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de Blob
Author: Brian Ehlert

Initially developed by a small group of college students, de Blob puts players in control of a ball of color with the mission to jump around and repaint a barren city. The evil INKT Corporation has been removing color from the world, spreading lies that color is dangerous in order to secretly mine color and sell it overseas. Left with a monochrome city of gray buildings, players take on the role of a hero referred to as "The Blob," which is literally a transparent blob with ears that grows a face and arms when stationary.

The goal in the demo mission was to achieve enough points within the allotted time. Players earn points by collecting different colors scatted around the city and jumping on the buildings to change their outer color. As players gather more paint, The Blob will continue increasing in size while changing tint in accordance with the color system. For instance, being a red blob and collecting blue paint will change The Blob's color to purple. In order to paint certain buildings, players will need to manipulate The Blob to achieve the desired color. Patterns can also be collected throughout the level, although these served no purpose in the demo outside of adding variety to the colored buildings.

The controls are quite simple: roll the blob using the Nunchuk, and flick the Wii Remote to jump up or to either side. If you need to brake, just hit B and "The Blob" will come to a quick halt. As players roll around, they will encounter INKY Patrols, which take multiple shapes and can be attacked by locking on using the Z button and swinging the Wii Remote in any direction. Getting hit by one of the INKYs results in The Blob turning black and losing size until it eventually explodes - that is, unless players can reach water to wash off the black paint and return to the original transparent form.

Various challenges are scattered across the city, which players can activate by hitting the A button at certain locations. The challenges in the demo consisted of destroying a certain amount of enemies, or coloring a set group of buildings within the time limit. The challenges not only give players a way to earn more points, but also add more time to the clock to help meet the overall points goal. New areas of the city are unlocked as more points are gained, allowing players to roll around and paint everything in sight.

de Blob was incredibly easy to pick up and play. The controls were simple to learn, and the only initial difficulty was figuring out how to jump from building to building. After only a few minutes of playing, however, the controls felt surprisingly natural. I experienced a few issues with the camera when turning around and rolling back towards the screen. It took a while for the camera to move back behind The Blob despite my attempts at hitting the C button, which was supposed to center it behind The Blob.

The art in de Blob was very basic, with limited textures throughout the level. The design was appropriate for the game, emphasizing the bland look and feel of the city in the beginning, and the brightly colored pattern-filled city that dominated the horizon at the end. The unique look and feel of de Blob will appeal to fans of quirky games such as Katamari Damacy.

In the small amount of time I had to spend with the game, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. de Blob is very open-ended and felt like a breath of fresh air, but I wonder how long that feeling will last. Besides painting gray buildings into the color of your choice, whether while freely roaming and during challenges, there wasn't anything else to do. In fairness, the demo was only of the first level, and didn't include any of the multiplayer modes that have been announced. We will have to wait and see if the full version of the game has enough variety to hold the attention of gamers.

NEXT GAME: Geometry Wars: Galaxies

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