de Blob came into this world as the brain-child of Dutch game design students from Utrecht University. Available as a free download, de Blob was commissioned to illustrate planned changes to Utrecht itself in an information centre. It could have easily been a deathly serious virtual fly-through, but the best ‘serious’ games are always fun. With that approach, de Blob was born - a ball of paint with attitude. It gained some international attention, and THQ bought the rights and tasked Melbourne’s Blue Tongue with coming up with a fully-fledged Wii version.
Like the Dutch original, Blue Tongue’s de Blob’s bright and humourous appearance belies its more serious influences. Take one look at the game or even a quick play and you could be forgiven for writing it off as simplistic, or even ‘kiddie’. Walking away from THQ, however, and our notepads were full of words like art deco, revolutionaries, Matt Groening and synesthesia (though we had to look that last one up).
The game is certainly one of the better looking Wii titles.
Our hero, Blob, is described by Lead Producer Nick Hagger as “part delinquent, part revolutionary.” His hometown of Chroma has fallen under the sway of the evil, beaurocratic-fascist (and worst of all) monochromatic Inkys, and it’s up to Blob to restore colour and life to the town. You do this by quite literally painting the town red - Blob is able to collect blisters of paint and unleash them to great effect on the town. The game has a sandbox feel (perhaps revealing its origins), though the narrative is split into discreet levels. We saw one early, training level which required simple puzzle solving (painting specific buildings set colours, for example) and basic objectives to be fulfilled (such as heading off a patrol of enemies). Though there is a generous time limit, the real urge in the game is to simply explore the city and make it into “your own private creative squalor,” as Hagger suggests.
Another type of level we played was the race mode, in which the player attempts to make it through a pre-set course in the fastest time possible. This was considerably more challenging than the other level we played, and will add much more replay value to the game. There will also be a multiplayer aspect to the game, though on this subject Blue Tongue were tight-lipped. All we know is that it won’t be online and it will involve a Tony Hawk capture-the-most-of-the-level style mode.
Blue Tongue says the game is a Wii exclusive as they felt the innovative console was a perfect fit for their creative game. The controls do indeed feel like a natural fit, though they are nothing that couldn’t be replicated on a traditional controller. Nevertheless, giving the Wiimote a little flick to jump is still fun all this time after the launch of the console. There are still some issues surrounding wall jumping accuracy and control, and the obviousness of Blob’s shadow could be improved to give better depth-perception. Otherwise, though, the controls are smooth enough for most to pick up and enjoy without hassle.
Looks inviting, doesn't it?
And there’s something very satisfying about draping glaringly mismatched colours through a grey, bland city. de Blob’s Art Director, Terry Lane, said his approach to designing the city was to make it as irresistible as possible to “colour in”. The resultant art-deco concrete jungle certainly results in the urge to turn your Wiimote into a paintbrush (something that can be achieved, by the way, in those normally boring loading screens). Speaking of Art Design, the look of the game is surely its biggest success so far. If Blob himself looks a little bit like Batman, having let himself go a bit and fallen into a vat of paint, then the unpainted Chroma looks satisfyingly like a Gotham-lite, minus all that darkness.
Sound design has also received a fair amount of love. The soundtrack has been composed by Blue Tongue’s Music Director, John Guscott, who has recorded some of Melbourne’s hottest soul & funk musicians for de Blob to give the game an organic funky flavour. As you can imagine, the soundtrack is about as colourful and infectious as music can be. These aren’t just ambient tracks, however. The music is fully integrated into the game, with John Guscott likening his process to synesthesia, the phenomenon which leads individuals to associate certain musical sounds with colour. Guscott explains that each “musical sting” is linked to each of Blob’s colours. Spray a building with purple, and you’ll hear a little wah-wah guitar. Splash on a little brown and you’ll be rewarded with some vinyl scratching. The tracks are transformative, as well - the amount of level painted directly influences the energy of the track (in some cases, it even bridges genres - from dub to ska, for instance).
We cannot wait to revisit this location.
Hagger says they’ve followed Matt Groening’s maxim of “writing for adults as you get the kids for free” when designing De Blob. There’s certainly a lot to enjoy about de Blob from an adult perspective. Take the coloured Inkys you encounter later in the game who have been engineered to fight you - comically “offended by their own visage,” as Lane puts it. Indeed, the cutscene revealing their creation is reminiscent of the slapstick humour in Lego Star Wars. However, the game will have to fight tooth-and-nail for the adult and hardcore gamer demographic, as nothing in the game’s presentation immediately suggests adult-appeal.
Previously, Blue Tongue have been entrusted exclusively with licensed content (Nicktoons, Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis), so de Blob marks a first attempt at an original work (Utrecht original notwithstanding). So far, we’re very interested. But Blue Tongue must make sure de Blob has a reasonable difficulty curve to get kids on board and keep the adults. Nevertheless, a good rule of thumb is that any game that is obviously this loved by its developer will turn out to be something worth playing. Keep an eye out for de Blob’s release later this year.
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