De Blob
PlayStation 4
Before Playing:
De Blob originally came out back in 2008, a whopping 18 years ago. Prior to Christmas Eve of 2025, I had never heard of it before. My son received this game as a Christmas present from my mother. I looked at the box and thought "hmm, this looks interesting." But at the same time, I also thought it looked like something you may find at a Wal-Mart bargain bin for five dollars. I wasn't optimistic it would be any good, because if it was, I would have at least heard of it before. Right?
My son popped in the game while I was at work. He seemed interested in it. I got out of work and came into the room to check it out. Right away, I thought it looked pretty neat. It was aesthetically pleasing. I liked the music. The vibe of the game reminded me a little bit of Jet Set Radio, which is a game I freaking love. Plus, the whole concept of painting black and white objects to give them color was very appealing to me. Watching him play, the game felt "satisfying" in a way that is tough for me to describe. You know how some people like watching YouTube videos of things getting crushed by hydraulic presses, or other things like that? That's how I felt about the game. Satisfying. If that makes sense to you.
Although I thought the game was pretty cool, my son wasn't a huge fan of it. He played it for a few days before going back to Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure and Jak and Daxter - his newest obsession. He hasn't picked it up since then.
Since he wasn't going to play the game, I decided to give it a try. I waited till everyone went to bed at night, fired up the game, and started making my way through it. Let's move along so I can share my thoughts on this experience.
Story:
This game has a simple but effective story. It takes place in Chroma City, a colorful and bustling metropolis filled with all kinds of zany cartoon-like characters known as Raydians. One day, the evil INKT Corporation comes into town. INKT is anti-color in pretty much every way, shape, and form. They blot out all the colors, turning everything into black and white. They rule Chroma City with an iron fist, snuffing out anyone who tries to return color to the city. There's a lot of Nazi-like imagery in the game associated with INKT, which wasn't what I was expecting in a game for kids.
You play as Blob, a living and breathing blob of paint. He witnesses these atrocities from afar and decides to take action. He rolls into Chroma City and joins the resistance, the underground rebellion that is trying to restore color to the city.
This is the basic gist of things. The story goes a little deeper, but to be honest, I didn't really care for the story that much. It's told through slapstick, wordless animated cutscenes. If you've ever seen a Minions movie, it is kind of like that. But even more vague. It just seems like a lot of nonsense that has nothing to do with the actual gameplay. Normally I'm a story guy, but all the extra details seemed a little unnecessary for me. The story for me always felt like an afterthought; a vessel for the gameplay, so that what you are doing in the game made some kind of sense. I never looked too deep into it. In fact, I ended up skipping some of the cutscenes as I played, which is something I almost never do. It just didn't feel like it really ever mattered. It would be like if Tetris had cutscenes.
Gameplay:
This is a super addicting game. It may take you a little while to "figure out" how the game works, but once it all clicks together, you are going to have a really fun time. The game is broken into ten stages, which you must play through in a linear order. You are a little blob of paint. The world around you is all grey. It is your job to collect paint points, which turn you into the color of paint you pick up. There are three different colors: red, blue, and yellow. If you pick up red paint, you turn red. Blue, you turn blue. Yellow, yellow. You get the drift. But you can also combine colors. So if you are red and you pick up blue, you turn purple. Pretty neat, huh? There is always water to be found in each level, where you can cleanse yourself to remove all color from you.
Your job is to go through each level, collecting enough points to unlock gates that allow you to access the next part of the level. Eventually, after making it through about four or five gates, you will make it to the level exit. You can leave, if you choose to do so. All you really have to do is beat each level. But you can stay and collect more points, if you like.
So how do you collect points? By painting things. Everything is black and white. Let's say you pick up blue paint. It gives you 10 paint points. You roll into a building. The building is painted blue now. You go from 10 paint points to 9. You can paint the building next to it, and the next, and the next. You can roll along and touch all of them, which paints them and gives them color. Each building or item you paint uses up one paint point. These paint points also represent your life meter. When you get hit, your paint points go down. If you go down to 0, you lose all your color, and one hit from an enemy will kill you. It is fairly easy to stay alive in this game, as there are paints you can pick up for 10 points all over the place. But you will die from time to time.
Your goal is to paint as much of the city as you can. Turn it from black and white into full color. You pick up paint points, paint buildings, and earn points that go toward your overall score. It is so fun, and it is so very satisfying. I don't know how else to describe it. You get that little dopamine rush when you fully paint an area, and the little Raydians come pouring out of the building to celebrate. It's like you accomplished something. You're always moving, you're always picking up paint, you're always changing (and losing) your color, you're always on the lookout for something to paint.
And then there are the missions. You will see little icons on the map that I think are supposed to be hands holding a paintbrush. These indicate the missions you can take on. Completing these missions gives you points towards your total (and your ultimate goal of unlocking the next gate) and they also give you extra time that you can add to the clock. Each level is timed, starting with something like 10 or 20 minutes, and then counting down from there. But so much stuff that you do in this game gives you extra time, that I never really found myself in serious danger of running out of time.
The missions are identified by 3 main colors. The first is blue, which is normally some kind of race. You must follow a trail of sparkling collectibles that lead you on a little adventure through the city. You must reach the end of the trail within the time limit allotted in order to win. These are pretty easy. It's essentially "connect the dots" but with a time limit. Then there's the green missions, which normally have you painting a certain building on the map a certain color within the time allotted. These get more and more complex as the game goes along, and are probably the most challenging missions. It'll be like "you need to paint these 10 buildings orange, these 10 yellow, and these 10 purple. And you have a minute and half to do it. And these buildings are stacked on top of each other. So have fun." There's a massive puzzle element to figuring these out. What colors to grab, when to grab them, how many point points you need, etc.
