de Blob 2 Review

Ever witnessed a child log in to read a comprehensive review of a game? A small toddler forming a rounded opinion before spending mummy or daddie’s money? Me neither. But, with that said, I’ll make concessions for you grown enough to look past the fact the font is not Comic Sans, and isn’t a primary colour.

De Blob 2 is as old as the child playing it, splashing its way onto the Wii U in 2011. Recently released in the first quarter of 2018 on the PS4 and XBox One, with the all improved HD remaster ensuring your child has that 1080p that it’s become accustomed to.  It becomes clear that the remaster is a decision that’s almost as misguided as this review.

The games predecessor originally came out a decade ago, with mechanics and gameplay that suited the time, naturally the sequel is a continuation of this. You, a child, play as de Blob: a character who mixes colours in order to paint the landscape, opening locked areas and liberating graydians; those who lack colour and are enslaved by the ruling Comrade Black. It’s simpler for you as a child to understand the juxtaposition between de Blob as an entity; liberating and adding colour to a place that’s ruled by a pallet-less and nonetheless evil ruler.

These dynamics are introduced early on, around a disenfranchised city that’s in need of your help, hours and hours of colouring and liberating. And the game follows the mantra of a Nintendo release, simple yet polished gameplay, allowing for a somewhat satisfying, if not repetitive, experience. De Blob frees the lands one by one, heroism is the major distinction that will keep a child coming back, as well as the ongoing feud with Comrade Black.

If you were to play this game now, there seems a nostalgia you may get from this type of platforming. A camera making its way across the map as you ponder on how you’ll overcome the puzzles in your way. Comrade Black hovers above, with his talking animation not quite syncing with the dialogue, spewing how he’ll never be beaten as you somehow realise that red and blue make purple. ‘WHAAAT?’- how did you work that out? He shouts as you jump from platform to platform collecting arbitrary coins.

The more you progress, the more you may realise that de Blob 2 would have been best enjoyed at a time where you’d sit cross-legged on the carpet, controller in hand, looking up at the SD screen entertained by the pretty colours. Becoming increasingly frustrated at Comrade Black’s naivety towards your genius.

This game is well placed in an era where the Wii had a major place in the gaming industry, games such as de Blob had their relevancy along with other titles, such as Guacamelee and Duck Tales. With bigger platforming aspects than its predecessor, de Blob is an improvement, allowing for young gamers in the early 2010’s to have sure-fire entertaining time colouring away.

However, playing this game in 2018 just feels like a metaphor for porting gone wrong, dragging up something for the sole reason of it being on the convoluted console online stores. At some point after the first couple of missions, you’ll feel as if this becomes a waste of time, playing a game before a progression of some years, and before the progression of gaming as a whole.

Then again, I’m not a child, they’ll like a lot of strange things. Watched a Logan Paul video recently? Or watched the Emoji movie? That generation has worse problems that de Blob 2 going to the back of the console’s online store.

REVIEW CODE: A FREE Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.