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This thread has been linked to the game 'de Blob'.
As an ex-child, I think it’s fair to say that everyone loves paint. I mean, not everyone can paint (see the majority of primary school classrooms across the land), but there was nothing quite as satisfying as dipping your fingers in a big bright pot of ‘Yellow’ and smearing it across a blank canvas... or page ripped from ‘The Sun’, if you went to my kind of primary school.
de Blob, Australian developer Bluetongue’s third Wii title, appeals to this innate love of all things messy. The city of Chroma has been sucked dry of colour by the evil INKT Corporation. You, Blob, and your gang of revolutionaries must overthrow the evil empire and bring rainbow shades back to the world. How? Paint, of course!
The city itself, divided into 10 or so regions, lays waiting in monochrome. The buildings, landmarks, trees and even the Raydians (the people of Chroma) have been washed clean of any tone or colour. As Blob, the sole remaining denizen with the ability to spread paint, you must repaint everything and everyone. Each region is scattered with primary-coloured paint ‘bots’, which Blob can break open and then absorb into himself, taking on the hue contained within. Merely touching any surface whilst having ‘paint points’ turns it the colour Blob is at the point in time. If Blob goes over 2 different colours in succession he becomes a spreader of a secondary mix, whilst hitting all 3 primary colours results in a rather dour brown.
The main objective, putting aside all the additional unnecessaries, is to reach the end of a given region without running out of lives or time. Using the nunchuk to navigate and shaking the Wiimote to jump, Blob can open gates, take out INKT enemies, and of course liberally splatter paint across the black-and-white metropolis. However, the sprawling levels have so much to explore that it proves infinitely more fun if you take a ‘completionist’ approach rather than zipping through.
Each level has various objectives to be met if you want to get the relevant ‘Awards’ - badges for completing certain tasks. Of course, there is the obvious ‘100% painted’ objective – a real challenge for some sections. But also contained within each level are several challenges set by your co-Guevaras, plenty of new paint styles to collect (so instead of block colours you get pretty patterns and swirly shades), Raydians to free from their grey imprisonment, INKT outposts to convert into Chroma city landmarks and trees to reinvigorate, amongst other things. Actually finding every single item and element to paint in each level is a tough task, and with the clock constantly ticking it can become a proper race to get everything and exit before time runs out. That all said, with each level taking me around 1 – 1.5 hours to do a full complete, that only makes at best 15 hours of gameplay.
So this is where the extra stuff comes in. Aside from the main story levels de Blob also boasts several extra stages. 2 or 3 minute adventures into small, self-contained zones, these levels provide a single specific objective to complete – paint a number of trees, take out a selection of enemies, do certain buildings in certain colours – within a very tight time limit. Although not the definitions of ‘hard’ like ‘Ikaruga-hard’, these do add a bit of longevity to an otherwise brief game.
Not that brief is necessarily bad - because this game is damn fun. The presentation is slick, and the story mode itself is punctuated by some pretty funny and charming cut scenes that kids would like and that I loved. Not only this, but completing the bonus challenges unlocks plenty of other development art, test videos and other cool odds and sods to flick through. And as an added bonus, if you’ve got littleuns who don’t fancy ‘baddies’ and the big bad clock (or indeed, you have some kind of serious aversion to any kind of tension), you can always just let them play around in ‘Free Paint’ – a mode with no enemies, timer or gates, and as much paint as you could ask for. Like that time when I was at B&Q when I was 8 and Mum had to pay for all the mess.
I should probably add something about the music too. There are several soundtracks you can choose for each level, unlocking as you progress. These give each painting experience a different flavour - as the world comes back to life, the music grows, and as you paint sound effects and cool jingles intersperse the cheery tunes. It’s a nice touch that shows the developer’s have actually put some real time and thought into how best to make this kind of gaming experience most fun.
de Blob does what it does and does it well. You – paint blob. Aim – paint. Sure, it’s not going to change the industry with its game play, and yes sometimes the physics of the blob are a bit strange causing you to fly off to god knows where. But don’t let this put you off - I could go into lots of detail about exactly how the game plays out, and the little touches you’ll see, and the satisfaction of freeing hundreds of Raydians and their cheers and the feeling of painting everything in sight and the cannons and the spikes and the... oh... I’m getting carried away again. Must be the fumes.
