Alien Blobs

Every story requires suspension of disbelief, but Alien Blobs would have you dangle your senses over the Grand Canyon using a piece of twine. The premise involves a convoluted story with portals, hostile alien blobs, and a disobedient kid.

What’s a bit depressing about Alien Blobs is that without all this painful drivel that you’ve to try to make sense of you could actually jump right into the match-three gameplay and get cracking.

The story is just an instrument used to justify the twist the game makes on this popular genre. It takes the match-three formula, makes it circular, and throws in a bit of well-placed chaos. Your character spins around a pivot point where small coloured blobs appear, and it’s simply a matter of removing them.

You’re armed with a cannon to shoot coloured balls into the ever expanding throng of alien blobs. Once there’s a collection of three or more of the same colour, they’re eliminated.

The major difference between Alien Blobs and other match-three games is the icons shoot back at you. Variations on the theme appear as the levels progress including end-of-level bosses, mines that chase you, and aliens that rush in from the outside.

Collectables also emanate from alien portals: atomic bombs that clear the screen, boots for shooting missiles, shields, colour-specific smart bombs, crystals for defence against certain blobs - the list goes on and on and on. And on.

This constant mish-mash of add-ons and alternatives, however, makes Alien Blobs unnecessarily complex. There are so many power ups and collectables that you stop trying to catch them. The story is so indecipherable you stop reading, which causes problems with understanding each level’s objective.

All you really want to do is shoot balls at other balls in a first class puzzle game, but Alien Blobs really does fight against such a straightforward intention. It’s built from a simple set of enjoyable gaming mechanics that are woefully mired in too much nonsense.

There's an Arcade mode alongside the storyline, which can cut out a fair amount of guff, though you’re restricted to zones that have been unlocked in the main game, so it’s a limited reprise.

Alien Blobs definitely can’t be accused of being all gravy and not enough meat. Indeed, a bit less indigestible meat would have been quite welcome. An effort has to be made to look beyond its silly story and excessive elements to believe in the solid gameplay underneath.