A Boy and His Blob

System: Wii
Developer: WayForward
Publisher: Majesco
Genre: Platform
Players: 1

Augh, it's back! The original A Boy and His Blob on NES was a pretty weird game. Not just for its concept, but the actual gameplay itself was so far removed from the average 2D platformer. It threw players into the deep end; there were no 'levels' as such, no obvious goal. Despite being accompanied by that smiling glob of white goo, exploring the vast underground caverns brought about such an unsettling feeling of isolation. Designed by David Crane, it definitely had elements of his 2600 hit Pitfall!, but... ugh, I don't know. Renting this as a kid, I remember getting stuck on a certain screen where falling apples (?) would pretty much end the universe as soon as they hit the ground. Mind you, that was after I'd given Blob a root beer flavoured jelly bean to turn him into a rocket which took us to a whole other planet. Yeah, I pretty much regretted not picking Snake Rattle 'N' Roll at the video store that weekend.

But here we are what, 783 years later? The 2D Gods at WayForward have rebooted the franchise with glorious style. This new A Boy and His Blob title isn't a remake or sequel, it's a complete re-imagining. There's barely a plot; it's all explained without a single spoken word during the game's brief animated intro. The planet Blobolonia is under attack by some goon, 'Blob' heads to Earth in seek of help, meets up with a kid, best friends forever, end credits roll. Wait, no, there's a game somewhere between all that.

This is a puzzle platformer in which you take control of an unnamed boy (let's call him Stinky McStink anyway) who's really just your average kid. He can only jump short distances and can't defend himself against enemies or jagged spikes through the eye socket, but that's where Blob comes in. As it turns out, Blob reacts to jelly beans. Each flavour transforms him into something new - like a ladder, trampoline or parachute. There are 15 in total. These abilities are used to solve the various puzzles and problems each level presents.


Unlike the original game's overwhelming open world, this one's broken up into actual levels – 40 of them – over four environments. Each has its own house for the boy to crash in, which act as the game's hub screen. You're encouraged to take this at your own pace, there's absolutely no need to rush. In fact, that'll just lead to frustration and bitter tears. The boy has an unlimited supply of jelly beans which is a bit scary, and the game will only give you certain flavours for each level. This cuts down on a lot of guess work with the puzzles, but doesn't take away any of the challenge or sheer thrill of figuring out how exactly to get past an obstacle.

While the basic goal is to pretty much just reach the end of every level, they also contain hidden treasure chests. Should you find them all, you'll unlock an extra 'challenge' stage (which essentially means the game really has 80 levels in total). These are more fast paced, and usually revolve around quick thinking and precision movement with the use of just one ability. For example, you might find yourself floating down a hole littered with moving enemies to dodge. Upon the completion of a challenge stage, bonus content will appear around the house. Concept art, staff shenanigans, making-of videos (there's some really adorable stuff here) and so forth. There are also boss fights to deal with at the end of each world. Again, a nice mix of puzzle-action.

A Boy and His Blob is a stunning looking game. WayForward's known for their 2D skill, but this is easily the studio's best work yet, hot damn. The hand painted backgrounds have such loving attention to detail, and there's always animation going on within them to make these locations feel alive. Stinky and Blob move fluidly, capturing the feel of an early 90's cartoon. It's beautiful. Likewise, the soundtrack has an almost movie-like quality to it. The internet has completely ruined this word, but 'epic' best describes the music. Upbeat, moving and fun are probably some other words I could use in this sentence to pad things out. Oh, I did. There's also a nice remix of the original tune from the NES game.


The controls might actually take some getting used to, but they'll eventually click. The default setup involves using the Nunchuk to move and the Wii Remote buttons to perform various actions, but the Classic Controller is also supported (although for whatever reason you can't use the D-Pad). Stinky can jog at a brisk pace and jump small gaps; everything else involves the jelly beans. Holding down a button brings up an on-screen 'ring' type menu to select a jelly bean, and you can freely aim where you want to throw it. There's even a trajectory that shows exactly where it'll land. To get Blob back to his normal state after he's transformed into something, the boy can call him over. Get used to hearing the same voice samples over and over again! "Hey! C'mon! Hey! Blob! Hey! Hey! Listen!" Press that button enough times and Blob will automatically transform himself into a balloon and float over, clipping right through solid walls - this is necessary at times. Oh, and there's a whole button dedicated just for hugging Blob. Yes, really. It's the greatest thing ever.

So, really enjoyable gameplay, fantastic graphics, nice music (you could have just skipped the rest of the review, I know I would have). There is however, one niggling little issue. Blob is pretty brain-dead. In fact, he probably doesn't have one to begin with, I don't know, I'm not a doctor. His AI is rather questionable at times. For example, he might be right in front of a jelly bean, but he'll get stuck on a pebble and start glitching out for a few seconds. In seriously bad situations you can just mash the 'call' button until he transforms into a balloon, so it's not like you'll ever be doomed thanks to his stupidity. Still, there can be times when you'll start clenching the controller in fury because Blob can't figure out what's happening. A minor blemish on a fantastic adventure.


Score: 8.5/10 - "Absolute get"
Kudos, WayForward. A Boy and His Blob is a beautiful and heart-warming platformer. It's a real shame this game has gotten such a piss-poor release here in Australia, but it's well worth the effort to track down a copy before all seven of them are sold.

Review by Lance McGill (Infernal Monkey)