More platformers. You can tell what I like, huh? This one was a revisit, to get to 100% after finishing a long time ago. This is actually one of the few games my wife bought while the Wii was still hers, before I adopted it. A cute and sweet little game with some deceptively tricky puzzle platforming.
This is a reboot of the old NES game, or perhaps a straight sequel, who knows. It has similar mechanics (feed an amorphous alien jellybeans to transform it so you can get around and beat enemies), and remixes some music, I think—the original is pretty bad so I haven’t exposed myself too much to it. There’s a sequel for Game Boy, but after that Majesco’s ongoing troubles stymied two attempts to bring it back on GBA and DS (there’s screenshots of the DS beta, it looks weird).
Finally they managed to succeed, with the beloved studio WayForward handling development on the Wii. I love the direction they took, giving it a lovely painterly art style, reminiscent of a Ghibli film or Rayman Origins, with super cute character designs. Unfortunately unlike those two things, the attempt to create a naturalistic, cohesive world falls down with the overly functional level design. Lots of straight lines, which admittedly suits some environments like the factory but not others like the forest or caves.
So you can appreciate the absorbing gameplay or the enticing visuals separately, but it doesn’t quite add up. That’s ok though, there’s plenty to love. Failure isn’t punished too bad so the devious puzzles can be attempted many times (as is sometimes necessary) without frustration. They’ve really made the boy and blob appealing characters, with the boy’s vocalisatioins and quite low mobility contrasting with the blob’s silent high energy. Best of all for demonstrating the relationship is the otherwise superfluous “hug button”, scrapped mechanic perhaps, but now just triggers an unbearably adorable animation.
There’s a big variety of possible forms for the blob, and the levels do a good job of giving you different ones and making you use them in various ways. Hunting for the hidden treasure can especially tax your grip on the mechanics of each form. These are also rewarding, as they give you mini challenge levels that often focus on one form’s capabilities. Finishing these then lets you view concept art, which is neat.
Despite its cute look, the game really does get hard if you want to do everything. Just getting through the later levels will also take many attempts. But it is satisfying to do. The most frustrating bits are the boss battles, which can get long and will force you to start over if you make one mistake, as the boy is totally fragile. It’s interesting to have a realistic little boy who can’t jump far and is hurt easily rely so much on the blob. Really reinforces the relationship of the characters.
Since the blob can do so many things, some of the mechanics and physics events are a little janky. I find this factor a little endearing, thinking of the developers as a small team just putting love into the game and overlooking a few things like this. The concept art adds to this feeling, giving you a look behind the scenes. I guess I have a soft spot for WayForward, although I’ve only played a few of their games.
Anyway this was one of the gems on the Wii, that console that apparently had nothing worthwhile on it. There’s not even any badly-implemented motion control, just old-school gameplay with a modern look and feel. It feels indie, and there’s plenty to do and a very engaging dynamic. I’m very happy with how it went. “Over here!” Oh boy, you’re so cute!
