A Boy And His Blob

I long avoided replaying David Crane's, the creator of Pitfall, classic and unique puzzle/adventure game because I had not the patience to play it. I first saw the game at my friend Shawn's house when I was very young. The game's structure was unlike anything I had seen, and I quickly saved my allowance to buy it for myself. A particular story about the game: when i bought it at Toys R Us and played it upon returning home, I swore the game was broken because Boy, the main character, could not jump. I told my mom of this and she, not knowing any better, took me back to the toy store where I talked to a customer representative and got my game exchanged for a new copy. Of course, in the new one Boy didn't jump either. That's when I realized I made a mistake - probably I had seen Shawn use the trampoline and I wrongly remembered it as jumping. To this day, I have never told my mom about my idiocy, I never will; it's too embarrassing and now she wouldn't recall what I would be talking about.

The plot of this game, like most NES ones, has little or no significance and makes even less sense. One day a boy meets a blob who has fled his planet of Blobonia where the evil emperor has overthrown the rightful ruler. Worse, the emperor has banned vitamins and healthy foods and instead produces endless supplies of candy. The blob convinces the boy to liberate his planet, but first, the boy must find twenty-two treasures under the Earth's surface to buy the all-powerful Vitablaster which will destroy the nefarious candy monsters of the evil emperor.

Assuming you haven't decided that you will never touch the game based on reading the above paragraph, I'll continue:

The blob itself, though, is the key to counter-revolution. The boy has many flavors of jellybeans (the joke with the jellybeans is a lot of the flavor/object relations are corny jokes. For example, Apple = Jack) and when the blob eats one, he'll turn into a different object that will help the boy advance through Earth and Blobonia or collect a treasure. Of course, that's what the game really's about: on Earth, you have to explore the underground to locate and capture the treasures, while on Blobonia you must use the blob's powers to overcome enemies and traps. I can't stress enough that this is an adventure game, not an action game. If Boy runs quickly onto the area he is likely to fall of a ledge and die or hit an enemy and die. Crane tries to deter players from proceeding at high speeds by programming Boy to take a full second to stop running if he starts. Rule #1 for players: WALK SLOWLY!!! Even if you proceed with caution, unless you have a walkthrough (go to www.gamefaqs.com for a complete one) you are going to die A LOT. That's just the trade-off of discovering the mysteries of this jewel.

On the more technical aspects of A Boy And His Blob:

Graphics are a bit hard to describe and a bit harder to rate. The unique "look" to the game occurs because the graphics for the characters are flat, cartoony and two-dimensional, but the background object have incredible detail.

Music possesses the limits of just three main BGM's that play during the entire game (aside from the various blob themes that intrude when it transforms into each of the different objects) but the sound effects are superb- especially the roaring cheer at the game's end.

Play Control remains, as always, the most painfully defining factor in a game. Crisis do occur, and they usually involve having to put blob in an exact place to execute the solution properly. However, moving the blob boards impossible in a good chunk of the time. To move the blob you have to move boy, and the blob is supposed to follow, but sometimes it doesn't, or moves too far, or not enough. However, I'm inclined to think this was just another puzzle of Crane's, one moves the blob by transforming him into certain objects which can be picked up and placed anywhere precisely. Other times in the game, however, try one's patience- manicuplating the cola bubble to transverse a spike maze and bouncing the viy high inthe air onto a ledge without killing him is also a challenge, as is not being killed by swer serpents or smashing teeth (play the game, you sadly find out what I mean)

Although the play control and exploration phase of the game can daunt the player, the game generates lots of creative thinking  to bypass its obstacles and creates a ton of replay value. I won't say you won't rip your hair out because you must find at least 21 out the 22 treasures to beat the game, but the exploartion task can be handled in multiple routes that you, the player, decide. Generally speaking, you'll either progress and nab a treasure, or die suddenly without even noticing the cause of your demise until after the fact. Yet, the very characteristics that will frustrate you will also make you want to play A Boy And His Blob until the end. Nobody forgets playing such a distingushed game.

Graphics B

Sound/Music B+

Challenge B+

Play Control B-

Replay Value A+

Fun Factor A

Overall A 1/2 links

Shadow Man Seal of Quality