In a secret laboratory facility, little space blobs are kept locked up and have experiments performed on them.  But one green, one-eyed blob doesn’t like it and isn’t going to take it anymore.  He escapes and hides in a backpack belonging to a college kid on a student tour of the laboratory.  Now the blob must brave obstacles in a college dorm and frat house, around town, at a military base, and even on the moon!  He’ll have to eat and absorb as many things as he can so he can grow bigger and exact revenge on the lab that performed experiments on him and his blob friends!  Tales form Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is a downloadable 2-D platforming action game with lots of zany madcap humor (360 version reviewed here).

The game is like a cross between Katamari Damacy and an old SNES game called Smartball (Jelly Boy in Japan).  Of course, those are pretty obscure games so I guess it was pointless for me to even reference them.  Anyway, this is a 2-D platformer where you control a blob.  He can stick to walls but he can’t climb them.  However, he can wall jump to reach higher places.  The blob can also eat and absorb almost anything smaller than him, and as he eats, he grows bigger and can then eat more things.  You’ll usually need to do this so you can eat certain sized corks that block your path to the next area.  Eventually you’ll get big enough to even eat people and buildings!

The blob has other powers, too.  By passing through certain gates, he will inflate like a balloon and gain the ability to fly and propel himself around by exerting gas.  The blob can also telekinetically move certain platforms by using the right analog stick.  This gives the game a bit of a puzzle element as well.  Finally, the blob can stick magnetically to certain metal surfaces by holding down the left trigger button, and repel from them using the right trigger.  You’ll use all these skills in tricky and clever ways.

Hidden in each stage are the blob’s friends.  Find them and reach a high enough score to earn silver and gold medals in each stage.  There are around two dozen stages in all.  There are also about half a dozen mini-game levels where you view the action from a top down perspective as you gobble up objects in a maze, like Pac-Man.

This game is full of zany madcap humor and references to B-movies and other video games.  I think my favorite is a billboard in the background on the moon levels that says, “Visit Scenic SPAAAACE: Courtesy of Apetours.”  That’s a Portal 2 reference, and they also make fun of other things like Angry Birds.  Really the only problem I had with this game is that sometimes the obstacles you must pass are pretty tough, and while the play control is great, it’s not always precise enough to get all the items for the highest score.  But luckily you get unlimited tries and checkpoints are plenty.  And sometimes you can press the Y button for tips on how to get past certain obstacles.  At any rate, this was a fantastic game that I really enjoyed and highly recommend downloading it.

Kid Factor:

Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Fantasy Violence and Alcohol Reference.  While you can eventually eat humans who scream and run away from you, there is no blood or grisly deaths, and it’s all presented in a cartoony, humorous manner.  If the blob gets hit enough times, he just splats and you start over at the last checkpoint.  As far as the alcohol reference goes, in the college dorm there are kegs that say “Hipster Juice” on them, but it looks more like soda than beer.  Some of the humor is a little off color, like a college sweatshirt in the background that says, “FU.”  But most of the jokes and references will go over little kids’ heads anyway.  Reading skill is helpful for the text instructions, and younger gamers may need help with the tougher levels and obstacles.

Tags: Game Reviews