Game: De Blob 2

Platform: DS

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Halfbrick Studios

ESRB: E

Genre: Color switching, 2D platforming

Players: 1

What's Hot: Genuinely funny cut scenes, clever use of color in platforming, low difficulty perfect for younger players

What's Not: Too easy for veteran platformers, limited replayability, wonky targeting

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Review by: Brandon "Purple" Cackowski-Schnell

If the number of extra lives you amass over the course of a game is any indication of a game's difficulty level then De Blob 2 for the DS might just be the easiest game I have ever played. If laugh out loud moments are any indication, then it also stands as one of the funniest. It's probably too easy for veteran platformers, but just right for kids, with a generous learning curve, some clever puzzles and enough humor for adults that if dad is given the game to help out, he may not give it back.

Dr. Von Blot never got the memo about Comrade Black's defeat and still toils endlessly to bring about the inkification of the world. Unfortunately, he takes his plans a bit too far and de Blot is born, an ink-based counterpart to the game's cheery mascot. It doesn't take long for Prisma City to be devoid of color and countless Raydians turned into monochromatic Graydians, clamoring for colorful relief.

While the next-gen console versions of the game are a mix of 3D and 2D platforming, this version is all 2D, all the time. As painting is the name of the game, the game's platforming levels all revolve around transforming the gray world with various shades of color. de Blob can smash paintbots to change color and gain health, and use this paint to rescue Graydians, defeat enemies and hit switches to unlock new areas.

Every level has a certain number of Graydians to rescue as well as three musical note collectibles to find. If you're playing the game on a DSi, certain levels have a camera hidden in the level. Find the camera and at the end of the level you'll have to find real life objects of a particular color to take a picture of, capturing the color in the process. Finding the camera in every level and capturing all of the colors unlocks the ability to change de Blob's color at any time by pressing the select button and picking a new color. It's a fun mechanic for DSi owners, but the ability it unlocks comes too late in the game to matter all that much.

Once a level is completed, if any collectibles have been missed, you can go back and replay the level to grab whatever got left behind. The game is divided up into sections of Prisma City with four levels per section. Grab enough collectibles or rescue enough Graydians over the course of the four levels and a fifth, harder level will unlock. These levels offer a level of challenge not found in the normal levels with the collectibles well hidden and plenty of challenging puzzles however they still never get hard enough to where they can't be completed.

The levels scale up in difficulty nicely but never get too hard. As you roll through the level, amassing extra lives is relatively easy especially given that you can hang out by the regenerating paintbots and smash them as much as needed to regain health. By the time I finished the game I had over 40 extra lives, and this was with losing a few on a level or two late in the game. The game clearly isn't designed to offer a challenging platforming experience, but the later levels, with their reliance on blocks that only appear if de Blob is a certain color as well as slingshots and air streams make for some clever platforming experiences.

The enemies ramp up in difficulty as well as simple, baton wielding inkies, capable of being smashed with one shot give way to heavily armed inkies and grenade chucking inkies, complete with sandbag walls for protection. de Blob can use his mix of simple and super smash moves to take out foes, however the auto-targeting employed by the game is sometimes the biggest enemy of all. As de Blob jumps near a targetable item, the game will choose what needs to be targeted for you, which is fine when there's only one object but can be problematic when multiple targetable items are hanging out in a corner. It's never enough to cause you to lose progress, just enough to through a slight bump in what is otherwise a easy going experience.

The levels are connected by a series of simple, comic book style cut scenes that offer up plenty of laughs, particularly for older players that have ever had to deal with incompetent underlings or placed a call to a technical support center. The cut scenes are worth playing the game for alone, especially considering that you'll never find yourself pulling your hair out over it and the whole thing can be finished in about eight hours. As with all of the de Blob games, the soundtrack is uniformly excellent and one you'll want to crank the DS's volume up for.

De Blob 2 is not a hard game, not by any stretch of the imagination, and people that were raised on Mario may find the game entirely too easy but the game offers the right level of challenge for kids and people new to platformers. Still, even with the lowered difficulty level, platforming fans will find a number of clever, color fueled puzzles as well as a hilarious, well told story. There's nothing left to do once every collectible has been found, but finding them, and rescuing Prisma City from a life of monochromatic tedium is an easy-going and colorful way to spend an afternoon.

Brandon Cackowski-Schnell is a regular contributor to GameShark and is the cohost of Jumping the Shark , GameShark.com's official podcast and co-founder of No High Scores.

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