Out now on Nintendo Wii
Purchased from Play.com: £17.99
de Blob, Australian developer Bluetongue’s third Wii title, appeals to this innate love of all things messy. The city of Chroma has been sucked dry of colour by the evil INKT Corporation. You, Blob, and your gang of revolutionaries must overthrow the evil empire and bring rainbow shades back to the world. How? Paint, of course!
The city itself, divided into 10 or so regions, lays waiting in monochrome. The buildings, landmarks, trees and even the Raydians (the people of Chroma) have been washed clean of any tone or colour. As Blob, the sole remaining denizen with the ability to spread paint, you must repaint everything and everyone. Each region is scattered with primary-coloured paint ‘bots’, which Blob can break open and then absorb into himself, taking on the hue contained within. Merely touching any surface whilst having ‘paint points’ turns it the colour Blob is at the point in time. If Blob goes over 2 different colours in succession he becomes a spreader of a secondary mix, whilst hitting all 3 primary colours results in a rather dour brown.
The main objective, putting aside all the additional unnecessaries, is to reach the end of a given region without running out of lives or time. Using the nunchuk to navigate and shaking the Wiimote to jump, Blob can open gates, take out INKT enemies, and of course liberally splatter paint across the black-and-white metropolis. However, the sprawling levels have so much to explore that it proves infinitely more fun if you take a ‘completionist’ approach rather than zipping through.
Each level has various objectives to be met if you want to get the relevant ‘Awards’ - badges for completing certain tasks. Of course, there is the obvious ‘100% painted’ objective – a real challenge for some sections. But also contained within each level are several challenges set by your co-Guevaras, plenty of new paint styles to collect (so instead of block colours you get pretty patterns and swirly shades), Raydians to free from their grey imprisonment, INKT outposts to convert into Chroma city landmarks and trees to reinvigorate, amongst other things. Actually finding every single item and element to paint in each level is a tough task, and with the clock constantly ticking it can become a proper race to get everything and exit before time runs out. That all said, with each level taking me around 1 – 1.5 hours to do a full complete, that only makes at best 15 hours of gameplay.
So this is where the extra stuff comes in. Aside from the main story levels de Blob also boasts several extra stages. 2 or 3 minute adventures into small, self-contained zones, these levels provide a single specific objective to complete – paint a number of trees, take out a selection of enemies, do certain buildings in certain colours – within a very tight time limit. Although not the definitions of ‘hard’ like ‘Ikaruga-hard’, these do add a bit of longevity to an otherwise brief game.
Not that brief is necessarily bad - because this game is damn fun. The presentation is slick, and the story mode itself is punctuated by some pretty funny and charming cut scenes that kids would like and that I loved. Not only this, but completing the bonus challenges unlocks plenty of other development art, test videos and other cool odds and sods to flick through. And as an added bonus, if you’ve got littleuns who don’t fancy ‘baddies’ and the big bad clock (or indeed, you have some kind of serious aversion to any kind of tension), you can always just let them play around in ‘Free Paint’ – a mode with no enemies, timer or gates, and as much paint as you could ask for. Like that time when I was at B&Q when I was 8 and Mum had to pay for all the mess.
I should probably add something about the music too. There are several soundtracks you can choose for each level, unlocking as you progress. These give each painting experience a different flavour - as the world comes back to life, the music grows, and as you paint sound effects and cool jingles intersperse the cheery tunes. It’s a nice touch that shows the developer’s have actually put some real time and thought into how best to make this kind of gaming experience most fun.
de Blob does what it does and does it well. You – paint blob. Aim – paint. Sure, it’s not going to change the industry with its game play, and yes sometimes the physics of the blob are a bit strange causing you to fly off to god knows where. But don’t let this put you off - I could go into lots of detail about exactly how the game plays out, and the little touches you’ll see, and the satisfaction of freeing hundreds of Raydians and their cheers and the feeling of painting everything in sight and the cannons and the spikes and the... oh... I’m getting carried away again. Must be the fumes.
Out now on Nintendo Wii
Purchased from Play.com: £17.99
Cheers for the post :)
I've tried to spread word of the game round friends, however it's difficult to get them to bite on an unproven franchise, especially with its colourful styling. Not enough BOOM BOOM BANG BANG for them, even at £18.
It's one of few games recently that's actually kept my interest of late, and long may it do so.
I've tried to spread word of the game round friends, however it's difficult to get them to bite on an unproven franchise, especially with its colourful styling. Not enough BOOM BOOM BANG BANG for them, even at £18.
