Mobile game reviews
SHAPESHIFT THROUGH THIS CLASSIC GAME. $7.99 | majescoent.com GAMEPLAYERS WITH VERY long memories might remember the original A Boy and His Blob, released for the NES in 1989. Designed by industry luminary David Crane, the game featured the titular characters — a boy and his shapeshifting alien pal — trying to topple a despot on the planet of Blobolonia.
It was a playable, inventive platform game, but the clever part was the shapeshifting. Lob a jellybean at Blob, and he changed into something useful like a ladder or a flamethrower. And although the swift and tricky action of the NES game has largely been negated on iOS and Android (where you’re playing a touchscreen take on a high-def spruce-up of a Wii remake of the original), the transformation stuff is intact.
What you end up with is a kind of logic test wearing the skin of a ponderous platform game. The levels have the appearance of an open sprawl, but are in fact broadly linear. The aim is to methodically make your way to a golden jellybean that transforms Blob into a door, through which you can continue your adventures.
Early levels pepper the platforms with signs that don’t so much hint as scream at what you should do next. Standing before a long drop? Turn Blob into a parachute. Need to somehow get through a platform? Transform Blob into a hole. Fortunately, the hand-holding eases off later on, giving you the chance to tackle tricky bits alone. Given the underlying complexity of the game’s mechanics, the controls fare reasonably well on their trip to your phone’s touchscreen. You slide to the left to walk or climb ladders. The right-hand side is used to jump, and also houses three action buttons: holler at Blob; throw a jellybean; select a jellybean (from a rather stylish dial picker that pauses the action while you choose).
However, the game’s origins mean it never entirely feels at home on your phone. The controls can be hard to manage — some challenges make almost unreasonable demands on your dexterity — and the lack of gamepad support is a disappointment. Also, while checkpoints are plentiful, it can be frustrating having to play through the same sections several times because Blob was doing his own thing, or the boy didn’t respond as expected.
Yet there’s a charm and inventiveness about A Boy and His Blob. The animation has a cartoonish quality, and turning Blob into all kinds of contraptions never gets old. Although some gamers used to frantic modern mobile fare might find the slow pace a bit yawnsome, it is if anything a boon, giving you time to think. It’s an endearing, if occasionally frustrating, puzzle platform game, overall.
[ CRAIG GRANNELL ]