PS3 Review: de Blob 2

Making its debut onto next-gen systems, de Blob 2 is the sequel to the hidden Wii gem of a similar title. Was making the jump to hardcore consoles a good idea, or should this game stayed in the kids’ pile?

de Blob 2 is, at its heart, a colorful platformer. Picking up right after the last game — that gets summed up for you in the beginning — the hero Blob just defeated the mundane Comrade Black and gave life back to the world. Him and his monochromatic minions have taken over and it’s up to Blob to lead the revolution and bring life back! It’s a pretty shallow story, but that’s no matter. You can look deeper into possible anti-industrial/anti-corporation themes, but the game doesn’t really press any agenda on you so it’s no problem. It’s a fun and energetic title that will only bother the people who are looking to be offended.

The main point of de Blob 2 is to jump around the entire game world with different paint colors and replace the grayscale with a chromatic palette. This is done by merely jumping at the buildings and running into them. There are a few new mechanics added input they are mostly only used at specific points rather into an evolving repertoire. The rather expansive levels are littered with small missions on how to exactly color the world. Certain buildings are to be colored in a certain way, citizens must be rescued, this mechanism must be activated, that sort of stuff. The time limit on these stages is pretty frustrating though, as you are forced to get through the levels quickly and not enjoy the world around you.

As if the graphics weren’t the only Wii-like feature, the PlayStation Move controls aren’t very good at all. I mean, they function with no problem at all, but they hardly make any use of the actual motion control at all. That particular control scheme is literally the DualShock’s buttons mapped onto the other controller, with the right thumbstick replaced by the X and O buttons on the Move wand. The optional second player in co-op mode can use the Move to point around and interact with the environment, ala Super Mario Galaxy. This was exactly the sort of thing that was NOT supposed to happen.

But even with these things holding it back, de Blob 2 is still a strangely fun and compelling game. Before each level you can chose which type of “mood” you’re in at that moment and it will create an appropriate musical flavor to your needs. Each of the different colors: red, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and brown, all have a unique and distinct sound that activate when you paint an object. Sometimes it’s a flute, others it’s a jazz trombone, and even a scratching 45 record. You can repaint over objects all you want to keep the endless melody flowing. Reacting with the bright colors, the entire experience feels incredibly zen-like, given synesthetic responses to each hue. Blue feels relaxing, green feels energetic, red feels spicy, and the like.

I would firmly say that de Blob 2 is not a bad game. It’s not a great one either, but it definitely has it’s perks. The platforming is solid, even if other parts of the game lacking, and it accomplishes everything that it sets out to do. SyFy Kids may be publishing the game in tandem with THQ, explicitly leading to some calling it childish, I would hardly make such a distinction. If the bright colors, cartoony graphics, and silly nature of de Blob 2 mean that hardcore gamers can’t enjoy it, I’d say that Ratchet & Clank should fall in the game category. Sure it isn’t perfect, but that doesn’t mean that Blob’s second outing isn’t a good time.