Customer Reviews

A Boy and His Blob

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Wii has become the welcoming home for a series of wonderful 2D games lately, from Muramasa: The Demon Blade to World of Goo, and the forthcoming New Super Mario Bros Wii (worst...title...ever). Add to this list A Boy and His Blob, which is an ultra-charming reimagining of the NES "classic." I say "classic" because, like Battletoads, it's one of those old games that people remember fondly until they try to play it again and realize just how crazy hard the game is.

The Wii version is much easier than the NES game in some ways, although it offers up plenty of challenge in its own right. The boy now has an unlimited number of jellybeans to feed the blob, which means that you can now focus on the puzzle at hand rather than worrying about rationing and backtracking. Further, there really is no backtracking anymore since the Wii version does not contain an open world; the game is split up into self-contained levels in four unique worlds. There is a final goal to reach in each level, but there are also three treasure chests hidden in each one. Get all three chests and you open a whole new challenge level at your treehouse "hub." Beat the challenge and you're rewarded with behind-the-scenes footage of the game in progress, including sketches and artwork. It's a great system that's easy to understand and really boosts the replay value of the game.

The game is beautiful. It's hand-drawn and the level of detail is astounding, in a subtle kind of way. Stop for a while and appreciate the light swaying of trees in the background, the animated frogs jumping at your feet, and the very nice lighting effects, especially during the night stages. Like a Miyazaki film, you can feel the love that was poured into this game. Heck, the animators even went so far as to include a feature where you can hug and scold your blob, for no other reason than "because you can." These elements also greatly add to the charm. The music is also subtle but quite nice. Chances are you won't be humming the tunes later, but the music fits well with the visual style.

Controls are tight, for the most part. Some sticky points can come in when you're trying to direct the trajectory of your jellybeans, which requires a very light touch on the analog stick. Also, flying can feel too loose and the screen gets kind of jerky, which leads to quite a few accidental deaths. Luckily, there are a wealth of save points within each level so you're never sent too far back after a death. My biggest beef with the game is that only one player can save a game at a time. My fiancee and I are both big puzzle fans and it's annoying that we can't each have our own game going at the same time.

Long story short, buy this game if you're a fan of puzzle games. The pace is not fast, but you'll love the animation and the challenging levels that build in the latter half of the game. Support 2D games, let the developers know that there's still a market out there for them.

Short and sweet: This game is a real gem. A great puzzler/platformer for anyone. The game's pace isn't fast...there are no explosions or guns. There really isnt even any dialog. What you have is a game that requires complete reliance on your blob companion, as well as some quick and creative thinking to determine how best to get around an obstacle or past an enemy using the Blob's various transformations. This is a game that I can see myself easily sinking 10-20 hrs into to complete (there are hidden treasures in each level, which ups the replay value).

The environments are gorgeous, as is the soundtrack and sound effects. Also, the game has a certain "warm and fuzzy" quality to it. When you click up on the D-pad, you give the blob a big squeeze... and when you click down on the D-pad, you scold him. If you walk away from him after scolding him, he turns red.... and then when you return to him (and invariably give him a hug because it is so darn cute and rewarding to do!), he returns to his standard white color. Little touches like that, and sticking the blob in your backpack to use as a parachute, and sticking him under your head to use as a pillow make this game really interesting and appealing.

Even though the art style of the game may seem to be more focused on younger players, the truth is that this game can get really challenging (and kids these days arent really into being challenged in my personal experience... but I digress). This game is really reminiscent of World Of Goo (on WiiWare).... it has loads of personality and heart... beautifully drawn 2-d graphics, and an amazing soundtrack. Much like World of Goo, I see myself slowly progressing through this game bit by bit over a long period of time rather than hammering away at the game over the next week just to complete it. This is one of those games that I like to savor, rather than defeating and trading in @ gamestop for the newest iteration of Guitar Hero.

In closing, all I can say is that this game is a real gem on the Wii, and it would be a shame for you and your family to miss out on its charming presentation and challenging gameplay.

Here is my overall rating:

Presentation: 9/10
Multiplayer: 0 (N/A)
Sound: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Replay Value: 7/10 (lots of secrets to unlock, but once they're found, they're found)
Overall: 8/10

A Boy and His Blob is one of those old classic games that I have a love-hate relationship with. On one hand, I loved the concept of the original game, but on the other hand the original game was just too hard and unforgiving in many ways. The new remake is sets out to honor the spirit of the original and fix many of its shortcomings, and for the most part I believe that the remake succeeds.

