If you are in any way an action game fan, and if you haven't seen or played 
Blast Chamber yet, you should give this game a try.

The game is fairly simple in concept, but, like all great 
multiplayer action games, subtleties creep in that make
you want to keep coming back for more.  As an example, there
are 20 different arenas for multiplayer death matches, but 5
alone would have sufficed because there are so many different
strategies to employ.  That these strategies must be thought 
up extremely fast goes witout saying.

I won't bother summarizing the game.  Check www.nuke.com for plenty
of comments by the designers themselves.

After playing the game for about 2 hours (I know, the novelty hasn't
had time to wear off yet...) here are my impressions:

Graphics:  Very nice.  Well-detailed but not busy.  I feel that
lots of games try to impress with graphics but fail to give an
eye-pleasing balance that keeps you playing.  As an example, 
contrast Twisted Metal with Super Mario Kart.  Both games are
great fun, but I got the feeling that TM's artists were trying
too hard to impress.  Blast Chamber's graphics are impressive, 
but not distracting.  
My only problem here is that the little guys are a bit too little.
But, change their size and you change the whole game.  I think
ATD (Attention To Detail, the makers of the game) made the right 
choice to reduce the size of the  guys.  Explosions are very nice, with 
transparent-type effects.  Also, the players "blend in" well with the 
backgrounds.

Animation:  Smooth.  The players actually seem to be interacting
with the environment, something that is missing in lots of sport 
and action games (where feet move faster than the ground, for 
example).  With the fast and furious action, it can be easy
to get lost... but practice will fix this.  I was afraid that
the turning of the chamber, a vital part of the game, might look
choppy or cause slowdown, but I've seen NO slowdown and the chamber
turns smoothly.  Everything is animated nicely and this gives
the game a thrilling feel.  Wait until you see your bomb-pack 
start to smoke and you'll know what I mean!

Sound:  Good, bassy explosions.  Also, the archetypal "future 
soothing female voice" is well-employed.  The coolest thing
about the sound, though?  Sometimes, when you jump, you sound
like Homer Simpson.  Funny to contrast that "humor" with the 
fact that you've got a bomb strapped to your back.

Control:  Pretty good.  Never noticed any major problems, but
lots of times the game disintegrates into a small jumble of 
guys all fighting for the crystal in about three square inches
of screen space.  This doesn't happen too often, but sometimes
it's hard to tell exactly WHY the green guy just lost the 
crystal, for example.

AI:  Amazing!  I can't believe the things these computer guys
think of doing with the rotating cube and the spring-boxes!

Final rating after 2 hours of play: 8.9/10.0
Where Super Mario Kart is about the only 10 in my book
(love that game).
Projected rating with four human players: 9.9/10.0
Note:  you can play w/ 4 contestants w/out the multitap, but
2 must be computers.  I played for a while 1 on 1 against my 
girlfriend (no comp. opponents), and it was lots of fun!

Question:  Is the sony $50 multitap the only one available
in the US?  It seems overpriced, especially since I'll NEVER
use the extra memory ports.  Is there a reasonably priced
multitap w/out the unnecessary memory ports?

Check Blast Chamber out!

-Zach Smolinski