It's one of few games recently that's actually kept my interest of late, and long may it do so.
Nice review.
I think that it's a shame this will be labelled as a kids game really. Yes, it's simple enough for kids, but it can get harder later and adults will get just as much fun from it.
That said, my four year old loved playing through the first 3 gates, just painting the town.
I think that it's a shame this will be labelled as a kids game really. Yes, it's simple enough for kids, but it can get harder later and adults will get just as much fun from it.
That said, my four year old loved playing through the first 3 gates, just painting the town.
As an ex-child, I think it’s fair to say that everyone loves paint. I mean, not everyone can paint (see the majority of primary school classrooms across the land), but there was nothing quite as satisfying as dipping your fingers in a big bright pot of ‘Yellow’ and smearing it across a blank canvas... or page ripped from ‘The Sun’, if you went to my kind of primary school.
de Blob, Australian developer Bluetongue’s third Wii title, appeals to this innate love of all things messy. The city of Chroma has been sucked dry of colour by the evil INKT Corporation. You, Blob, and your gang of revolutionaries must overthrow the evil empire and bring rainbow shades back to the world. How? Paint, of course!
The city itself, divided into 10 or so regions, lays waiting in monochrome. The buildings, landmarks, trees and even the Raydians (the people of Chroma) have been washed clean of any tone or colour. As Blob, the sole remaining denizen with the ability to spread paint, you must repaint everything and everyone. Each region is scattered with primary-coloured paint ‘bots’, which Blob can break open and then absorb into himself, taking on the hue contained within. Merely touching any surface whilst having ‘paint points’ turns it the colour Blob is at the point in time. If Blob goes over 2 different colours in succession he becomes a spreader of a secondary mix, whilst hitting all 3 primary colours results in a rather dour brown.
The main objective, putting aside all the additional unnecessaries, is to reach the end of a given region without running out of lives or time. Using the nunchuk to navigate and shaking the Wiimote to jump, Blob can open gates, take out INKT enemies, and of course liberally splatter paint across the black-and-white metropolis. However, the sprawling levels have so much to explore that it proves infinitely more fun if you take a ‘completionist’ approach rather than zipping through.
Each level has various objectives to be met if you want to get the relevant ‘Awards’ - badges for completing certain tasks. Of course, there is the obvious ‘100% painted’ objective – a real challenge for some sections. But also contained within each level are several challenges set by your co-Guevaras, plenty of new paint styles to collect (so instead of block colours you get pretty patterns and swirly shades), Raydians to free from their grey imprisonment, INKT outposts to convert into Chroma city landmarks and trees to reinvigorate, amongst other things. Actually finding every single item and element to paint in each level is a tough task, and with the clock constantly ticking it can become a proper race to get everything and exit before time runs out. That all said, with each level taking me around 1 – 1.5 hours to do a full complete, that only makes at best 15 hours of gameplay.
So this is where the extra stuff comes in. Aside from the main story levels de Blob also boasts several extra stages. 2 or 3 minute adventures into small, self-contained zones, these levels provide a single specific objective to complete – paint a number of trees, take out a selection of enemies, do certain buildings in certain colours – within a very tight time limit. Although not the definitions of ‘hard’ like ‘Ikaruga-hard’, these do add a bit of longevity to an otherwise brief game.
Not that brief is necessarily bad - because this game is damn fun. The presentation is slick, and the story mode itself is punctuated by some pretty funny and charming cut scenes that kids would like and that I loved. Not only this, but completing the bonus challenges unlocks plenty of other development art, test videos and other cool odds and sods to flick through. And as an added bonus, if you’ve got littleuns who don’t fancy ‘baddies’ and the big bad clock (or indeed, you have some kind of serious aversion to any kind of tension), you can always just let them play around in ‘Free Paint’ – a mode with no enemies, timer or gates, and as much paint as you could ask for. Like that time when I was at B&Q when I was 8 and Mum had to pay for all the mess.
I should probably add something about the music too. There are several soundtracks you can choose for each level, unlocking as you progress. These give each painting experience a different flavour - as the world comes back to life, the music grows, and as you paint sound effects and cool jingles intersperse the cheery tunes. It’s a nice touch that shows the developer’s have actually put some real time and thought into how best to make this kind of gaming experience most fun.
de Blob does what it does and does it well. You – paint blob. Aim – paint. Sure, it’s not going to change the industry with its game play, and yes sometimes the physics of the blob are a bit strange causing you to fly off to god knows where. But don’t let this put you off - I could go into lots of detail about exactly how the game plays out, and the little touches you’ll see, and the satisfaction of freeing hundreds of Raydians and their cheers and the feeling of painting everything in sight and the cannons and the spikes and the... oh... I’m getting carried away again. Must be the fumes.
