Ikohn4ever
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It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while a publisher or developer drops a totally unique experience on our laps. In an industry that thrives off of yearly franchises and high-budget sequels, most of the more unique games end up finding only a small cult following, go virtually unnoticed, but also hold a very specific place in its console's history. Games like Zack & Wiki, Elebits, and No More Heroes fall into that category already on Wii, and while not all of them are AAA, top-tier efforts in the end, they bring such a breath of fresh air to the system that they won't be forgotten. Well, it looks to be time to add another game to that list, and it comes from a somewhat unlikely source. THQ – known most for its #1 ranking as the gaming industry's top licensed games provider – has contracted developer Blue Tongue to create something truly original for Wii, and from the first hour and a half we've played, it was a great move.
Before...
Up until now we've had only very small snippets of time to tinker around with de Blob, jumping through a sizable chunk of the first level and learning the basics of rolling, jumping, and color blending that make up this game's unique design. For those unfamiliar with the design, de Blob puts you in control of a gelatinous hero who lives in a world entirely devoid of color. Rolling around a monotone cartoon city is no fun for the little guy, so he opts to take revenge on the ink creatures that sole away the worlds vibrant look, shoving giant buckets of paint into himself and literally painting the town with his every-growing, bulbous mass. The more paint he picks up, the larger de Blob gets.
Obviously there's no denying the distinguished style of de Blob, as one look at a screen or video will define instantly the tone and feel of the game. It's an odd combination, but between the visual style, improved funk beats, and gameplay we'd describe de Blob's overall feel as a mash-up between Mercury Meltdown, Jet Set Radio, and something along the lines of Pikmin or Elebits. Each of the game's ten locales are entirely free-roaming, so it's up to you to grab some color, paint the world, and jump into challenges strewn all across the area. Each challenge instantly launches you into a full-blown painting event, often requiring you to scale huge buildings (painting as you roll), wall jump from area to area, wipe out an invading ink army, or growing to full size and powering up key landmarks in an effort to saturate an entire area with vibrant color. The free-form feel and artistic, paint-based gameplay pulls in that Jet Set Radio feel, while the blending of different paint colors and semi-puzzle design instantly reminded us of Mercury Meltdown.
In the control department, not much has changed since we played the game back at PAX, but the team had a design in mind, and that design was and is achieved. Controlling de Blob is as simple as tilting the analog stick, while flicking the Wii-mote causes him to jump or slam into enemies. A Z-targeting system is added to easily launch towards enemies, paint cans, or other world objects, again using a flick of the remote to send the ball of goo sailing. There isn't much for motion or IR control, and it's true that the majority of the game could be played on any console out there, but that doesn't stop it from being a ton of fun. In fact, once you get the game in hand (for the record, this my my personal first time playing it, while Matt Casamassina had the honor last time around) it's obvious that this was the right control choice. The game isn't Dewey's Adventure or Monkey Ball, and de Blob won't roll around or really feel like a ball. If we had to compare it to another design, we'd say it plays more like a traditional Mario game; if Mario was an undulating tub of slime.
Where the game really wins players over, though, is in its commitment to its own style. Rolling around the world leaves trails of paint, little drops of colored ink splashes off de Blob as he moves, leaving miniscule dots of color where it lands, every object in the world can be painted in any blend of colors, and the animation is top-notch, having enemies and city objects flood lazily with color when hit, or bounce and bend with tons of attitude. We've never seen a tree that actually looked like it was relaxed and totally laid back until now. Odd, yes, but it's true. The result of creating such a truly fun world to exist in is huge; as we'd often let challenges run out or purposefully avoid objectives just to go paint random objects. Sure the world needs saving, but that little dude standing next to his newly-colored house looks depressed, and a fresh coat of paint is sure to cheer him up.
... and after!
