de BLOB - Review

Gameov3r forum member FALLEN124ANGEL got his hands on de Blob recently. We haven't heard a peep out of him since. Judging by this review de BLOB probably has something to do with it!

de Blob is a new 3rd party Wii game developed by BlueTongue. The game starts with a cut-scene showing Chroma City, a peaceful, colourful place, suddenly getting invaded by Inkies of the I.N.K.T. During the process, all civilians are kidnapped and drained of all colour and freedom so that they can be forced to work in the now black and white city. However, 5 brave characters resisted the mass arrest and escaped to become ‘Colour Revolutionarys’. These are Prof, Bif, Zip, Arty and your character.

Before each level, you are given the choice of what mood of music you’d like to play to which range from Blissful to Jazzy, even one called Competitive! On the loading screen, your Wiimote pointer works as a paintbrush allowing you to scribble over the background while you wait. As you paint more, you get a treat of a comic book-style objective page.

You play as ‘de Blob’, a transparent, well, blob! The aim of the game is to restore colour to the now-dull areas of the city and stop the evil I.N.K.T corporation before they do any more damage. You do this by collecting the wandering colour capsules and paint the levels, trees, buildings, the lot. As you play through the levels, you encounter timed challenges set by fellow coloured creatures. These come in 4 different types: there’s painting certain streets in certain colours, as set by Arty, squishing I.N.K.T troopers, more often than not set by Bif, Zip normally sets timed sprints and finally there’s Prof who instructs you to restore main landmarks with colour. Mixing colours are easy and sometimes vital for some of Arty’s tasks.

The colours you can pick up are blue, yellow, and red from which you can mix into green, purple and orange. The maps are absolutely massive which helps to show just what the Wii is actually capable of. As you play through, you learn new moves to help you get about the areas of the city, such as the Zip-Jump, or Z-Jump, which simply requires you to lock onto each target in turn and jump for one to another. Once you’ve finished each stage, you unlock the stage as a speed-run mode.

You play the game using the Wiimote + Nunchuk combo. Controls are very simple and easy to pick up. As you’d have thought, you walk (or rather slide) by using the Nunchuk’s control stick. Other actions are locking on which is done by holding the Z button, jumping by flicking the Wiimote downwards, centering the camera behind you with the C button, rotating the camera around you by pressing the sideways buttons on the D-Pad and using the compass to show you objectives/challenges with the A button.

…and that’s just the story mode! As well as this, there’s a Free Paint mode where you can take as much time as you wish on any of the stages you’ve unlocked and a Multiplayer mode. In multiplayer, you have one paint capsule and the aim of the game is to paint as much as you can and rack up lots of points. The only thing is that the other player can lock on and jump at you to steal the paint so that they can get as much points as they can.

Right, I reckon I’ve been going on for long enough, so I leave you with this message, GET THIS GAME!! Definitely a 9.8/10 from me.

Thanks Fallen.

So the man from the Gameov3r FORUM! He say ... YES!! Did you get de Blob?

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

Gameov3rite macchinmi has given us his views of the Wiiware game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Like as a King. Released back on the 20th May, as a Wiiware launch title, mac has been putting in a good few hours with this one. Just ask his girlfriend! FFCC:MLaaK has recently received some DLC so it's high time that the forum spoke. Thanks macchinmi.

So I had some extra points from registering games and liked the look of this so took the plunge for the 1500 points.

Its quite phenomenally addictive and has already incurred the first 'wrath of female' reaction from my girlfriend when I accidentally {sure it was accidental mac! - Ed) played it for 7 1/2 hours last week.

I admit from the description it hardly sounds that enticing: you simply build the town and manage the kingdom and do no adventuring yourself, that being far too dangerous for the King, you hire suitable adventurers and send them off to dungeons to bring back reports. Initially there is very little you can build and do, the total build area seems very small, and you have to learn by trial and error and speaking to the inhabitants of your little town regularly.

