Most of the levels in Slam Bolt Scrappers follow this pattern, but most levels feature their own quirks, such as platforms that descend into lava when your stack gets too heavy or towers that periodically switch positions onscreen. The only exceptions are the boss levels, which invariably require you to bash in the boss’s defense mechanism so your tower’s missiles can knock it into submission. When combined with the acts of defending against your opponent, battling your enemies, and building your towers (particularly on the more challenging ranks of the game’s four difficulty settings), these little changes turn the already-hectic gameplay into a heart-pounding experience. as a result, it’s best to play the campaign cooperatively with up to three of your friends because the towers go up faster, the addition of more players adds to the game’s excitement, and you have a better chance of beating your previous record time for completing a level.
Needless to say, there’s a lot going on in the campaign alone; so much, in fact, that the game’s psychedelic color palette and wild, cartoonish visuals sometimes leave you hunting for your avatar in the uproar. Even when you do manage to find yourself, the constant beatings you receive from opponents and the creatures above make the act of dropping your blocks in the right places a frustrating combination of luck and skill. The good news is that all of this eventually makes some sort of chaotic sense; the bad news is that the short campaign concludes just as you’ve gotten the hang of it. If you miss some of the unlockable bonus levels scattered throughout the smallish world map, you can finish the campaign in only a few hours even on the harder settings.
Finding your avatar amid all the explosions and enemies occasionally feels like a game of Where’s Waldo?
Yet, Slam Bolt Scrappers provides plenty of opportunities for replay through its multiplayer Battle mode. Here, you can play in teams or singly against up to three other players at once based on parameters set before the match. These are largely based on maps, as well as avatar and weapon options you unlock by completing levels in the campaign. The team option is particularly welcome because your towers rise much more quickly with the help of a seasoned partner. Although playing against one or even two other players feels much like the campaign mode, tossing in the fourth player suddenly turns the map into a relentless spectacle of flying missiles, careening drill bits, and unexpected explosions that makes it easy to lose track of what’s going on. The free-for-all Mardis Gras spectacle is fun to watch, but playing at this level requires an intimate understanding of the game’s mechanics that casual visitors simply won’t have. this wouldn’t be a bad thing if the multiplayer mode weren’t limited to local play. Given a decent online multiplayer mode, Slam Bolt Scrappers could have provided many hours of nonstop multiplayer entertainment. as it stands, however, playing “with a large group of people who are yelling at each other and the TV” (as one of the loading screens suggests) isn’t much fun unless all four of you have conquered the game’s steep learning curve.
Slam Bolt Scrappers can entertain in spite of its flaws, but the absence of online multiplayer means that its replayability depends on having a few enthusiastic friends and controllers on hand to make the most of its cooperative and versus options. If you’re willing to overlook this fundamental weakness (and some curiously long loading times), it’s hard not to admire Slam Bolt Scrappers for its skillful handling of scraps from multiple popular genres.
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<a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/Slam_Bolt_Scrappers_PlayStation_3/4514-9992_7-34130654.html?part=cnet&subj=Slam+Bolt+Scrappers+(PlayStation+3)tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://reviews.cnet.com/Slam_Bolt_Scrappers_PlayStation_3/4514-9992_7-34130654.html?part=cnet”>Slam Bolt Scrappers Review – PlayStation 3 Games – CNET Reviews