de Blob

You know that term, "Paint the town red"? Well, taken its most literal sense, it's what best describes what de Blob is all about. In it, you, as de Blob, are tasked with repainting the monochromatic Chroma City however you want (hence the "paint the town red" reference). How you'll do this is by stealing paint from spider-like machines called "Paintbots" (the things responsible the city's color loss), and using that paint by touching whatever you wish to paint which instantly covers it in the color that Blob's covered in.

You'll do this across the city's ten sections, slowly liberating its citizens, and fighting Inkies (the nefarious INKT Corporation's foot soldiers), and taking on various challenges along the way.

But most of your time will be spent painting things, as not only is it necessary to moving further into the level, it's also a lot of fun, which is mainly due to the satisfying results from doing so. Each level starts off in a dull, white, lifeless state with gray skies that mask the light of sun, and empty streets that give the city a ghost town-like feel.

As you paint the town, however, things begin to change. Gradian's (the city's enslaved citizens) pour out into the streets waiting to be freed from their colorless shackles, and Rydian's (the non-enslaved citizens) begin happily prancing about the streets; the light of the sun returns; and the sounds of funk music fills the air, giving the city's vibrant, lively feel back to it along with a great feeling of satisfaction as you gaze upon your work. And if you're anything like me, then that'll probably be enough to drive you to search every nook and cranny to eliminate all of INKT's propaganda -- billboards and blimps among others.

But when you're not searching for stuff, you'll be painting everything in sight to gain access to the rest of the level. See, each level is separated into sections by gates. These gates can only be opened when you've obtained a certain amount of Color Energy (or points, you may know them) from painting the city. So you'll have to paint virtually everything to move on. In addition, by earning points you unlock Transform Engines that restore small parts of the level and free more Raydian's.

Though you can't spend too much time painting, as there is a time limit in place for each level. Normally this would add a sense of urgency to the game, and it does in one or two instances, but all it really boils down to is making it harder to spend you time doing whatever you please, specifically in areas without challenges to do or Graydian's to free, as both award you with more time.

There are four types of challenges in all. all of which are simple: Painting certain buildings a certain color, following marker flares somewhere, defeating all enemies in the area, and restoring landmarks. Aside from one or two of 'em, they don't present much of a challenge. The objectives are always placed right in front of you, along with the specified colors, so it's next to impossible to fail most of 'em. The timer in place doesn't add anything either.

The rest of the game doesn't really present a challenge either. Enemies don't put up much of a fight and are easily defeated (just one stomp and, poof, they're gone). you never have to worry about a game over because of all the lives the game gives you over the course of the game, and the aforementioned timer doesn't do much either because of how easy it is to keep it from running out.

The only part that even slightly adds any challenge is the less than stellar lock-on system, which most of the time works fine, but is hindered by how it randomly locks-on to something. See, whenever you press the Z button, the game locks-on to the nearest object it can lock-on to. Whether it be Paintbots, landmarks, or spouts of water, if you're near it, it’ll lock-on to it, regardless of whether you want or need it to. This becomes extremely annoying very quickly, as it often locks onto the wrong thing like a spout of water after you’ve mixed the color required for a challenge, or locking onto a platform instead of a Paintbot. The ability to specify your target would have been greatly appreciated.

There are some good points to the lock-on system, though. For one thing, it makes platforming a snap, as often such areas have Paintbots or platforms to lock onto that allow you to move from platform to platform with ease. And given how the usual method of jumping isn’t always the easiest way of traversal (Blob's weight makes it hard for him to make long or high jumps), the ability to use those to help get around is definitely appreciated.

de Blob is by no means the most technically proficient game in the world. Character models for the Raydian's/Graydian's aren't too good lookin' on close inspection, with flat, and somewhat blurry looking textures for their faces. There's also some pop-up that occurs when approaching buildings in the distance, along with texture popping that also occurs while approaching something.

But it's not its technical side where the game excels. Rather, the art style is where the game truly excels in the visual department. The gradual changes from dull and lifeless, to vibrant and colorful is a rewarding sight that's a joy to behold. The characters all possess plenty of charm and personality, and are quite humorous during the game's many cut scenes.

Music is implemented in a interesting way as well. Upon starting each level there's only a small, quiet bit of music playing with more music being added as you paint. It starts off with a couple quick notes played on various instruments whenever you paint something, eventually building up to the full tune when you've filled an area with color. It's a cool and clever way of implementing the music into the gameplay that adds to the element of restoration.

The game also has a multiplayer mode that up to four blobs can compete in three different modes across four maps. The modes are: Blob Party, which has players competing to see who can paint the most buildings before time runs out; Blob on the Run, in which players compete to grab an item that allows its holder to paint: and Blob Race, which sees players trying to be the first to paint the marked buildings. The modes are fun, and add some replay value. Though it should be noted that these modes suffer from a drop in frame rate. It still runs fine, but the drop is still jarring.

The game's Free Paint mode also adds some replay value for those who want to sit around and paint the city all day long (or those who really want to paint the town red), as it allows you to go back to previously completed levels to go about painting it without worry of enemies or time. So if you ever wanted to, say, paint the town brown (or blue, or green, or yellow), then this mode is for you.

All told, de Blob is fun platformer with a cool twist. The painting mechanics, while simple, are great, the platforming works well, and the way music is cleverly incorporated into the gameplay is great. Though its lock-on system isn't always perfect, and the difficulty level is extremely low, the game's fun factor is enough to keep those flaws from ruining an otherwise great game.