Started well...
This is a remake of an old NES game which I didn't know even existed. Had I not known that this was a remake of old classic I would have thought that this is a indie game. It has similar simplistic feel as many indie platforms tend to have. Also the varying game mechanism with the different beans make this stand out from the standard fare.
Story is non-existent. Boy finds a crashed spaceship in the forest. And meets up with the game's sidekick: the white blob. Blob had crash-landed in Earth while searching for help on taking down an evil Emperor who is filling the worlds with black gooey monsters and capturing Blob's family. Action takes places in four different worlds with each having an end level boss.
Category for A Boy and His Blob can be put to a platform/puzzle section. Besides the boys walking and jumping there is not much else he can do. Luckily the blob comes to aid in here. The boy carries a variety of beans with him. By feeding blob with the beans it will change its form to an useful item. Such as black bean changes the blob to a ladder. Other much used item is an anvil. And as you can imagine these are really useful when climbing platforms, pushing triggers or opening doors. Some more wacky forms are: jumping ball or a rocket. Fixed set of beans are given for each level this being maximum of 8 different beans any given time. Despite this, some freedom in form of bean combinations can be used on the puzzles and the enemies which is quite refreshing. Main objectivity on each level is simply to find an exit door. Each level also has three treasure chests that need to be discovered. Each chest revealing a new unlockable item in the home hub. When completing an item with all three chests from one level. Player can do a challenge level on the item. Which when unlocking reveals concept art and so on.
Visually the game is beautiful 2D cartoon style. The starting forest is nice and moody place. Later on Boy venture to Blobs home planet which is more colourful and even psychedelic location. The simple animations the boy does are cute, in lack of better work. Music is similarly low key that sets the mood nicely. Further minimalist look/feel is shown with the lack of any user interface. Only time this is visible when using the bean selection radiation menu.
As the rating implies this is not a really a perfect game. The action feels bit too laid back in the two first worlds. Especially compared to more challenging and non-linear last two worlds. Almost feels like it's a different game. Further on the collision detection and the controls are at times way off. This becomes a problem especially since the Boy will die from a smallest touch with the enemies/spike. Too often the jumping requires several tries even though player "nailed" it on the first time.
I started really liking the game but the frustration became too much in end of the game. Still a fine artistic platformer with some really quirky ideas done in form of the different beans. As mentioned I have no experience with the original game, but at least on presentation front this is fine updated version.
