Atari Interactive has released the first completely new and original game to be published under the Atari name since the demise of the Atari Jaguar console. The game is called Arena Blast, and it is a first person shooter. The game has been designed around the Unreal engine.

Essentially, the game has your typical Doom/Quake/Unreal type play, with a few major exceptions. First off, there are no real guns...per se. All of the weapons are based around Nerf-licensed weapons. That's right. There is no real killing in this game. Think of it as working like Nerf Paintball. Once someone is "killed" they just vanish, and start over from the beginning.

The second big difference is the style of play. Unlike the Quake/Unreal games where it is you against hordes of alien enemies, this game puts you in play against other humans, or against intelligent computer controlled "bots."

The third difference in this game are the graphics. Gone are the "doom & gloom" look of your typical 1st person shooter. Instead of a dark dreary environment, Arena Blast gives you a colorful, almost whimsical, environment that feels completely different. The arenas themselves are bright and colorful. Your "enemies" in the game have a cute, almost "cartoon-like" look to them.

The game begins by selecting an arena to play in. There are eight arenas in the game, and each arena has their own team for you to go against. Each arena has three games to play. All three are variations of traditional First Person gameplay, whereby players collect various Nerf weapons and power-ups and attempt to eliminate each other. Each player has a Power Suit which keeps them in the game. When a player is hit by a Nerf weapon or falls from a great distance, the suit loses power. When suit power reaches 0, the player is eliminated and must start again.

You must finish in the top 3 in each event in the arena. Once that happens, then you can move on to the next arena.

The screen capture above shows the user interface to the game. The lower left hand corner shows how much power is left in your suit. The display in the lower right hand corner shows the weapon you are currently using, and how much ammunition you have left.

The top of the screen shows how much time is left for the current round of play, and your score/ranking in that round.

The left hand side of the screen shows the other players in the game, along with the score. The right side of the screen shows any "power-ups" that you may have.

Most of the weapons in the game are based on real Nerf toys. Some of the weapons, however, are original creations.

Left -- PointBlast Amateur Arena
Center -- PointBlast Bonus Arena
Right -- PointBlast Awards Ceremony
(Click on images to enlarge)

PointBlast is all about running around and shooting people. Your goal here is to get the highest score. One of the ways to get points are to shoot the hidden targets which are placed around the arena. The best way to get points is with the combat itself. You get 25 points for a hit on the body, and 100 points if you score a hit in the chest of an opposing player. You also reduce their lifeforce each time you hit the. If you "kill" someone, their weapon drops to the ground for you to pick up, along with some bonus points. Bonus points are based on their current score in the game. For example, the player in 1st place during the game would be worth 1,000 points if they are "killed." The points that you score for a "kill" drop from there to as low as 250 points for the player in last place. Of course, you don't just get the bonus points for the kill. You must walk over the bonus icon that pops up where the "dead" player was standing. This is critical, as it is possible that someone could steal bonus points for your "kill" if you aren't quick. When time runs out, the player with the most points wins the game.

BallBlast is set up like a traditional scavenger hunt, but with a decidedly Nerf twist. Players must collect 7 colored balls which appear randomly throughout the level with various point values. These balls must be shot into special goals. Players receive points for scoring the balls according to which ball they deposit and the goal difficulty. There are usually two goals within a level, and the harder of the two awards double points. When one player scores six balls, the final GOLD ball appears. When one player has scored all 7 balls, the game ends. The player with the most points wins.

SpeedBlast is a bit different. In this game players must race through the level and touch 7 colored flags in a set order. The flag order is BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, ORANGE, RED, PURPLE and GOLD. The player to touch all flags first is the winner. If a player is eliminated, he/she re-starts at the last flag they touched.

OK, so what did I think? This game has taken the Unreal engine into unfamiliar territory....and it seems to work. Atari Interactive was shooting for a lofty "fun factor" in this game, and Arena Blast certainly is fun. It is nice to see that the game is so bright and colorful. I'm so used to seeing the dark & dreary look of Unreal and Quake, that the "cartoonish" bright scheme that is used here is a welcome breath of fresh air. It also might be a good game for the younger crowd, as there is none of the usual blood and gore that is seen in the typical first person shooter.

