Prior to playing the game at Nintendo’s press event last week, my expectations for THQ’s de Blob for the Wii were non-existent. However, once I started rolling around the game’s drab grey world, sloshing life-giving paint onto any object I bumped into, I was pretty immediately won over by the game’s charming visual style and OCD-baiting gameplay. It doesn’t seem like a complicated game, but the time I spent with de Blob was enjoyable nonetheless.
There’s some back story nonsense about the evil I.N.K.D. corporation stealing the color out of the world, but all you really need to know is that, as the titular Blob, your job is to absorb the color reservoirs of little color-sucking robots, then slap that paint onto your dreary surroundings. Simply bumping into objects like buildings, trees, and park benches will cause color to bleed out over them, the visual effect for which is pretty nice. Another nice and somewhat subtle touch is the way the music builds as you paint, with different colors of paint triggering different kinds of instruments.
The more you paint, the more the world around you expands. Paint a full block of buildings and revelrous residents will come pouring out; paint enough of the immediate area, and a path to the next area will open up. There will be missions that require you to paint certain objects certain colors or to create a new color by mixing together other colors, but frankly, I found the basic mechanics of painting stuff so satisfying that I didn’t feel the immediate need to bother with missions.
I also got to dabble around with a split-screen multiplayer mode that Jeff pretty aptly described as being like graffiti mode in Tony Hawk, with everyone running around, trying to paint the most objects. You can paint over objects your opponents have already painted, and there are various power-ups and traps you can lay to trip up the other players. It seemed OK, but there are seven other multiplayer modes in de Blob, so it’s not enough to dismiss the multiplayer out of hand.
I sensed shades of Jet Set Radio and Elebits–two games I hold in good regard–during my session with de Blob, and I left curious to see if the game that gets built around it will be as entertaining as the core mechanics. I guess we’ll all find out when the game hits the Wii this September.
20 Comments
Looks very interesting. Looking forward for more coverage.
I installed a free PC version of the game, and had a fun time with it. It looks like they’re be more to the Wiiware version, and I hope they bring that stuff to the PC too.
It’s available at: http://www.fun-motion.com/physics-games/de-blob/
I saw some gameplay of this the other day and thought my 9 year old daughter would probably really enjoy it. So I’ll probably end up getting it for her.
I remember seeing this a while back and it looked awesome.
This sounds like the next Katamari Damacy. Should be good for one fun game and then the sequels fall flat.
This sounds like the next Katamari Damacy. Should be a fun game but the sequels will fall flat.
Sorry about the double post.
I didn’t realize it posted the first time. I’m an idiot. Can’t erase it though.
Hey David, thanks for the link to the PC download.
I can kind of see why people compare this game to Katamari, but it seems pretty different. They both have simple, colorful graphics and a dash of humor, but that describes most (good) downloadable games these days.
Bryden: No problem. Somebody posted a link on yesterday’s Bombcast to the developers’ blog, which might help if you have technical issues (hint: run the shortcut, not the .exe)
When I played it on the PC it was Soo simple and the blob didn’t have any kind of personality either. this shows how a game can transform if developers have nice amount of funds to work on a game!
I’ll probably try this, seems intresting.
Yeah, de Blob looks really good.
Looks interesting, but perhaps more for the younger audience..
There is something about this game that makes me think about Dragon Ball.. Don’t ask me why, it just says Dragon Ball written all over it.
Are you guys ever going to do some video reviews? Also, are you ever going to talk about anything other that nintendo wii and xbox arcade games?
Jack C: they talk about all platforms, there just haven’t been many releases recently. There was a big Nintendo event last week, and now they’re allowed to talk about it.
I know, its just annoying I guess. I can’t wait til GTA IV comes out to hear all about that game. Hopefully their first video review will be for that game. Gerstmann always does the video reviews for GTA games.
I am looking forward to this as well as Deadly Creatures.
Looks pretty fun and enjoyable. Too bad i ain’t got a Wii (or a 360 or PS3).
P.S: In the pic with the big red blob, it looks like there’s blood splattered all over the flo’.
Definitely looks like a fun, quirky little game. I’m definitely downloading the PC version David posted.