When it comes to a game with a concept as good as De Blob, more of the same can only be a good thing
Not many games present such a sensible marriage of theme and gameplay as De Blob 2, and its predecessor do. The game takes place in a city that has had its personality completely robbed by an authoritarian figure that has managed to reach power, and being put in the middle of those landscapes, in a rather exciting fashion shown through cutscenes, with a character that has the ability to color everything he touches makes players feel like a toddler that has just been put inside a completely white room with a handful of buckets of paint. It is virtually impossible not to be at least a little bit pumped by the fact that you are about to be the one responsible for turning boredom and blandness into a huge riot that looks more like a street party.
The game's positive value of progressive restoration is further increased by an absolutely glorious sound design. When players first go into a stage, De Blob's world will be a music-less place, but as the first buildings are painted, the game's songs will slowly go in a crescendo until they reach their full blasting capabilities when the area you are is completely transformed. It all starts with a few shy horns and out of place beats, but before you know it - given how naturally the transition is done – you will be listening to a fantastic jazzy tune that, much like your colors, seems to give life back to a once dead city. If De Blob's sense of rebellion is somehow not enough to get you thrilled, its music will certainly get the job promptly done.
De Blob's gameplay is rather simple. Players need to find sources of paint, which are more than plentiful, and fill the character up with as much ink as possible. After that, it is all a matter of mixing up colors as you go and painting signs, trees, buildings, monochromatic citizens and pretty much everything else while dealing with the armies of oppression. The character's movements are restricted to rolling around town, jumping - which, thankfully, this time around is mapped to the A-button - and ground pounding enemies into oblivion, but the game does offer a few extra mechanisms that increase the number of ways on which De Blob can move around, including jumping pads, which provide Spider-Man-like moments of swinging from one building to another; gravity buttons; and electromagnetic walls that allow him to climb up a few buildings seamlessly.
The game offers a dozen absolutely huge stages that feature no loading time whatsoever. Fans of the first game will certainly remember how frustrating the lack of checkpoints was. However, that problem has been wisely solved. Therefore, players can stop playing stages, that usually last from forty minutes to one full hour, and be able to keep all of their progress up to the last checkpoint they walked by. Another nice little addition is the fact that, when De Blob goes inside an important building to transform it, the game takes a sidescrolling perspective. While there is nothing mind-blowing or new about it - as it is pretty much the same game, only in a different perspective - the sidescrolling areas offer a few interesting design choices that the wide-open outside world does not, such as the ability to build mini-dungeons or puzzle situations where the players need to find certain colors and combine them in order to open a locked door and rescue citizens.
De Blob also offers a good amount of value for those who feel like spending a few extra hours with the game. Clearing each of the levels is simply a matter of fulfilling a few key objectives, like painting a few buildings in a certain color, defeating a horde of powerful enemies and eventually restoring a signature structure to its former glory. However, each stage packs much more than that, and gives incentives for players to keep exploring even after they are finished with the area's main goal. There are literally dozens of collectibles on each stage, and there are nice rewards for restoring all the trees, saving all the citizens, painting all the signs, coloring all the buildings, clearing all the missions and destroying all objects belonging to the government. In fact, De Blob is such an engaging experience that, chances are, players will feel like doing all that stuff in a single playthrough, as there is a great feel-good reward associated with fully restoring the part of the city you are in.
The game is not without its flaws, though. Some stages, despite the good scenario variety, are a little bit too long for their own good, and by the final sections of a few of them it is possible that some players will be burned out over the whole coloring affair. There is also a big amount of handholding going on through the adventure, as all mission objectives are clearly pointed out to players and all items - trees, signs, citizens and others, with the exception of the collectible items – can be tracked down a little bit too easily by using an in-game compass that guides De Blob to the location of what is missing. It might be a welcome addition to some, as the stages are huge and tracking down those minimal objects would be a pain without any instructions, but the feeling that directions could have been given in another, less specific, manner just cannot be helped.
In the end, De Blob 2 is yet another great platformer for the Nintendo Wii. The game does the punctual adjustments that are expected of a sequel, and offers more of the same gameplay with a few twists and turns here and there. The game's strengths have been preserved and further polished, including the game's vibrant visuals and its hilarious slapstick cutscenes, and even though some flaws have been inherited from its predecessor, De Blob 2 is definitely the best out of the two. For those who have played the original and feel a sudden urge to paint some more, it is a more than welcome game; and for those who are naturally intrigued by its premise and concept, De Blob 2 will be a fresh and very rewarding experience.