The music is pretty good, and seems appropriate for this kind of game. Most of the music has a "techno" feel to it. One thing I would have liked to have seen here is individual music suited for each arena. For example, the arenas with an outer space theme could have music that sounds like it is right out of a sci-fi movie. The Sequoia arena, which an outdoor theme, could have music with some heavy bongos or drums to gave you more of a feel for the environment.

Sound is outstanding....much better than it was when I previewed an alpha copy of the game. Each arena has an announcer that provides limited "play-by-play" commentary on the action, and the other sounds seem appropriate to the environment. One cool aspect of the sound is that each player will probably make some kind of comment in your direction after you kill them. They did keep the comments clean, so it will be OK around the kids. There is something rewarding to hear the other players say "Oh Man!" or "Why did you do that" when you knock them off. I thought that was a nice touch.

There are a lot of nice touches to this game as well. For example, when you shoot the Nerf darts, they will stick to the walls, floor, or anywhere else that they land. This is a nice effect that (I feel) adds to the game.

If you have ever played a Quake or Unreal based game in the past, the controls will feel natural to you. I did find them to be a bit sluggish when multiple people are moving around on the screen at the same time.

One thing that I did find annoying is the length of time it takes to load each game. For example, after selecting the game in a certain arena, it took over 3 minutes to load that level before you could play. This gets very frustrating if you are playing SpeedBlast, where you are probably going to play it a few times in a row before you get your timing right.

Another annoying problem is the animations of the other players and the "bots." When I previewed an alpha copy of the game roughly two months before the product release, I found that the opposing players didn't seem to move in a fluid manner. They seemed to have a bit of "jerkiness" to them when they moved around, and unfortunately, it has not improved in the final product. Believe me, this is not a framerate issue. In fact, the framerate on this game is phenomenal, and everything else looks nice and smooth. The animations of the players & "bots" on the other hand just isn't too smooth. I've tried playing the game on a P2 300 and P3 500, and I didn't see and difference in the player animations.

Level design is critical to any game of this nature, and I must say that Atari Interactive has done a good job here. One arena is a space station, and be sure not to fall out the airlock. (Yes, you read that right.) Another level takes place in a zero-g environment in space. There is an arena based around water. There are three asteroids that you run around on while blasting away the other competitors. You can jump from asteroid to asteroid, but don't miss your jump, or else you will float out into space. Other considerations in level design include water, and other outdoor environments.

And speaking of level design, Atari has done something REALLY cool. When I previewed an "alpha" version of this game, there was a level editor included on the CD. I assumed that it was included for development purposes, and wouldn't be part of the final product. Well, I am happy to report that the level editor, UnNerfEd, is part of the final product. That means that you can create your own levels using the same development system that was used to create the various levels in the game. However, Neither Atari nor Hasbro Interactive will support the editor. You are on your own.

All in all, this looks like a very different game from the typical first person shooter. Ballblast (in my opinion) requires the most amount of thought & strategy that I have ever seen in a first person shooter game. Plus, the scoring system of Arena Blast is based around points, which is completely different from the other shooters. This requires you to use completely different tactics than you might otherwise use. People who play Quake and Unreal can't pick this game up and expect to beat your opponents using the same strategies.

It appears that Atari Interactive has put a lot of time and effort into keeping the game original. While the game does have some flaws that I mentioned above, they are minor compared to the issues with some other first person shooters, and don't detract too much from the gameplay. If you are looking for a new shooter, this may be the game you are looking for.

Operating System:
Windows� 95/98

Processor:
Pentium� 200 MMX or higher

CD-ROM Drive:
4x Speed

Video:
SVGA 2MB video RAM minimum

Memory:
32 MB RAM

Hard Disk Space:
120 MB Free

Sound:
Sound card & speakers

DirectX:
DirectX version 6.1 (included) or higher

For more information, visit the Atari Interactive
homepage at Hasbro Interactive