de Blob

"Black and white is so 50 years ago"

The platformer is a genre that has been a part of video games since its very early conception. Pitfall! was entertaining gamers on the Atari 2600 clear back in the second generation, and then the legendary Super Mario Bros. completely revolutionized the platformer genre. The genre just kept getting better, and propelled 3D gaming with Super Mario World and Crash Bandicoot in the fifth generation. The Jak and Daxter games kept the genre going, not to mention a slew of other awesome platformers in the sixth generation like Ratchet & Clank. The seventh generation definitely hasn't been dry in platformers either, with one of the best platforming games ever been released on the Wii, Super Mario Galaxy. So, the genre definitely isn't on the dying side, but how original and truly entertaining can platformers be after such a long history?

de Blob is a platformer game that doesn't break any boundaries in the genre, but it's still wildly entertaining, and it should be the start of a brand new series. What makes this game so much fun and why should you care about yet another platforming adventure? Well, if you give this quirky little title a chance, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Unlike most platformers, de Blob's focus is not on collecting a bunch of things to advance to the next area, unless you count cumulating points as collecting things, which it really isn't. The goal of the game is to restore color to a world where their color was stolen from them by an evil organization called INKT. So, how will you restore color to this black and white world?

You control the titular “blob”, a strange creature that has the power to change colors by rolling over paint. If the blob falls into water, he loses all of his color and becomes clear. As you roll over paint, which is stored in “paint bots”, you earn a certain amount of color points that determines how much color you have. You can mix colors to create other colors. For example, if you roll over a yellow paint bot and then roll over a blue paint bot, you will become green.

As you explore the world and restore color to it by simply touching objects, you will also notice floating icons that are where you activate missions. The missions are separated out by which character is assigning the mission to you. If Biff is giving you a mission, it is probably going to involve destroying a certain amount of enemies. Other missions require you to paint things certain colors, others require you to follow little flares to reach a destination, and others yet will require you to build up a certain amount of points to attack a landmark with.

This is where the game utilizes the Wii's unique capabilities. When you are in a landmark, you have to shake the Wii remote and nunchuck rapidly in order to spread your color into the landmark. The other way the game uses the motion controls is when a leech bot (a paint bot who doesn't have paint in it yet) attacks you and you have to shake it off by shaking the Wii remote back and forth. You jump by swinging the Wii remote up. I was a little disappointed that the game didn't take advantage of the Wii's controls to their full potential, but at least it doesn't just have some tacked-on waggle controls that you have to deal with the entire game.

Other type of enemies include the Inkies, which are the police force defending the area from color. These guys will try to beat you with their batons, thus covering you in hazardous black ink. If the blob gets ink on him, you will have to find a water source in order to wash the ink away. Your color points quickly drain while you are infected with ink and if the color points go all the way to zero, you will lose a life.

There are other types of enemies, but I found the combat in the game to also be an issue. All it consists of is locking onto the enemies and swinging the Wii remote down to smash them. The other enemies require you to have a certain amount of color points to destroy, but in all honesty, you will probably just avoid combat situations as much as possible. They just aren't that fun.

From there, it's all pretty much uphill. The platforming segments are tight, with plenty of traps and obstacles for you to overcome. The challenges are entertaining, even if they are a tad repetitive, and you won't want to stop playing. The controls are generally tight, but the targeting system needs a little more work. You'll have fun just rolling around and coloring the world, but what's the purpose of all this?

As you earn points, you unlock the next area in the level. You can earn points by just rolling around and coloring the world, doing missions, or finding hidden objects. After beating all of the challenges in any given area, you earn the right to use the transformation ball, which, after hit, will restore life to the surrounding area in a way that is similar to Okami.

At the end of a level, you are judged based on things you've completed. It's not totally impossible to earn a perfect rating like in a lot of games, but it's still a challenge. If you earn a gold ranking on a level, you will unlock two bonus levels (you automatically unlock one just by beating the level). These bonus levels are just as fun as the main levels. They are generally bite-sized versions of the game's fun as hell platforming with a little puzzle elements sprinkled in.