GAMEPLAY: You play the role of a young boy who discovers an alien blob. The boy and blob work together as a team to navigate the levels. On the surface the game looks like a standard 2D-platformer, but this is hardly the case. While there is some basic platforming involved, the true meat of the game is based upon overcoming environmental obstactles and puzzles with the blob's shape-changing capabilities. Different levels give you access to different jellybeans, which will allow the blob to transform when eaten. The farther you progress into the game, the greater the variety of jelly beans. Example transformations: hole, trampoline, ladder, balloon, parachute and rocket. The majority of the levels are fairly short. Some levels have a theme and others are more platformer in nature, but the good news is that there are a lot of them. You will die a lot, since this game is old-school. Touched a spike? You die. Touched an enemy? You die. Fall too far? You'll die. Fell in the water? You drown. Luckily the game has checkpoints everywhere, so frequent dying isn't an issue.

GRAPHICS: Gorgeous cartoon style artwork graces this game, giving it a sense of style and place. While the game doesn't do anything particularly impressive from a graphics standpoint, it is obvious the development emphasis was on clean, colorful, and whimsical artistic expression. The artwork can get repetitive though since many of the levels within the same zones use much of the same artwork, but at least it looks good.

PRESENTATION: The presentation is a mixed bag. One one hand, the game is trying to create a cohesive experience from the moment you boot the game up. The feel of the original game is definitely kept alive, which is a huge bonus. The first time you play, an intro movie is played that ends by abruptly dumping you into the game's hub level. The hideout/hub level is charming and gives you a sense of child-like whimsy. On the other hand, you are limited to exactly one save file and the game doesn't bother giving you much of a sense of purpose near the beginning, leaving you wondering what to do inside this tree house. No tutorial, no instructions, and no helpful mission hints. To top it off in the mixed-bag department, once you do figure out how to get to the first levels, the first several levels turn out to be absurdly easy with the game holding your hand through the solution to every puzzle near the beginning.

CONTROLS: Mostly pretty good. The button layout for remote/nunchuck controls is slightly awkward, but the classic controller setup is rather nice. Running and jumping work great, but commanding the blob can be a bit annoying since it seems like the little alien has a mind of its own. Throwing and aiming the jelly beans is a snap and once I figured it out it makes perfect sense. A lack of a tutorial will leave a lot of folks randomly pushing buttons until something they want to happen happens. I perhaps I was just really special. Near the beginning, a lot of the buttons don't do anything, so it kind of confused me at first. My biggest complaint is the Jellybean wheel, which is used to select your jellybeans. The layout of the jellybeans changes from level to level, so the bean you got used to being in the right slot for four levels in a row might suddenly get moved to the bottom slot. It's kind of annoying and never really lets you intuitively learn where your menu items will be at any given time.

VALUE: The game has a lot of levels, although most of them can be beaten fairly quickly. Every level has 3 secret treasure chests which can be collected to unlock additional levels, artwork, and basically gives something for the completionists out there to shoot for. Considering this game released for about $10 less than the average Wii game, I'd say you get a good value for your gaming dollar.

PROS:
+++ Beautiful cartoon graphics
+++ The spirit of the original game was preserved
+++ Lots of little unlockables

CONS:
--- Minor control quibbles
--- The game is way too easy near the beginning.

Overall, I have to recommend this game to anyone who enjoys puzzle solving game, 2D games, or who wants to get a nice family friendly game. Fans of the original game will probably like this remake, but just be warned that the difficulty is much lower than the original, partially due to the frequency of checkpoints.

This game is nicely done, and fun to play. My six year old can pick it up and complete the first many levels.

It was frustrating though to find there is explanation of the controls in the instruction booklet. Sure it tells you the button, but you have to figure out how they work together. I would have really like to see a first-run tutorial to help you through the controls. Otherwise, you have to have a lot of patience, or perhaps some experience with the older version to know what to do.

What I eventually figured out, and perhaps will help you is this. Blob has various transformations he can perform (ladder, trampoline, parachute, etc.). In order to get blob to do these things, you have to feed him jelly beans. You can target where the jelly bean goes using the analog pad, throw the bean, blob eats, and performs the transformation. You can also tell the blob to stay, or come on command. Using these, and your standard run/jump combination of typical 2d games, you proceed through levels, collect treasure, and work your way to the end.

Another thing I would have like to see is a way to have multiple save games. I have two children who'd like to play this, but there is only one save game they both have to share.

Overall though, it is a good game, and will keep you busy for awhile.

Our boy was 3 years old when we first got this game. He used to run out of the room, scared of the big black blob, but now is addicted! It's a great game and can be challenging for all ages. I wish there was a guide, though, for when we get stuck. It's fun to play as a family and try to figure things out. The music is a bit relaxing.

