De Blob 2 Nintendo Switch Review

de Blob 2 Nintendo Switch Review by SwitchWatch

Developer: Blue Tongue, Blitworks, Halfbrick Studios

Publisher: THQNordic

Release Date: Out

Price as of Article: $29.99 USD, £26.99 GBP

Rating: E

File size: 3424.65 MB

It could have been so good…

Our hero named Blob sails on a sort of ship through the clouds. With him is Pinky, a cute robot and friend of his. It almost seems like they both were off to vacation. There’s something really off on their way to the island, though! What could it be?!

Do you remember Comrade Black? The evil guy that our hero Blob once shoved off to where he belongs? Well, he is back and thirsty for revenge. This second attempt to drain the world from any colour is as threatening as ever. Blob is not very amused by that and the anger intensifies when Black picks his holiday location as the first target! So, Blob sets on his mission to stop that baddie from taking over the world, together with a brilliant set of colours and little Pinky! Let’s go!

 

Fighting back Comrade Black is only possible when Blob gives the world back its variety in colour. You mostly have to paint the buildings and like the prequel, de Blob 2 gives both new players and the ones familiar with the first title digestible tutorials. One at a time, you will be taken by the hand and walked through jumping, colouring the world, and fulfilling missions.

These missions often contain painting a block of houses in some variations. By doing so, you will free the habitants trapped in it, just like in the prequel. Pinky is the trusty companion on your side this time. She is assisting you in the best way possible and mainly takes over the helping role of the Professor and the rest of the crew from the de Blob universe. She also functions like the possibility of a friend to join you as a local second player.

Instead of the Paintbots (the source of colour from previous de Blob title) you first encounter pits filled with colour. Blob can submerge himself in it and mixing colours is not available at first. All sources you encounter have the final colour provided for you. Later in the game, you will encounter the Paintbots again and can mix and match the needed tint yourself!

Keep a close eye on the timer though! You got plenty of time to finish the level, but one time I found myself in a pickle here. Being trapped in a level underground, I had no chance to collect little clocks that appear when you free the habitants of the city in painting any buildings. So I was forced to let the timer run out… Although after finishing the main objective, the timer vanishes and allows the player to fully explore the stage if he or she wants to.

These underground stages I mentioned earlier are new and have been introduced first in de Blob 2. The second title does not revolution on the first one, but you can see the developer was aware of possible improvements and simple adjustments to keep de Blob 2 fresh. It’s like this title is a new layer of paint for the prequel!

Our hero Blob is able to have powerful attempts to destroy the work of Comrade Black and his underlings. He rushes with full speed through enemies and objects like crates with the logo of a black star, indicating Comrade Black’s property. Of course, that power-up is only granted to the player by a time limit. It would be too easy otherwise, am I right?

But what does Pinky do? That cute little robot is assisting you in the best way possible. Created by the Professor, she is not only a guide through the stages for Blob but also a trusty side-kick a second player can take control of. As stated before, that new feature is nice and as Pinky, the player controlling Blob can receive help in form of shooting at enemies, colour in things in the environment, and more. She is also an important part of the story later on.

I like the addition of Pinky and giving the player an opportunity to also play along with each other in the story mode. While in de Blob, the only possibility of a second player to join was in the special Party Modes. The Party Mode is also existent here. The stages can be unlocked by making progress in the Story Mode.

One thing that bugs me as in the previous game is the lacking option to save manually. The stages are the opposite of compact and with aiming at the goal of perfect completion, you sure are kept busy for quite some time.

Glady, the developer put in some checkpoints in the de Blob 2. So in case of death of Blob or your battery, not all progress is doomed to be lost. Despite that security, the fact of not being able to save manually was a huge bummer for me.

The memory still fresh from reviewing the first title, starting new and stuck midway in a stage because I could not save was frustrating. I often found myself rushing through the stage and lesser motivated to get the most potential out of what de Blob 2 has to offer. I’m thankful for the checkpoint system, although, it was not as often as I liked it to be.

Before I move on to the next section of my review, I would like to point out that you are able to level up Blob and that the awards you gain got reduced. In de Blob, you had eight in total while in the sequel, you only got three. Which are, in my opinion, totally adequate. They are as following:

• Clean up award: Free the stage from all possessions of the INKT Corporation, like barrels and tanks.
• Liberation award: To earn this, you simply have to paint the Raydiants that were turned into Graydients or free the trapped ones from their buildings.
• Environment award: Paint the environment.

Levelling up the main character Blob is possible with using gained Inspiration that can be found at some certain points throughout the stages. This pick up is shaped like an adorable little light bulb and when you have gathered enough, you can spend it on four options to make Blob stronger. You can upgrade him with more possible lives to start the level with, more paint (or health) points and also the amount of ink that is being used when painting something. Unless you do not have a second player to play with, the fourth possibility to upgrade Pinky is, in my opinion, rather useless. If you do though, spending Inspiration points leads in her health/paint points being increased.

*This review was written by Jennifer for switchwatch.co.uk.

<script async src=”//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js”></script><!– –><ins class=”adsbygoogle”<!– –> style=”display:block; text-align:center;”<!– –> data-ad-layout=”in-article”<!– –> data-ad-format=”fluid”<!– –> data-ad-client=”ca-pub-5661714653949151″<!– –> data-ad-slot=”5669732186″></ins><!– –><script><!– –> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<!– –></script>

Just like his ancestor, de Blob 2 has a fantastic variety of music. Each track is enjoyable and suiting into the whole package. The concept of Blobs mood is brought over from the previous title. Before starting a level, you are given the opportunity to pick one from the many choices. This gives you the possibility to actively influence the style of music used in the title when you paint buildings.

The sound effects are fun as well, perfect for the friendly and easy going concept of the game.

While you could see that de Blob is clearly a Wii port, de Blob 2 makes no exception. The Original released in February 2011 and now, 7 years later, the port makes its way to the Switch. Being well rounded in graphics when playing a stage, you can see the age of the title when it comes to the video sequences.

It is the typical coat of fuzzy textures that throws itself on top of these sequences. Given the age and also the fact that the title was remastered for a console generation above the Wii U, this is merely a form of surprise.

Putting that fact aside, the world of Prisma City is still a family-friendly experience. The cute and fun visuals make it a good title to play with children and bring a splash of colour in your dullest of days.

Never encountered any issues with bugs, glitches or anything else. The game runs well on both TV and Handheld mode.

This platformer made by Blue Tongue costs $29.99 USD or £26.99 GBP. The title aged well and is still fun. With 12 stages in total, a simultaneous coop play in both Story Mode and Party Mode, de Blob 2 sure has a lot to offer for the player. When in doubt, I suggest interested players buy the second title since it is not essential to play the previous one to understand what is going on.

*A review copy of de Blob 2 was provided to SwitchWatch by Blitworks.

Pros

Brushed up gameplay

High replay value

2 player in Story Mode

Cons

Long level without save function

Can be repetitive at some points