Out now on Nintendo Wii
Purchased from Play.com: £17.99
de Blob, Australian developer Bluetongue’s third Wii title, appeals to this innate love of all things messy. The city of Chroma has been sucked dry of colour by the evil INKT Corporation. You, Blob, and your gang of revolutionaries must overthrow the evil empire and bring rainbow shades back to the world. How? Paint, of course!
The city itself, divided into 10 or so regions, lays waiting in monochrome. The buildings, landmarks, trees and even the Raydians (the people of Chroma) have been washed clean of any tone or colour. As Blob, the sole remaining denizen with the ability to spread paint, you must repaint everything and everyone. Each region is scattered with primary-coloured paint ‘bots’, which Blob can break open and then absorb into himself, taking on the hue contained within. Merely touching any surface whilst having ‘paint points’ turns it the colour Blob is at the point in time. If Blob goes over 2 different colours in succession he becomes a spreader of a secondary mix, whilst hitting all 3 primary colours results in a rather dour brown.
The main objective, putting aside all the additional unnecessaries, is to reach the end of a given region without running out of lives or time. Using the nunchuk to navigate and shaking the Wiimote to jump, Blob can open gates, take out INKT enemies, and of course liberally splatter paint across the black-and-white metropolis. However, the sprawling levels have so much to explore that it proves infinitely more fun if you take a ‘completionist’ approach rather than zipping through.
Each level has various objectives to be met if you want to get the relevant ‘Awards’ - badges for completing certain tasks. Of course, there is the obvious ‘100% painted’ objective – a real challenge for some sections. But also contained within each level are several challenges set by your co-Guevaras, plenty of new paint styles to collect (so instead of block colours you get pretty patterns and swirly shades), Raydians to free from their grey imprisonment, INKT outposts to convert into Chroma city landmarks and trees to reinvigorate, amongst other things. Actually finding every single item and element to paint in each level is a tough task, and with the clock constantly ticking it can become a proper race to get everything and exit before time runs out. That all said, with each level taking me around 1 – 1.5 hours to do a full complete, that only makes at best 15 hours of gameplay.
So this is where the extra stuff comes in. Aside from the main story levels de Blob also boasts several extra stages. 2 or 3 minute adventures into small, self-contained zones, these levels provide a single specific objective to complete – paint a number of trees, take out a selection of enemies, do certain buildings in certain colours – within a very tight time limit. Although not the definitions of ‘hard’ like ‘Ikaruga-hard’, these do add a bit of longevity to an otherwise brief game.
Not that brief is necessarily bad - because this game is damn fun. The presentation is slick, and the story mode itself is punctuated by some pretty funny and charming cut scenes that kids would like and that I loved. Not only this, but completing the bonus challenges unlocks plenty of other development art, test videos and other cool odds and sods to flick through. And as an added bonus, if you’ve got littleuns who don’t fancy ‘baddies’ and the big bad clock (or indeed, you have some kind of serious aversion to any kind of tension), you can always just let them play around in ‘Free Paint’ – a mode with no enemies, timer or gates, and as much paint as you could ask for. Like that time when I was at B&Q when I was 8 and Mum had to pay for all the mess.
I should probably add something about the music too. There are several soundtracks you can choose for each level, unlocking as you progress. These give each painting experience a different flavour - as the world comes back to life, the music grows, and as you paint sound effects and cool jingles intersperse the cheery tunes. It’s a nice touch that shows the developer’s have actually put some real time and thought into how best to make this kind of gaming experience most fun.
de Blob does what it does and does it well. You – paint blob. Aim – paint. Sure, it’s not going to change the industry with its game play, and yes sometimes the physics of the blob are a bit strange causing you to fly off to god knows where. But don’t let this put you off - I could go into lots of detail about exactly how the game plays out, and the little touches you’ll see, and the satisfaction of freeing hundreds of Raydians and their cheers and the feeling of painting everything in sight and the cannons and the spikes and the... oh... I’m getting carried away again. Must be the fumes.
Out now on Nintendo Wii
Purchased from Play.com: £17.99