Then there are the orange missions, which are the aggressor missions. You must defeat a certain number of enemies on the map, or "attack" an enemy building and turn it back to the good side within the time allotted. Destroying the enemies on the map is pretty straightforward. You have a lock-on attack where you jump on their heads, and you can do it very quickly in rapid succession. Aside from occasionally running out of paint points at the worst possible time, I never had much trouble with the combat. More challenging are the missions where you attack the buildings. To do so, you must collect a certain number of paint points (let's say 50) and they have to be a certain color. It will show you right on the screen. It'll look like, for example, a pulsating green circle with 50 on it. So you need to be green, and you need 50 paint points. You have to roll around and pick up enough paint points to get you up to or beyond 50. While you're doing so, you want to think about the best possible route to take to get you to the color you need. You want to be green when you hit 50. Not red. Because you need to be green to defeat the building. Once you have 50 green, you jump up, use your lock-on attack, and latch onto the building, hitting x repeatedly to pump your 50 paint points into the building. Once you've done so, the building gets its color back, and everyone starts celebrating.
This sounds like a lot to take in, but it really isn't that tough. You start out as a colorless ball. You pick up paint. You paint everything you see from black and white to color. You accept side missions. You complete them. You earn points. You paint some more. You earn more points. Eventually you earn enough points to unlock the gate at the end of the level. The levels in this game are quite long. Many take 45 minutes to an hour to complete. And you can't save mid-level. When you sit down with this game, you need to make sure you're setting aside enough time to complete a full level. This is one of the only drawbacks I found with this game.
There's still so much I'm not talking about, like how there are these pods that appear from time to time, and when you crush them, they rejuvenate an entire in-game neighborhood. It's always so satisfying to crack these open. I also haven't mentioned all the hidden collectibles, like the style markers. I haven't mentioned how each stage has a blimp that flies around. If you paint it in each level, you get a trophy.
I also haven't mentioned how you can get spattered by black ink. When I died in the game, it was mainly because of this shit. Getting hit with ink rapidly drains your paint points. If it hits 0, you die. You have to quickly find water and jump in to wash yourself clean before the countdown reaches the end. It always put me into a panic when I'd get hit with black ink. Makes you freak out and just start running around like a goon for a little bit. But the more I played, the more I made sure I knew where there was water at all times.
I can't keep going on and on, and telling you everything there is to know about this game. It would take forever. But in case you can't tell, I really had a lot of fun with this. It's so addicting. And I keep saying this, but it is so satisfying.
Graphics:
For being an older game, it looks great. I enjoy the art style of the game. It's got a little bit of that cell-shaded feel to it. Reminded me of Jet Set Radio, as I said in my opener. Very hip, and graffiti inspired. But in a way, it also reminds me of a lot of Super Mario Galaxy. Maybe it's the litte Raydians running around. They remind me of the star guys from that game. The way they sing and dance and party when you restore color in an area is very adorable. I like watching the progression of the city as you turn each level from grey to vibrant and colorful. Let me say it again: it's very satisfying.
Sound:
Not only do the game's visuals remind me of Jet Set Radio, the music does, too. It's vibe music. It's very chill and laid back. Each level has a different style of music, too. For example, one level can have a Caribbean beat to it, while the next has an old timey piano vibe. My wife would always say how much she enjoyed the music and listening to the game when I was playing it. And I agree. I love it.
What is best about the music is how you can actually interact with it. When you paint a building, it plays a musical note for a half second. If you string together painting a bunch of buildings in a row, it puts all these notes together and adds to the beat of the music. It's hard to describe in words exactly what it is that I am describing. But it's very satisf--- I'm not going to say it.
Overall:
This was such a pleasant surprise. I liked this a lot. How have I never heard of this game before? I can't believe it's been out since 2008, and I only heard about it at the tail end of 2025. If my mom had never bought this game for my kid as a Christmas gift, I still would never have heard of it.
I can't recommend it enough. It is one of the more creative games I've played in a long time. Once things clicked with me and I started to fully understand its mechanics, I was like "wow this is such a brilliant game." I haven't played anything like it. Is this what Katamari is like? I suppose I should check out that series some day.
As much as I enjoyed the game, I feel I should pump the brakes somewhat. There are only 10 levels. You do the exact same thing in each level. Aside from the architecture of the different areas of the city, the main objectives are always the same for each level. Paint things. Do missions. Earn points. Unlock gates. Get to the level exit. There is little to no variety to be found here. Once you've made it past, say, level three or four, you've essentially seen the whole game. And it's not like the story is interesting enough to really keep you hooked.
I also don't see a whole lot replay value to be found here. I've gone back and replayed a few stages just to nab some trophies and collectibles. But now that I've done so, I don't see much reason to come back to the game. Just the thought of having to play through some of these hour-long levels and paint all these things I've already painted before is somewhat unappealing to me. Maybe I will some day, but it is going to be a long time.
All that being said, I can easily recommend De Blob to anyone like me who hasn't played it before. Am I nuts for having never heard of this game for all these years, or are there other people out there like me? I'm interested to see if I'm in the minority on this one. But yeah: De Blob. You should play it. It's fun. I had a great time with it.
Until next time!
THE GRADE:
B+
For a complete index of all my past posts and game reviews, click
>HERE<
No comments:
Post a Comment