Also peppered throughout the game a are a few Wii-specific time-wasters to screw around with. It's nothing mind-blowing, but with the menu system fully IR-supported, the Blue Tongue team decided it was a perfect opportunity to let people play with the pain mechanic, as a combination of buttons and cursor movement lets you draw anywhere on the screen, lift your pen to finish strokes, and change the color of the ink. DS's Drawn to Life still takes the cake for best title screen (having it as a fully pixel pushed art canvas, and letting players modify, draw, or erase with it like a simplified paint program), but de Blob's interface is still slick and fun to screw around with. As for other little additions to the game, you've got a few instances of motion control in-game for more advanced wall jumping, attacking, and special instances where you dump huge masses of paint into a specific object. They're basic overall, but they work. Local multiplayer is also included, but we'll have to wait for a later date to hear about what it offers.
Another great concept we noticed this time around was a quick little waypoint system that's used for finding paint cans or water spots around the map. At any time players can hold the A button, and a small set of icons will orbit de Blob, including colored tabs and water insignias. Follow any of the objects, and they'll lead you to the specific item you need. On the flipside, navigation can be a bit of a pain too though, as the camera isn't too smart, and you'll need to use the d-pad in tandem with movement to line up jumps and check out specific angles of buildings for challenges. Hopefully the camera can be tweaked before release, but at the very most it's an inconvenience, and in no way a deal-breaker for the otherwise entertaining experience.
As an important final note, we originally stated during a previous hands-on that de Blob was missing out on a crucial element of the game, which was an equally unique soundtrack to go with its visual style. Our latest play session shows a drastic improvement in that aspect of the game, as the its musical score works in turn with the game's color progression. When the level begins, the world is monotone and the music is slow and thin. The more color you add though, the more the music builds in a similar fashion to SSX Blur. The result is a much stronger overall attitude for de Blob, as it now sounds as fun as it plays and looks.
We'll have more on de Blob soon, including additional impressions and more media just as soon as we can bribe someone over at THQ to let us keep a copy around the office. After our hour-plus play session we were asked to kindly fork over the game, an act of which ended up costing more than a few human lives for both parties involved. After all, it's January, and we need to feed the gaming hunger.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/844/844908p1.html
This is def one of my most anticipated Wii games of 2008, something real original on the Wii. Really hope it turns out as good as they are making it sound
It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while a publisher or developer drops a totally unique experience on our laps. In an industry that thrives off of yearly franchises and high-budget sequels, most of the more unique games end up finding only a small cult following, go virtually unnoticed, but also hold a very specific place in its console's history. Games like Zack & Wiki, Elebits, and No More Heroes fall into that category already on Wii, and while not all of them are AAA, top-tier efforts in the end, they bring such a breath of fresh air to the system that they won't be forgotten. Well, it looks to be time to add another game to that list, and it comes from a somewhat unlikely source. THQ – known most for its #1 ranking as the gaming industry's top licensed games provider – has contracted developer Blue Tongue to create something truly original for Wii, and from the first hour and a half we've played, it was a great move.
Before...
Up until now we've had only very small snippets of time to tinker around with de Blob, jumping through a sizable chunk of the first level and learning the basics of rolling, jumping, and color blending that make up this game's unique design. For those unfamiliar with the design, de Blob puts you in control of a gelatinous hero who lives in a world entirely devoid of color. Rolling around a monotone cartoon city is no fun for the little guy, so he opts to take revenge on the ink creatures that sole away the worlds vibrant look, shoving giant buckets of paint into himself and literally painting the town with his every-growing, bulbous mass. The more paint he picks up, the larger de Blob gets.
Obviously there's no denying the distinguished style of de Blob, as one look at a screen or video will define instantly the tone and feel of the game. It's an odd combination, but between the visual style, improved funk beats, and gameplay we'd describe de Blob's overall feel as a mash-up between Mercury Meltdown, Jet Set Radio, and something along the lines of Pikmin or Elebits. Each of the game's ten locales are entirely free-roaming, so it's up to you to grab some color, paint the world, and jump into challenges strewn all across the area. Each challenge instantly launches you into a full-blown painting event, often requiring you to scale huge buildings (painting as you roll), wall jump from area to area, wipe out an invading ink army, or growing to full size and powering up key landmarks in an effort to saturate an entire area with vibrant color. The free-form feel and artistic, paint-based gameplay pulls in that Jet Set Radio feel, while the blending of different paint colors and semi-puzzle design instantly reminded us of Mercury Meltdown.
