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de Blob
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Posted on January 8, 2009 at 4:48 pm by Adrian Ling
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 Some Wii games are unsatisfactory, but when I first played De Blob, I knew immediately that it had a lot of potential. The people of THQ were very excited with the launch of this game and they said that it was their ace up their sleeve; they were not wrong. Wii is both a loved and hated console -- that is why some developers don’t take much interest in it. Fortunately, there are still some people that are willing to take advantage of all the console features and remember the players that the Wii has, making games that are very friendly and brings lots of fun.
The story of De Blob is told through a series of excellent movies that manage to be funny and smart without saying a word at all. The evil INKT Corporation, led by the dictatorial Comrade Black, has drained all the color from Chroma City, turning it into a monochromatic metropolis. It has also turned its colorful citizens, the Raydians, into homogeneous Graydians. Blob joins forces with a resistance movement called the Color Underground to bring color back to Chroma City and free its people.  The basic goal of each level is to paint part of Chroma City and, by doing so, gradually free the city from the colorless grip of the INKT Corporation. As you paint the area, the color energy level increases, and you'll need to reach a certain total in each section before you can open the gate to the next. There's always a clock ticking down in story mode, but this is not a high-pressure game. You generally have plenty of time to make your way through each section at your own pace.
Blob starts each level without any color himself, but thankfully, Chroma City is crawling with paintbots, which are spiderlike robots with tanks of red, yellow, or blue paint on their backs. By smashing one of these, Blob becomes coated with paint. Each paintbot you smash nets give you 10 paint points up to a maximum of 100, which work both as his health and as his attack strength, as certain foes require a certain number of paint points to be defeated.  You move Blob around with the thumbstick on the Nunchuk and swing the remote down to jump. Blob gets around by rolling, and maneuvering him around Chroma City is really easy. He is also capable of running along walls and jumping off of them. These more advanced skills are a bit trickier, but once you get the timing down, you'll be bopping your way all over the place, though Blob has a frustrating tendency to get wedged into tight spaces, especially when he's absorbed a lot of paint. Combat is also simple but fun. You target your enemies with the Z button and then jump on them to smash them. Blob hits his targets with inerrant accuracy, and targeting distant paintbots or INKT troops is often a necessary technique to get across greater distances that Blob might not otherwise be able to accomplish.
The single-player mode is definitely the best part of the game, but the gameplay translates very well to multiplayer action as well. The game has three multiplayer game modes and each one can be played by up to four players. In each one, your goal is to paint more of the level than your opponents. In the Paint Match mode, you can paint over other players' colors, whereas in Blob Race, each building can only be painted once. Finally, in Blob on the Run, only one player can paint at any one time while other players find and smash that blob to acquire the ability to paint. The more people you have on hand for these modes, the better.
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Final Verdict - 8/10
The game's presentation is really awesome. Maybe it's not technically impressive, but the artistic design of the visuals is really enjoyable and a large part of what makes De Blob such a joy to play. Painting Chroma City is a fresh and satisfying experience. Multiplayer modes are fun and the way the graphics and sound combine is one of this game's greatest features.
Latest Comments
Sonicboom January 08, 2009, 06:44 PM
I enjoyed playing through this game so much, and I can definitely see myself going back to it again. As if the premise wasn't cool enough (bringing a color revolution to an oppressed, gray society), the presentation is excellent and the game is tons of fun. The soundtrack is seriously something you have to experience for yourself, as the music grows as you paint the city, with little bursts of sound every time you paint something, with different sounds for different colors. Highly recommended!
chipmunk884 January 08, 2009, 07:39 PM
I definitely enjoyed playing through this game. It had an interesting story, and was very fun to play. The graphics in combination with the music make it a great game. However, my only complaint would be that there are only 10 main levels to play through. I was able to beat it in a few days. The 2 bonus levels in each location are really short, and I wish that there had been more levels for the game.
ebuch January 08, 2009, 07:56 PM
I think it sounds quite interesting despite the short length. But you really have to remember that all of the WiiWare games are going to be quite short, just because of the way they are distributed. The games themselves may be short, but a couple of them are definitely worth the $15 or so, rather than having to buy it for $50 (though you would get a longer game).