Then you realise that having your adventurers explore certain areas fully and making sure they are experienced enough and have the right equipment allows you to, in the civilisation sense, follow the tech-tree and discover more and larger types of building, which in turn allow you to build more houses and entice more people to move in, giving a wider spread of suitable adventurers. Build a weapons, armour or item shop and your adventurers will stock up before a quest, and entering the shop allows you to fund research using the money you gain from taxing the population. Academies allow training in different classes, so your warriors can become wizards, clerics or thieves and gain the various benefits of specialising by your funding research into abilities in the different classes.

Controls are pretty simple, you control the little king as he runs around town in third person, and use the A button to talk to people, enter building or interact with things. wave the remote or press + and your assistant arrives and allows you to build structures and various other options. To build you simply stand on a suitably sized plot of land, choose the appropriate building type and place it in the relevant direction. the town has a specific layout and seems limiting but it is the positioning and streamlining of the town when you hit the limits which make the game interesting. choosing the correct location for a building is as important as having it, as the adventurers take time to prepare themselves in town before setting off and will return when it gets too late (they work nine-6 but will do overtime later in the game!), so having all their relevant buildings in a little shopping district is beneficial to time management. also having houses next to a training building will affect the children in that house, making them more inclined stats wise to be a cleric if they live near the temple.

so, the building is pretty basic, why is the game maddeningly addictive? Because of the people management, specifically the adventurers. being a 'hands-on' king and talking to the inhabitants of your town increases morale and allows expansion of the town. having your adventurers in a good mood makes them more likely to succeed, equally you have to make sure not to overwork them as they get depressed and so giving a hard worker some time off is also of value. at the start of the day you as king can place Royal Behests on the noticeboards, essentially quests you are looking for people to do. this can be as simple as 'go explore this dungeon' but can also be a request for volunteers to switch class and learn to be a wizard, or speak to the inhabitants of the town for information about a dungeon. you can also proclaim a holiday for everybody later in the game. any adventurer interested in the quest posted will hang about at the noticeboard, where you can speak to them and decide whether to send them or not. choosing the correct person for the job is essential later in the game, and building taverns allows you to create parties to send out. adventurers are on a salary and if they don't get a quest they will go off and explore and level up themselves. no-one gets killed, if they are defeated they will return to the town and stay at home for a couple of days to heal up. but if you visit them to see how they are doing they get better faster.

There is more than enough content in the game to justify the 1500 points, but you do have the option for downloadble content. so far I have purchased the extra buildings packs and the dungeons pack, as for the price they seemed the best value (if you like this believe me you will want more dungeons). the extra races can be bought as one pack or singly, these add different species which each specialise in a different class, the main one you start with are all-rounders. I haven't bothered with these as later in the game you get an inn which lets these races visit your town as tourists and wandering adventurers, which I kind of liked, although I will probably end up getting them eventually.

suffice to say that I thoroughly recommend this little gem of a game. it is stunning in its simplicity of design yet underlying complexity, and indeed random factors which increase its charm. works in short doses and long spells and has a surprising amount of replayability, having two harder difficulty levels unlocked allowing you to take your adventurers through with you, plus the prospect of continuing DLC. if you fancy this i urge giving it a go, although ultimately repetitive its charms make up for many of its failures.

The King of Gameov3r is indeed Gameov3r. Don't get any ideas about training yourself up with FFCC:MLaaK, joining the FORUM and then usurping him. He'll breathe on you. Enough to stop stampeeding wildebeest.

GripShift Review XBLA

GripShift has been available on the PSP and PS3 network for a while now but only recently made it to the XBLA. Knowing virtually nothing about it I downloaded the demo as I do with most XBLA new additions not really expecting much. I usually keep an eye on metacritic.com also as you get a great idea of whether a game is even worth doing that. As the reviews for it started to build up most of them seemed to agree on a figure around 7/10, not bad.