Overall, this is an incredible game and intellectually stimulating for kids. Very well done.

Written by my teenaged son, read and approved by me:

Unlike several minimalist games, "A Boy and His Blob" proves to be a successful, heartwarming reimagining of an only average NES title with Ghibli-esque graphics and a touching tale of friendship, heroes, and... jelly beans.

Story: 9.5/10 - You really don't need to elaborate on friendship, which is what this game is all about. Instead of focusing its attention on convoluted storylines (which I don't actually dislike), it turns its attention to a simple tale about a blob who, trying to save his home planet of Blobonia from a dark emperor, meets a young 8-year-old boy, who steadily develops a bond with him. The hug button further elaborates on this.

Gameplay: 10/10 - So what if the boy can't fight? His best friend, the blob, has over 17 transformations to access via several jelly beans that the boy has on hand. These transformations are used to solve environmental puzzles, attack enemies, and help the boy get around the world when he can't do it on his own. Plus, several transformations (the Doppelganger and the robot) are very interesting to use.

Characters: 10/10 - Although there are only two main characters, they convey the message, and although they can seem flat at times, their friendship with each other more than makes up for it.

Fun: 10/10 - An excellent puzzle/platformer, with interesting jelly bean-based gameplay mechanics and excellent graphical designs to boot. Plus, it provides replay value with over 40 bonus levels to explore.

Overall: 39.5/40 - Only slightly shy of a perfect, the only thing that would make this heartwarming piece any better would be to get the villain's side of the story, and maybe elaborate on the evil emperor. Other than that, it's an excellent game with a heartwarming story (albeit minimal).

A Boy and His Blob is a 2D side-scrolling puzzler with a gameplay twist of feeding your blob companion different flavored jelly beans. Each flavor gives your skeletally-challenged friend the ability to transform into an object. For example, if you fed the blob a punch flavored jelly bean he will turn into a hole. Get it? Punch > hole? You ccan then use this hole so that enemies will fall into it or you could jump in to get to an area below you. There are 15 different shapes in all including a ladder, an anvil or even a cannon.

You can play A Boy and His Blob with the Wiimote and nunchuck but I prefer to use the Classic Controller Pro. The game works fine with either control set-up. The art style is reminiscent of a cartoon. In fact, the theme of the game is friendship and there are little reminders of these characters' friendship throughout the game. There is even a button dedicated to hugging your alien friend. As far as I can tell there is no in-game benefit of hugging your companion but it is just a little touch to highlight the relationship of these two characters (not entirely unlike Elliot and E.T.)

Despite all of this, A Boy and His Blob does offer a fair bit of challenge. While the side-scrolling aspects are pretty standard, some of the puzzles in this game are truly devious in ways reminiscent of Adventures of LoLo or Oddworld. If you are picking this game up for your children be prepared to step in and help them out (and you will probably be stumped once or twice yourself!)Even the boss battles are very much a thinking affair.

And this is what makes A Boy and His Blob so difficult to review. There is a temptation to compare this game to Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns or New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Those are side-scrolling platformers with puzzle elements. A Boy and His Blob is a side-scrolling puzzler with platforming elements. The games may look very similar at first glance but they are two different approaches and so a direct comparison is unfair and inaccurate. On top of this, while the puzzles are very clever the game is not particularly innovative. If you have been playing games for a while, particularly from the NES and SNES eras then you have played games like this before.

You do get a lot of levels and it will actually take longer to beat this game than say, Metroid: Other M. If you can find A Boy and His Blob for around $10-$15 new you will get a great deal. I am glad that I own this game but I do not consider it to be a "must-play".

It's a really straightforward game. It starts off by throwing you into the game instantly and really doesn't explain much. It's more like a storybook without words in which the game reveals the storyline as you progress due to no cutscenes. The graphics are beautiful and the game is adorable and pretty fun. Compared to other platformers like Mario and Sonic, it does take a bit of time getting used to the fact that you are just a normal little boy. In a sense, the blob does remind me of Kirby's Epic Yarn since he's able to transform into different objects in order to progress throughout the stage. Those who love platform games should definitely check out this one.

I bought this because I loved a boy and his blob for nintendo when I was a little kid. This one is a lot different, but still has the same ideas as the NES version. My 6 year old boy like it a lot and has fun playing it.

Based on what I read about this game, I went ahead and purchased it for my 7 year-old. It's a hit!

"A Boy and His Blob" runs at a slower pace and requires him to think more (which I like). He's completed a world or two already.

I highly recommend this game!