In the control department, not much has changed since we played the game back at PAX, but the team had a design in mind, and that design was and is achieved. Controlling de Blob is as simple as tilting the analog stick, while flicking the Wii-mote causes him to jump or slam into enemies. A Z-targeting system is added to easily launch towards enemies, paint cans, or other world objects, again using a flick of the remote to send the ball of goo sailing. There isn't much for motion or IR control, and it's true that the majority of the game could be played on any console out there, but that doesn't stop it from being a ton of fun. In fact, once you get the game in hand (for the record, this my my personal first time playing it, while Matt Casamassina had the honor last time around) it's obvious that this was the right control choice. The game isn't Dewey's Adventure or Monkey Ball, and de Blob won't roll around or really feel like a ball. If we had to compare it to another design, we'd say it plays more like a traditional Mario game; if Mario was an undulating tub of slime.
Where the game really wins players over, though, is in its commitment to its own style. Rolling around the world leaves trails of paint, little drops of colored ink splashes off de Blob as he moves, leaving miniscule dots of color where it lands, every object in the world can be painted in any blend of colors, and the animation is top-notch, having enemies and city objects flood lazily with color when hit, or bounce and bend with tons of attitude. We've never seen a tree that actually looked like it was relaxed and totally laid back until now. Odd, yes, but it's true. The result of creating such a truly fun world to exist in is huge; as we'd often let challenges run out or purposefully avoid objectives just to go paint random objects. Sure the world needs saving, but that little dude standing next to his newly-colored house looks depressed, and a fresh coat of paint is sure to cheer him up.
... and after!
Also peppered throughout the game a are a few Wii-specific time-wasters to screw around with. It's nothing mind-blowing, but with the menu system fully IR-supported, the Blue Tongue team decided it was a perfect opportunity to let people play with the pain mechanic, as a combination of buttons and cursor movement lets you draw anywhere on the screen, lift your pen to finish strokes, and change the color of the ink. DS's Drawn to Life still takes the cake for best title screen (having it as a fully pixel pushed art canvas, and letting players modify, draw, or erase with it like a simplified paint program), but de Blob's interface is still slick and fun to screw around with. As for other little additions to the game, you've got a few instances of motion control in-game for more advanced wall jumping, attacking, and special instances where you dump huge masses of paint into a specific object. They're basic overall, but they work. Local multiplayer is also included, but we'll have to wait for a later date to hear about what it offers.
Another great concept we noticed this time around was a quick little waypoint system that's used for finding paint cans or water spots around the map. At any time players can hold the A button, and a small set of icons will orbit de Blob, including colored tabs and water insignias. Follow any of the objects, and they'll lead you to the specific item you need. On the flipside, navigation can be a bit of a pain too though, as the camera isn't too smart, and you'll need to use the d-pad in tandem with movement to line up jumps and check out specific angles of buildings for challenges. Hopefully the camera can be tweaked before release, but at the very most it's an inconvenience, and in no way a deal-breaker for the otherwise entertaining experience.
As an important final note, we originally stated during a previous hands-on that de Blob was missing out on a crucial element of the game, which was an equally unique soundtrack to go with its visual style. Our latest play session shows a drastic improvement in that aspect of the game, as the its musical score works in turn with the game's color progression. When the level begins, the world is monotone and the music is slow and thin. The more color you add though, the more the music builds in a similar fashion to SSX Blur. The result is a much stronger overall attitude for de Blob, as it now sounds as fun as it plays and looks.
We'll have more on de Blob soon, including additional impressions and more media just as soon as we can bribe someone over at THQ to let us keep a copy around the office. After our hour-plus play session we were asked to kindly fork over the game, an act of which ended up costing more than a few human lives for both parties involved. After all, it's January, and we need to feed the gaming hunger.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/844/844908p1.html
This is def one of my most anticipated Wii games of 2008, something real original on the Wii. Really hope it turns out as good as they are making it sound
