De Blob 2 Review

Sometimes all you need is a little colour in your life.

De Blob 2 sees the return of the lovable Blob again on the Nintendo Switch with yet another adventure. Following the events of the first title, Comrade Black and the Inkies are back once again to remove colour from the world and make everyone’s day less fun. Our mighty hero Blob is also back to again save the day. This time however the journey is bigger, better and more challenging than before.

Gameplay is similar to its predecessor with a few changes to keep things fresh. The main objective is to use your power of painting to fill the world with colour, complete challenges and collect countless collectibles along the way. With 12 vast levels to explore, each set in a unique location, players will find a lot to do in this title besides the main story line.

Blob is able to fill up with a colour of paint and then ‘spend’ this paint to colour objects in the world and perform a number of actions. Besides the standard movement and jumping that is accustomed to any platformer, there are a few extras to mix up the gameplay. Blob has some new abilities this time around, including a powerful dash attack which breaks through obstacles and enemies. Power-ups are also located around levels which offer brief moments of dynamic changes in gameplay that make you feel like a superhero.

Being able to upgrade Blob as well via “inspiration points” is helpful as well because you’ll start to become stronger and more adaptable as the game progresses. This could be changes such as a large paint capacity or extra lives. One big new addition, which is a nice offering if not fully engaging, is a new two-player mode. A second player can take control of Pinky and to help out by picking up items for example. It’s a fun offering but it is a shame that not a fully co-op mode could of been implemented.

Though the core gameplay is fun on its own, the extra additions help build a more compelling experience that encourages players to explore the options available to them. Because of this you can’t help but smile as you bounce, dash and splat around the world covering every available surface in bright colours. Sadly, the cracks start to show in some of the challenges and side activities available to the player.

You see, the main story line is entertaining enough along with the gameplay to keep you hooked for the whole experience. The side content, which you’ll want to do for extra time and points, becomes tedious and repetitive very quickly and drags the title down a bit. On top of that you have the ever present time limit of each level. You’ll normally have plenty of time to finish levels and challenges but its inclusion is not something everyone will enjoy as it slowly creates moments of stress as you feel your actions being valued continuously.

Thankfully the solid performance and fantastic soundtrack help you stay immersed within the experience. These make the dull moments more bearable while helping elevate the good moments into being great ones. As a whole though, De Blob 2 is a solid port of a title originally released in 2011. It might not be perfect but the core gameplay and presentation will be enough to keep you playing.