My first try didn't really 'grip' me. The handling didn't feel quite right and the hand brake was severe, flipping you 180 degrees with a short touch. Something made me keep coming back to it though and I did so 3 or 4 times before I actually bought it. The more you play the more the handling makes sense and eventually you become an expert at it. You can even steer, boost and hand brake turn in mid air which is absolutely necessary on the challenge levels which I'll get to in just a bit.

The game itself has several ways of being played. It plays as a kart style racer with the usual range of power ups to collect but also a hint of Wipeout due to the placement of boost to collect on your way round to keep up your top speed. The tracks themselves are more Wipeout than anything also, being suspended in mid air with huge jumps and loop the loops. Great fun, and that's before you even try the challenges. These play like a cross between a driving and a puzzle game. There are 3 times to beat on each. Firstly just getting from start to finish as fast as possible. This being a little bit of a puzzle game means that this can be achieved by missing out huge chunks of track, usually by launching yourself high into the air. Secondly there are stars to collect littered around each track. Collect them all and cross the finish line as fast as possible. Thirdly there is a GS token on each level, often hidden off the normal track so you have to work out how to reach it and then again cross the finish line. You'll need a decent time on each to do well on the score boards, but you can try as many times as you like and you only have to complete one objective on each try.

It's the number of ways to attack each one that makes it great. Sometimes it's obvious which is the quickest way and other times it requires a lot of thought plus trial and error. Could I hit the barrier at the side of track to launch me into the air and jump that huge gap? Try it! The answer is often yes. Then you look at the online leader boards and find out that people are doing the same thing 10 or 20 seconds faster than you. There must be another short cut! It's very addictive and rewarding when you discover these new ways, and each medal earns you credits to unlock new vehicles, graphics or even more music tracks.

It's one of the largest XBLA games available at nearly 150MB but it's also one of the most polished and largest in variety with 120 challenge levels, 25 race tracks and 20 death match arenas. I'm a bit ashamed to say that the number of 7/10 reviews delayed me buying this even on my third or fourth try of the demo. It made me question why I was enjoying it so much. It's not a bad score by any means but pretty average on most review scales. This game is way above average though and for 800 points (£6.80) it's one of the best value games on the XBLA at the moment and easily goes into my top 10.

Oh I nearly forgot that it does feature online racing and death match modes too which I've yet to even try. It makes its mark even without it though.

GAMEOV3R score then.....

MySims Mini Review

Fifi crawled out of bed bleary eyed at 6.30 a.m. she had to go to work, she couldn't get to sleep the night before, there's something about having to get up early that prevents easy sleep. Still awake in the wee small hours Fifi contemplated getting up and going for her DS, she was building a Sim City, but then again it might be a good opportunity to catch a rare nocturnal Pokemon or that elusive tarantula in Animal Crossing .......... Fifi decided it would be more responsible to really try to get to sleep.

Once up Fifi rushed around getting ready, remembering to slip her Gameboy Micro into her work bag just in case there was any "down time" in this job (Fifi is a temp so her work life is constantly changing).

Fifi was already in a bad mood anyway, her new My Sims Wii game had turned out to be rather frustrating. She was thinking "*!& Polly and her stupid flower shop, eventually realising that her flower stand gift hadn't been accepted yet because it needed to be painted with happy essence. Once Polly had accepted her lovely flower stand there was an opportunity to stare at the "brick wall" loading screen again ........ there are many opportunities to stare at the "brick wall" loading screen, every time you complete a task or enter/exit a building if you are really lucky it will occasionally give you a tip while you wait.

A cross between The Sims and Animal Crossing but doesn't match up to either. Oh you do get to make your own furniture with the Wiimote .......but it becomes annoyingly irksome after your first achievement.

There are other areas to unlock but I don't think I can stand to play it long enough and I'll be trading it in as soon as another game I want comes out.

To make things worse a friend had made a casual mention, something about "wasting money on games", Fifi was getting pumped as a Pikachu, Fifi was steaming, wasn't this the friend who had so much fun trying her Wii Sports, she bit her lip deciding to try to keep the peace but harboured vengeful thoughts of deleting said friend's Mii.

.......to be continued ......

Fifi

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