Get Ready to Get Painted!
de Blob has to be one of the most original game concepts that I have seen since the Katamari series came on the scene. It involves action, platforming, and best of all, painting! And don’t worry; de Blob is no Mario Paint. This game may have a paint-centric story, but it is definitely not short on substance.
The game revolves around an evil organization known only as INKT Corporation that has robbed the world of all of its color. Inhabitants of this city have been suffering tremendously as a result of their world being stripped of its color, and have been walking around like zombies while the executives of the INKT Corporation have been holding secret color parties where they alone are allowed to bask in the joys of color. And now it is up to de Blob and the other members of the Color Revolution to bring the city back to its former colorful glory. The only question left is how to bring said color to this monochromatic world. And that’s where you come in!
You play as the titular de Blob, a little paintball of a creature who is using itself as a living paintbrush and the city as its living canvas. This is the simplistic premise of the game, and there really isn’t that much more to it. However, this simplistic premise allows for a lot of free-flowing and fun painting-style gameplay that gives this game the sort of non-linear gameplay that isn’t available in more complex games.
Different levels have you painting structures, roads, and basically anything in your path, and you have to gather color from various paint reservoirs placed strategically around the city. Your success in the game will rely on how well you use these color resources around the city to complete various missions that correlate to the overall theme of getting color back into the world.
Controls in the Wii version of the game rely chiefly on motion controls, and for the most part this looks like it will work well. You move de Blob around using the Nunchuk’s joystick and you can jump by flicking the Wii-mote. You are able attack those who would stand in your way by using the Z button to target your enemies and giving the Wii-mote a flick as well.
In addition to the single player mode on the Wii, there are also multiplayer modes as well that support up to four players. One of the multiplayer modes, “Blob on the Run,” looks to be pretty interesting and has one player playing as de Blob and up to four other players assuming the role of bad guys who want to chase de Blob down.
Visuals are looking pretty good so far, and have highly detailed environments as well as some great character animation for de Blob. And of course, there is plenty of color!
de Blob is also in development for the Nintendo DS as well as the Wii, but not too much is known about how the handheld version will be different from its console big brother. But one thing is for sure, when de Blob hits this fall, it sure is going to be messy! And we mean it in a good way! de Blob’s unique paint-based gameplay looks like it will bring gamers a brand new experience, and I’m sure many can appreciate that.
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