Nuclear Blaze

Nuclear Blaze is a brisk experience, but one that will give just enough timing and puzzle challenges to keep you engaged through the entire run. Its simplicity is its strength, focusing on the action first and foremost and using those limited toolsets to approach each flame. An impressive approach to difficulty and an appropriate amount of mystery puts this game into a neat package that is approachable and as challenging as you’d prefer. Nuclear Blaze is short, sweet, and definitely worth a look.

It’s already been said once in this review, but it bears repeating. Nuclear Blaze is the equivalent of a brightly lit candle—it’s at its end far too soon, but it’s impossible not to marvel at its splendor while it’s still there. As little as I’ve actually thought about the “firefighting game” genre, I’m all-in if future games are anything like this.

It may not last very long, but Nuclear Blaze is a cool action platformer that does a good job of exploring its core idea of prioritizing fighting fires over fighting enemies. Things like Hold My Beer Mode and all the hidden cats help pad out the replayability a bit, while the strong level design and tight gameplay makes the moment-to-moment action feel worthwhile. For 15 bucks, Nuclear Blaze feels like it does just enough to justify the price of admission, especially if you’re a fan of 2D action games; we’d recommend you give it a go.

Nuclear Blaze is definitely a case of quality over quantity though, and well worth checking out.

Nuclear Blaze’s platforming, flame dowsing, and sense of dread are all blistering hot. Even repeated attempts to overcome a thorny section will do little to cool your enthusiasm. What might be an issue is the game’s two-hour length. This port augments the action with a tougher New Game+ component, but it can feel like tossing a single piece of kindling on a once-roaring inferno.