZeon aren't half bad; they are repetitious and vast, but a lot of them have some fine detail to them and at the very least, they don't scream "Beginner at Mario Paint."

One good aspect that was ported from the original however was the game's soundtrack which does contribute a little to the game's boringly slow pace, but at times actually remembers it's supposed to be a shooter and will kick the pace in the pants a little.

After the second level mini-boss fight with the red cruiser ship oddly named Guanols, the soundtrack kicks in with this awesome fight music that sounds nothing short of dire and heavy. Afterwards you enter level 3 towards a Death-Star-esque base called Kalimoa where the actual pace of the game really kicks in: there are no long drawn out pauses lacking enemies and the soundtrack from the start of the stage to the end keeps the pace going long and hard.

It's in few moments like these that BlaZeon actually shines as a shooter because they almost feel important and worth playing through like in most shooters that over use the dire feeling of fighting on and on to the point where you literally feel like you're fighting in some scripted, but epic war movie.

Sadly, everything else beyond those claims of mine are true: capturing cyborgs becomes forced and tedious, every level except level 3 has at least two or more moments where you'll be floating on screen without enemies and nothing happens and the ending is one of the most nihilistic, anti-climactic, pointless excuses of a game ending to rival the four endings you get in Silent Hill 4.

The game seems to imply something beyond the plot tells you, especially considering how gooey and monstrous your enemies get later in the game, as if the generic evil Imperial Earth Army you're fighting was actually taking orders, but beyond the established Star Wars-esque premise, it's really up to your imagination.

I can only really recommend it for its soundtrack and occasional aesthetics, but unless you can speed up the game somehow or if you can get the game nice and cheap, it's hard to recommend.

Community review by newalone4 (June 30, 2008) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.