Blasting Agent: Ultimate Edition (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Ratalaika Games' exploit doesn't really care to ground into the richest lore, or surround the player with an exceptional backstory. It literally is a case of 'you - the titular Blasting Agent - versus some generic bad foes', who go by the name of Black Hand of Fate. It's not like the game needed anything extra to sustain its frantic shooting mechanics, or legitimate the pixelated carnage, either.

Blasting Agent consists of a series of six multidirectional scrolling levels, filled with branching paths and secret areas, bullet-sponge enemies, bigger bosses to blow down, and gold to pillage, in order to clear out each stage with a perfect grade, and unlock new outfits and abilities for the Agent himself. One button jumps, another one opens fire. On top of that, three different power-ups - or 'gun modules' - can be collected to increase weapons' speed/range, spread and damage. As the action ramps up in difficulty, it is also possible to gather additional health stocks and conveniently extend our hero's chances of survival.

That's pretty much all Blasting Agent has to offer in terms of gameplay stratification. Yeah, it's that simple, and the retro feel doesn't even end there. 'Minimalist' may be more appropriate to describe its style and the way it looks and sounds. Everything on screen is a multiple of a square - yet the generous amount of parallax somehow helps the graphics to hold up and remain appealing - while the bouncy chiptune provides a suitable background to the Agent's forays.

Surely, this is engaging and fun to play - with its rhythmical turnovers of sorties and withdraws - and some basic platforming skill is still required to manoeuvre through the more maliciously intricate maps. Nonetheless, Blasting Agent comes out significantly repetitive and frustrating at times, with one crucial flaw to highlight before wrapping up the verdict… The game suffers from severe slowdowns and screen judder, which is frankly inexcusable, especially since it doesn't feature sophisticated graphical features, and even lacks any stereoscopic 3D support.