A boy and his blob first appeared in 1989 on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and won numerous awards shortly after its debut. The re-mastered version on the Wii from Majesco , while still retaining the feel of the original, has brought this adorable platform puzzler bang up to date with gameplay enhancements and beautiful animation
The game begins with an opening cinematic sequence where the blob’s space rocket crash lands on Earth. The young boy hears the crash and rescues his new friend. On the blob‘s home planet Blobolonia, an evil emperor has seized the throne and the fate of its inhabitants now lies in the hands of the blob and the young boy .
Playing the part of the boy, gamers must work together with their new blob friend to solve puzzles, defeat monsters, and escape danger on Earth and Blobolonia. The boy himself doesn’t have any particular powers or talents but he does have an unending supply of jellybeans. The white shape changing blob is the key to their success. When you feed the blob different flavoured jelly beans, the blob transforms into helpful tools – including a hole, ladder, balloon, trampoline, parachute, cannon, shield etc. Use the blob as a hole to drop onto a platform below or to get rid of the threatening black blobs, a ladder allows you to climb to a higher platform, a parachute lets you jump safely off steep platforms – I’m pretty sure you’re getting the idea ! In the beginning large signposts indicate what form the blob should take to overcome the current issue but these will gradually disappear as you progress.
Both the main characters are beautifully crafted in cute rounded cartoon style making them instantly loveable however don’t be fooled into thinking this is a cute, easy game the quests are challenging and the puzzles vary in degrees of difficulty.
The controls are easy to use and you can use either the classic gamepad or the Wii mote with nun chuck. Your base, or interface, is presented as a tree house. Here you have two maps – the world map that allows you to access levels in the current world and the hideout map which allows you to navigate through each of the worlds. Both maps are depicted in outline until you progress through the lands and the colour then appears on those locations. All together there is an amazing 40 side-scrolling levels across the different worlds each containing three hidden treasure chest which, if found ,unlocks a special level . Defeat the special level to unlock bonus content . The bonus content once unlocked is then placed in the tree house as unlocked challenge levels.
In stark contrast to the NES version ,there are no lives, or need for continues, and checkpoints are frequent so if you do die you ,you won’t lose much ground. These elements really add to the whole fluidity of the game.
It’s hard not to like A Boy and His Blob. The characters are adorable as are the backgrounds, The boy’s voice calling for the blob just as endearing, the music creates a calm gentle mood, and the puzzles are challenging.
Sound:8.5 – good acting voiceovers combine well with musical scores
Graphics:10 – absolutely delightful and if blob’s feeling a little grey give him a hug !
Gameplay: 8 – good variety and difficulty ratings in puzzles and nice fluidity
Lifespan: 9 – worthy of revisiting
Top Star goes to excellent character graphics and backgrounds
