Metareview: de Blob

In the shadow of recent releases like Mega Man 9, Samba de Amigo and Wario Land: Shake It! rolls de Blob, a game that might have been easy to forget about despite the compelling visuals. But when people start throwing around high review scores and phrases like "best third party game" (in a while, at least), we stop and take note -- and there's a great deal worth noting.

Eurogamer (80%) thought de Blob was colorfully delightful, though flawed: "The premise is delightfully daft, and some superbly animated sequences help set the tone with a style and tone evocative of LucasArts' legendary Day of the Tentacle. [de Blob is] a game we'd heartily recommend to anyone who thirsts for a 'proper' Wii game, whatever that is. Admittedly, some of the control and camera niggles ultimately detract from the overall enjoyment, but not so much that they should put you off trying this excellent and thoroughly original game."

Gameplayer (100%!) found something for everyone: "This is because de Blob is, in many ways, what you want it to be - there's no single, 'on-rails' way to either play it or complete it. Whilst progression does rely on a deftly implemented learning curve, and increasingly challenging elements of strategy, the route to the end can vary greatly. Want to barrel through as quickly as possible? Go for it! You only need to attain a certain amount of points to advance. A bit of a score whore? Do your best to find all the hidden bonuses! Meanwhile, the obsessive-compulsive out there may wish to colour in everything they encounter and go for the 100% effect – no problem!"

Matt Casamassina of IGN (84%) thought it looked fantastic: "de Blob is a game whose graphic look seems perfectly suited to Wii and it really is an excellent style. I love the contrast between the monochromatic cities and the colorful main character who drenches them in bright primary colors. I think it's worth stating, though, that Blue Tongue has matched all that style with a technical showpiece for Nintendo's little system. The platformer boasts an exceptionally clean, polished look complete with well-rounded architecture, beautifully animated characters and objects, some of the best particle effects I've seen in any Wii game to date, gorgeous graphic effects like depth of field blur, shimmering water transparencies, heat distortion and bloom, and more. All of this at an astonishingly rock-solid fluidity of 60 frames per second."

Gallery: de Blob