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de Blob

by Jonathan Metts - July 24, 2008, 9:26 am EDT
Total comments: 14

The spirit of Rainbow Brite lives on.

de Blob is a clever little game about painting a world whose color has been stripped away by an evil, fascist government. As the rebellion's hero, you must roll around and apply various colors to the streets and buildings, restoring life and music to the world. It's a fun, subversive premise told through very amusing cut-scenes.

The gameplay is a bit like Katamari Damacy or the spray-heavy levels from Super Mario Sunshine (in reverse). Each of the ten levels has plenty of real estate to colorize, and some monochrome enemies will be around to get in your way. If they hit you with their gray sludge, you have just a few seconds to jump into a pool of water before the blandness becomes fatal. There are various cans of paint lying around, so you can usually choose what color to apply, and each one has a different effect on the transformed objects and elicits a different style of music from the dynamic soundtrack. Objects are painted all at once, so you just need to touch a building once for it to be painted thoroughly.

The controls are a bit surprising. de Blob feels like he's on roller skates, as he moves with a lot of momentum and has a pretty large turn radius. This makes it hard to line up perfectly with an object or enemy, so there's a targeting system. Targeting is actually mandatory for combat; you lock on with Z and shake the Wii Remote to pounce down upon the enemy. It feels loose and automatic, like Sonic the Hedgehog's homing attack, but combat is a fairly minor part of the game.

Not all objects and buildings can be painted by touch. Some "landmarks" can only be painted after completing a mission objective, like turning a whole square red or defeating a set of enemies. You may even have to climb up to the top of a tall building with a series of wall jumps. The developers claim that the game can get quite challenging in the later levels, but it wasn't clear from the E3 demo how the gameplay ramps up as you progress through the game.

de Blob is a cool idea, and I like its originality and sense of style, but I'm still not sure whether the simple gameplay can hold up for more than a couple of levels. It's coming out soon, so we won't have to wait long to find out.

Talkback

Nick DiMolaNick DiMola, Staff AlumnusJuly 24, 2008

I want this game so bad. I'm hoping it really materializes into a full-fledged experience. Though, even if it turns out to be as simple as Katamari Damacy, that's good enough for me.

vuduJuly 24, 2008

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

de Blob is a cool idea, and I like its originality and sense of style, but I'm still not sure whether the simple gameplay can hold up for more than a couple of levels.  It's coming out soon, so we won't have to wait long to find out.

I feel the exact same way.  It sounds like a cool idea; I just have no idea how much I'll still enjoy it after a couple hours.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJuly 24, 2008

You jump.

No different from Mario.

MorariJuly 24, 2008

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

Some "landmarks" can only be painted after completing a mission objective, like turning a whole square red or defeating a set of enemies.

So, an evil fascist government is overthrown by red squares, aye? I'm liking the subtext thus far...

Quote from: MADONNA

You jump.

No different from Mario.

What are you talking about?

I too adore Katamari, but the game was $20 at launch.  de Blob needs more depth if it's going to be worth full price.

D_AverageJuly 25, 2008

I really like the concept of this game as well, but I'd be shocked if I could play more than 60 mins w/o becoming disinterested.  Additionally, it looks really easy.

GoldenPhoenixJuly 25, 2008

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

Quote from: MADONNA

You jump.

No different from Mario.

What are you talking about?

I too adore Katamari, but the game was $20 at launch.  de Blob needs more depth if it's going to be worth full price.

The 360 version was full price I believe.

Nick DiMolaNick DiMola, Staff AlumnusJuly 25, 2008

Quote from: GoldenPhoenix

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

Quote from: MADONNA

You jump.

No different from Mario.

What are you talking about?

I too adore Katamari, but the game was $20 at launch.  de Blob needs more depth if it's going to be worth full price.

The 360 version was full price I believe.

$39.99, the PS2 titles were both $29.99 when they released, not $20, but point still stands.

GoldenPhoenixJuly 25, 2008

Quote from: Mr.

Quote from: GoldenPhoenix

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

Quote from: MADONNA

You jump.

No different from Mario.

What are you talking about?

I too adore Katamari, but the game was $20 at launch.  de Blob needs more depth if it's going to be worth full price.

The 360 version was full price I believe.

$39.99, the PS2 versions were both $29.99 actually when they released.

Ah ok. I think you are right when I think about it now.

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusJuly 25, 2008

Quote from: Mr.

Quote from: GoldenPhoenix

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

Quote from: MADONNA

You jump.

No different from Mario.

What are you talking about?

I too adore Katamari, but the game was $20 at launch.  de Blob needs more depth if it's going to be worth full price.

The 360 version was full price I believe.

$39.99, the PS2 titles were both $29.99 when they released, not $20, but point still stands.

Your wrong Nick,
Katamari Damaci was 19.99
We <3 Katamari was 29.99
Beautiful Katamari was 39.99

I specifically remember buying KD for 19.99 on launch day.

Nick DiMolaNick DiMola, Staff AlumnusJuly 25, 2008

Yeah, now that I think about it, I had paid $30 for it because I couldn't find it anywhere but Game Crazy and it happened to be one of those instances where they were marked over MSRP.

DAaaMan64July 25, 2008

Worth it though ;)

God I love this game. It has an AWESOME multiplayer mode which I played again and again at the Nintendo Media Summit. Think about that. It's an action/platformer... with a good multiplayer mode! Oh freaking hell. Instabuy for me.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJuly 27, 2008

Game of the Other Half-Year

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Genre Action
Developer Blue Tongue Entertainment

Worldwide Releases

na: de Blob
Release Sep 22, 2008
PublisherTHQ
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