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Some classic elements return – most gameplay, in fact, is built upon the original's foundations, but Blue Tongue has enhanced, refined and improved most areas to address fan quibbles and the wants of the development team. In fact, Blue Tongue openly admit to designing many new elements of the game to keep themselves amused as much as fans of the franchise.
One change we admire is the decision to reduce the reliance on waggling the Wii remote to leap around; instead the thumbstick and A button make up most of your basic movements. Blob still rolls from place to place with grace and accuracy, and the camera is generally intelligent enough to keep track of the action. The C button still caters for manual adjustment, however, and de Blob purists can also revert to the original control scheme – always a thoughtful decision.
New characters are a given; 'Pinky', a spunky female sidekick, adds a bit of fiery cheek to Blob's happy-go-lucky persona, and new enemies and hazards dot the map. However, perhaps the biggest departure though are breakaway moments of pure 2D platforming goodness. Throughout the 12 main regions in the adventure, you'll trek through more than 100 side-scrolling environments, inside buildings and below street level – hence the 'underground' moniker.
During these sections, the perspective is predictably locked into a side-on view, and the emphasis is much more about spatial awareness and puzzle-solving. Early stages we played required a little bit of switch-flipping, raising water levels and granting access to higher and higher levels. Others required us to soak up particular paint colours to activate key switches and unlock the path, all the while dodging enemies and liberating the besotted Graydians.
The feel is decidedly retro in a very pleasing way; it's no bad thing that games like de Blob: The Underground and Super Mario Galaxy 2 have returned to the genre's roots. de Blob, like the moustachioed plumber, has taken the time to craft some inventive scenarios and make it feel very fresh and, critically, a whole mess of fun.
With new gameplay styles come new enemies – and abilities. Hypnotic 'shepherds' use their trance-inducing powers to indoctrinate innocent bystanders, requiring a liberal dose of colour to pound into submission. The new rainbow power-up also gives de Blob the power to coat any surface he touches in the correct required colour for a limited time. This is particularly handy in many of the game's time-based challenges, where your heads-up display shows how many buildings of each colour must be repainted before time runs out. Blob now has a lock-on charge attack, too, keeping the pace of the combat high and upping your accuracy in the process.
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