Nearly a decade after its release, De Blob is back and on PC. The game received mixed reviews when it first released in 2008, so obviously I went into this wondering what fantastic changes warranted a re-release in 2017, here's what I thought.
Story
The world has been painted gray by evil INKT corporation, and it's your job as De Blob to stop them and paint the town all over again. This involves completing missions for other members of your squad and just rolling around and oppressing authority.
Gameplay
So how does one go about saving a monochromatic society? Playing as De Blob, you'll smash into paint filled robots and repaint the town all whilst avoiding the inkling cops who can damage and kill you. Those attacks are few and far between and a bulk of this game's missions revolve around you painting buildings a certain color. There are collectibles you can get to change up the patterns of what you're painting, but that's the long and short of it.
So how much fun is that? It's not a bad time to be sure, but as you'll see in my latest live stream, the camera is a f****** nightmare. Playing this game on PC is a chore as even gently nudging the mouse causes the whole camera to rotate in the worst way imaginable. This can somewhat be helped by completely ignoring your mouse and sticking to the keyboard, but even then it's a constant struggle with a camera that free roams even when you're using the keys to set it in a fixed position. This camera caused me to fail objectives that I would not have failed otherwise, and that's a problem for me.
Other than those frustrating hair pulling moments, this game is a peaceful experience. You paint, listen to cool music and the colors react and add fun freestyle to whatever music you select going into the level. It's fun enough that you struggle through the angry moments, but not so fun that I didn't ask myself if I really wanted to play the game every time I turned it on to stream for the review.
Graphics
The graphics are definitely a step up from the Wii release of the game, but not exactly anything breathtaking. This game has a certain aesthetic that keeps it from being something cutting edge visually, so I can't really knock it for looking rather basic. It could look better, but the way it looks now is fine if you're a fan of the game just looking to play it again.
Sound
Far and away the best feature of the game. There's nothing more satisfying than listening to this game's soundtrack as you bounce around and paint buildings. Each paint color adds a unique fill instrument to the soundtrack and you'll find yourself feeling funky as you add Saxophone, funky guitar riffs and more to this game. This is De Blob's saving grace and I can't stress that enough.
Replayability
You can replay missions if you're looking to get a higher score or collect everything there is to collect, but truth be told there's nothing substantial enough in my opinion that you would want to complete desperately enough to give this game more than one go-around.
What It Could Have Done Better
100% of my point deduction of this game relates to the camera. Even if you're someone who's down with the casual and easy gameplay style De Blob has to offer, you'll have to suffer through a camera that has a mind of its own...and a bad mind at that. It sapped a lot of fun I could've had with this game and made it a real chore to get through. The lack of options to rectify the issue only pissed me off further.
Verdict
This game is about as 2008 as it gets...and that's both a good and bad thing. C'mon guys, you had a decade to modernize this game and you just repackaged it and pushed it out.
