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A simplistic shooter full of carnage and pretty visuals.

Sitting down and immersing yourself in a 40-hour long role-playing experience can be hugely entertaining, but from the time to time, total in-your-face action is just what the doctor ordered - and that's exactly what Charge 'N Blast delivers. Coming out of nowhere from Sims and Xicat Interactive is a direct port of one of Sega's lesser known arcade titles, an all out action title with a premise that's (the characters are part of a squad that investigates meteors that crash on Earth and produce deadly alien spawn), unfortunately, as shallow as the actual gameplay is.

Charge 'N Blast is a good description of the actual gameplay; holding down the fire button doesn't won't do much, since each shot has to be charged up before being shot. The longer that the shot is charged before it's launched, the more powerful the shot will be. It's possible to take out enemies with a series of smaller damage shots, but it's usually easy to take the time to fully charge up and take them out with one single shot. Adding a touch of strategy is the inclusion of three weapons for each of the three characters, each being useful in different situations (multiple lock-ons when there are loads of weak enemies, single missiles for the boss, etc.).

At the start, Charge N Blast is a decent action title that can become insanely fun in the two-player cooperative mode... for a while. Like most other games of this kind, there are two problems that really hinder the game. For one, no matter what difficulty the game is played under, it doesn't take more than an hour to complete. It'll take time to complete some areas because of having to figure out the attack patterns, but on average, a single level doesn't take more than three minutes to finish, and with that in mind, it doesn't take long to factor in that the title doesn't have much longevity. There's little incentive to go through the game a second time; it isn't like there are multiple paths to explore - once you've gone through once, you have done it all. And secondly, Charge 'N Blast doesn't take long to become repetitive, since while it does add in blowing up buildings to uncover hidden items and rack up more bonus points, it does little to make the gameplay any more compelling.

Average is the best way to describe the graphics of the game, as well; they run fast and look good, but nothing about them will leave any distinct mark in your mind - save for the Godzilla-esque battle in the second stage, perhaps. There are spots of slowdown when explosions are filling the screen with two people blasting away at the hordes of enemies, while smacking away at the environment to reveal power-ups.

It goes without saying that it isn't often that we find ourselves with a strictly straight action title these days, and while Charge 'N Blast is certainly worth a rental, until it hits the bargain bin, it isn't quite worth full price.