Blobster HD
Score: 90% ESRB: 4+ Publisher: Chillingo Developer: Divine Robot Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer (2D)/ Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: It seems the iPad, iPhone and other iOS devices lend themselves well to physics-based puzzle games. In fact, it seems like most of the games I'm reviewing for these touch-screen devices fall into this genre. As many physics-based games that have been coming out though, few have strayed far away from the Angry Birds model. Blobster HD, on the other hand, feels more like a classic platformer with a physics-based control scheme. The rather spacious levels have an image befitting the world's theme as the background image, while the foreground is comprised of your character, the guiding beams and platforms that define the structure of the level, the various enemies who want to stop you on your quest, and Blobules you are trying to collect. Each of these elements are crisp and clean and much deserve the "HD" suffix attached to the game. Sound, on the other hand, is a bit of a disappointment. While the various sound effects occur when you launch your character across the level and collect various pickups or Blobules, there is a distinct lack of background music while in the levels themselves. In the menus and the game's amusing comic-book cut scenes, there is a nice melody playing, but it is pretty much all silence once you get into the levels themselves. While sound isn't required for this game, and shouldn't be for pretty much any mobile device or casual game, the lack of music is very noticeable when there are sound effects playing.
Gameplay: While Blobster HD has a story, it is little more than a way to explain why you are pickup up Blobules and avoiding the enemies. That isn't to say I didn't find the story amusing, but it isn't too deep. Although, I have to say, I have a certain appreciation for the main thrust of the story since I am from Southern Louisiana. You see, a major corporation called Big & Powerful, or B&P for short, has caused an environmental disaster that has caused "greasy, smelly" Blobules to cover Blobtopia. The head of ... err... I mean B&P has sent out a task force of mean blobs to clean up, and they get paid by how many Blobules they can recover. You play as Blobster, a local blob from Blobtopia who is the area's expert on Blobule Recovery. It's your job to pick up all of the Blobules and clean up the town. You do this by sliding Blobster across the screen and launching him in various directions. Each level has a certain number of Blobules in it and your score is primarily based on how high a percentage of these Blobules you recover before ending the level. Along the way, you will find altered Blobules that will give Blobster some enhanced abilities. These include the ability to launch yourself super high into the air, or even throw up a shield that will destroy B&P's recovery team-members. Each level is not only filled with walls and platforms to get you to all of the free-floating Blobules, but also a variety of objects that are sure to cause Blobster to deform and stretch in some interesting ways. Among these are spring boards that gain you more height and velocity with each bounce, as well as gears that will pull you in and squish and channel you to wherever their gears spit you out. Blobster HD has two other modes as well. There is Survival Mode, which is pretty self-explanatory, and Race. In Race, you try and get as far from the start line as possible in the one minute available. This is a really fun mode and since each try is a new, random configuration, it allows for a lot of replay value. After all, there is always the possibility that you can go just a little further than your previous record.
Difficulty: Blobster HD is just about perfect when it comes to difficulty and complexity. I found that the first few levels did a good job of laying down the groundwork, but by the time you completed the last level in the first world, you have a wide variety of enemy characters and obstacles that you need to overcome. Of course, the challenges you face by the end of that world don't really compare to the ones later in the game as you have to use more and more strategy in order to navigate your way to each of the Blobules and either avoid or destroy the enemies in your way. Overall, the game seems to have found the right balance point to make a challenging, but entertaining experience.
Game Mechanics: Blobster HD has a few different ways to control your character. The one I preferred involved using your thumbs to touch the sides of the screens in order to move Blobster left and right. Positioned on the right side of the screen is an icon of Blobster that you can use to stretch him in different directions in order to launch him. This can also be done by reaching for him and stretching him manually, but I found this to be a bit cumbersome and hard to manage, especially if timing was a crucial matter. The other control style uses your device's tilt sensors to slide Blobster left and right down the screen. While I gave this mode a good try, I just found the controls too slippery to deal with the precision Blobster HD requires. I highly recommend this game. It has a lot of levels, it provides a good challenge and even if you beat the entire Arcade Mode with 100% on all levels, the Race Mode provides enough replayability to make the $1.99 price tag acceptable.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Related Links: Blobster HD | iTunes Page Blobster HD Home Page
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