It's really hard for me to convey how much pure fun there is in de Blob's platforming aspects, you just really have to try it out yourself. However, it's also fun just to roll around the levels and paint the buildings. While you can do this as much as you want in story mode, there is also Free Paint mode which allows you to roam throughout the levels you have unlocked and paint them to their fullest in whatever way you wish. You can choose what kind of style the paint comes out as, too, an option given to you at the beginning of every level. This style also determines the type of music that's emitted when an object is painted.

A pointless gaming mechanic was the time limit on the levels. Every level has a time limit, and while this does factor into the extra missions a little, it really doesn't amount to anything. The time limit isn't short enough to really cause you any problems and it just seems thrown on there for really no reason at all. You will be prompted to collect little clocks that you can find lying around the environment or after you complete a challenge, but you really don't even have to bother. This just seems like a waste of disc, but it doesn't get in the way of having fun with the game.

With such a solid single player offering, I was expecting that the developers probably just threw some things together for the multiplayer. I was delightfully surprised that de Blob's multiplayer is tons of fun, and there are multiple types of multiplayer for you to enjoy. It's fun hunting down the only colored blob and jumping on top of them to steal their color, especially with four players into the mix. The levels from story mode are playable in the multiplayer, and while I wish there were original multiplayer maps, it's still loads of fun.

While its plot is generally simple, you will still be interested to see what happens next in the color revolution. An evil corporation called INKT has stolen the color from the world, and has turn the Raydians, the colorful people of the world, into mindless Graydians. de Blob, a strange color-changing creature, decides to join in the color revolution to help a few survivors restore color to the world and take down the INKT menace. As strange as this may sound, the game's plot sort of mirrors the Nazi occupation of France in World War II in a childish sort of way. I was really surprised at how political de Blob felt and its plot was actually pretty good. Even older gamers should be able to find something to like here, sort of like watching a Pixar movie.

The Wii is capable of good graphics. This is a fact a lot of developers seem to ignore, but thankfully de Blob is packing some pretty nice visuals. The water effects are nice and the amount of things that can be on the screen at once is also welcoming. Add to the fact that there is virtually no lag and a very minimal amount of glitches, and de Blob has pretty awesome overall graphics. The level design could have used some work for the earlier levels, but the lack of technical issues is a godsend in a gaming world where glitches are practically promised. The cut-scenes also look great and are animated brilliantly, in a way that also reminds me of Pixar.

Despite being a game based on the visual experience, de Blob's soundtrack also isn't bad at all. The characters don't really have voices but just speak some random gibberish. Is this a bad thing? Definitely not. It layers the game with a certain charm that a lot of platformers are missing nowadays. Further more, the soundtrack is delightful, and the way the music synchs up with the gameplay is spot on. I was really impressed with de Blob in this department as well.

Each level boasts about half an hour to an hour of gameplay, meaning de Blob can take anywhere from five to eight hours before you beat the game. Still, even after you've beaten story mode, there is still Free Paint to indulge in as well as a ton of unlockable content and secret missions. Some of the unlockable content includes some interesting art galleries and some even more interesting videos, plus you can watch the gorgeous cut-scenes whenever you want.

There is a lot of controversy right now as to whether the Wii has “hardcore” games. Well, if your definition of hardcore is a mindless and gory shooter, then the Wii is lacking. If your definition of hardcore is a game that provides a ton of enjoyment and offers plenty to keep you coming back, then the Wii definitely isn't lacking, and it proves this time and time again with games like No More Heroes, Super Mario Galaxy, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and yes, this quirky little platformer de Blob. The only real issues are minor gameplay problems that will muddle your fun for a little bit, like the bland combat and the lack of real intuitive Wii controls, but de Blob is destined to be a part of platforming legend, and I hope that THQ manages to release a sequel. There are just so many things that the developers could expand upon to truly make de Blob the ideal platformer.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/19/09

Game Release: de Blob (US, 09/22/08)