Hands-on with de Blob

By Travis Moses
January 11, 2008 13:12 PM PST
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de Blob is de happiest game we've played on de Wii.

It's not about de moneys or de power, de Blob is about bringing color and music together to paint your own unique and vibrant world. Fortunate for you, the canvas is wiped clean. Unfortunate for de Blobs, however, de evil INK Corp. has confiscated all de color from de world, which de Blobs need to survive. To save Chroma City, where de Blobs live, you will use de Blob's amazing sponge-like abilities to absorb paint and then apply it to anything you touch.

"Give de kid a bucket of paint and watch him go."

Collect different patterns to add variety to your masterpiece.

De Blob is easy enough to navigate through de ten different districts (levels) in Chroma City; but de slow-moving camera system could be a bit more responsive. De Nunchuk analog stick controls de Blob's movement, a swipe of de Wii Remote up or down makes de Blob jump, and de Z-button locks on to targets. For example, de Blob can lock on to a can of red paint, and with one swipe of de Wii Remote de Blob leaps and squishes de can, thus becoming red itself. Now you're ready to paint. More complex moves, such as wall running and jumping, are available from the get go, but will take time to master.

As part of de color revolution, it is your duty to bring color and happiness back to Chroma City. Other members of de color revolution are hiding out in each level. They will provide you with goals before you can pass on to de next area of de map. For example, "Color this entire city block purple." It's super easy to paint a city block in just a few jumps, but to make purple you will first have to find both a blue and red paint container to mix. De Blob contains not only primary colors, but secondary as well. And we can only imagine tertiary colors in de later levels.

Look for goal markers, such as this squigly exclamation point.

Now, all of this is cushioned by a funky '80s jazz soundtrack, which helps lighten de mood. One is preciously reminded of LocoRoco and Patapon on the PSP, especially when it comes to de villainous Inkies who patrol de streets like police officers with batons and hover bikes.

Ink baddies aren't de only thing de Blob need worry about. As de Blob consumes more and more paint, de heaver and fatter de Blob gets making mobility a major issue. Any contact with water will immediately drain de Blob of all color and slowly deplete your paint reserves. Worst of all, direct contact with ink spills will disease de Blob, quickly depleting paint reserves, until de Blob finds water to return to a neutral state.

This is Chroma City completely devoid of color.

When de Blob's campaign mode is all said and done, there are three other fun-filled modes to choose from. Speed Ball, Paint de Town, and Free Paint all offer new challenges and unique ways to play de game. There's also a Music Mixer. Though still early in development, de Music Mixer will allow players to mix music through gestures of de Wii Remote.

At de close of our demo, we were sad to see de Blob go. It's insanely addictive and there's always something to do, which makes for a satisfying experience. De Blob is a game for all ages and all gamers. Casual or hardcore, there's no denying de Blob. Stay tuned because we'll have more news on de Blob soon. Hopefully we can squeeze some multiplayer impressions out of de next demo. Until then, check out more screenshots of de Blob here.

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