Henrie January 08, 2009, 09:26 PM
@ebuch,
This is not a wiiware game!
Yes it is a fun, relaxing and original game. It looks great graphical wise. A very colorfull game (when you start painting, of course). It has pixar-like cutscenes. However, I am not a real jazz-fan. Yet I have to admit that it suits the game. However it is very easy (you just paint the enviroment), and thus quite casual. But this is one of the few casual games I actually like.
Sam Ko January 08, 2009, 09:47 PM
Absolutely amazing article, Adrian. Never played this game, but it has a really neat concept. 
ebuch January 08, 2009, 11:15 PM
@ebuch,
This is not a wiiware game!
Haha! I don't know where I got that idea xD
Sonicboom January 10, 2009, 08:42 AM
By the way, the first two shots are from the original PC game that the Wii one was based on. 
Henrie January 10, 2009, 08:34 PM
Now that you mention it, you are true! I got that one myself. You can download it for free on the internet. And don't fear, since there is also an english version. However, it controls very tricky with a mouse. But I heard you can also play it with a trackerball.
Eddy "D_S" Fettig January 11, 2009, 08:22 PM
I'm kind of sad I wasn't able to get my hands on this game yet, because it does look like a very solid rental, at the least.
I went through Psychonauts, instead. Good first review, Adrian.
Santuli January 11, 2009, 08:26 PM
I could have sword you guys had already reviewed this game o_O
Anyways, I've wanted this game for a long time. It looks way fun. I'm tired of the casual labeling, btw. Its not Zelda or Metroid, so it has to be casual? Being a puzzle game doesnt mean its casual. Every other game is being labeled as casual these days...where was this category of games last gen? =S
Henrie January 11, 2009, 08:32 PM
It's casual because it is terribly easy. That's why.
link182 January 11, 2009, 08:40 PM
Half-Life is terribly easy for me, it's not casual now is it? Difficulty is not the guideline to use in deciding whether it's a casual game. >.>
Santuli January 11, 2009, 09:59 PM
Totally agreed there, Dan. Difficulty is totally subjective, so to one person a game might be easy while to another hard. So would it be casual for the first one and core for the second?
TWW and TP are both very easy Zelda games. Extremely, imo. Are they casual? And a game that's hard is automatically hardcore?
Spindyboy January 12, 2009, 12:20 AM
Yes. To some, SMB is casual. To me, it's extremely difficult for some reason.
But yeah, where was the casual label last gen? Surely games like de Blob came out last gen and where considered hardcore?
Santuli January 12, 2009, 04:14 PM
Exactly, if its casual, its casual. It shouldnt change depending on how difficult you find a game. Someone with no musical talent at all may find GH/RB insanely hard, while a guitar player would not. Casual games have been around forever, but NOW its becoming a bad thing if a game is casual. Before, as long as the game was fun and entertaining, it didnt matter. If you found it appealing enough, you'd buy it. Out of principle now, though, many like to ignore casual games entirely. or start labelling everything they see as casual, or think everything will turn casual... Yes, there are more casual games now than before, but because the casual market is now bigger! Does that mean the core market is smaller? No. Does it mean it will not increase? No...I mean, I think we all started out as casual gamers, didnt we? Im sure there are casual gamers out there that start liking games so much they eventually turn into more serious gamers. I dont understand this dumb prejudice for casuals. Its ridiculous how we can judge people and everything by such insignificant qualities. Race was bad enough, but now how often someone plays video games?  Its pathetically, sadly funny to me. Anyway, enough ranting...
Spindyboy January 14, 2009, 10:17 PM
Maybe because casual is now associated with shovelware. A game can be casual and be good, but a lot of the time casual games ARE shovelware, (especially on Wii) hence the prejudice.
Santuli January 15, 2009, 12:07 AM
Unfortunately, yea. Since the Wii is the biggest selling console, and it appeals to a wide market, most shovelware is targeted at that market. Sow e get games that are both crappy and casual, but people like to only see that its casual. So...casual games are destroying gaming -_-
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