If you’re reading this review and experiencing an eerie feeling of déjà vu, then allow us to put your mind at rest. This is the third time we’ve cast our critical gaze over de Blob here at Pocket Gamer - de Blob mobile and de Blob iPhone have already been thoroughly assessed and both scored a respectable 7 out of 10.
Now it’s the turn of Android users to paint the two red - and several other different colours, too.
Despite the fact that regular readers of this site may already possess intimate knowledge of de Blob’s play mechanics, here’s a brief breakdown of how it all works for those of you who lack such wisdom.
You assume the role of a small blob whose objective is to restore colour to a once vibrant city that has been drained of its various hues by the sinister INKT Corporation.
By rolling into ‘leech bots’ that are dotted around the landscape you can change your shade and grow in size. It’s also possible to mix different colours together (red and yellow makes orange, and so on).
Entering pools of water will remove your acquired colours and shrink your character in size, which is handy when you’re required to navigate small openings that sometimes appear.
The game is broken up into separate ‘blocks’ which you must colourise within a strict time limit. Revitalising the city is merely a case of bumping into each building or townsperson - do this and they will magically acquire the same shade that your blobby avatar possesses.
Naturally, there are obstacles in your path to spice things up a bit - some buildings require you to be a certain shade and size before they can be painted, and members of the nefarious INKT corp. stalk the streets, threatening to turn your globular alter-ego a dismal shade of grey if they get to close. Thankfully these monochrome aggressors can be sent packing with a swift bounce.
The game features two modes - Revolution and Free Splash. The former is the meat of the game and involves liberating blocks of the city one by one. The latter is essentially the same, but you can tackle conquered levels at will and aim for better scores.
Two control methods are on offer in de Blob. The tilt controls that were showcased by the iPhone port are present, but we found that the touchscreen interface (where you tap parts of the screen in order to move around, with a double tap producing a faster degree of movement) was far more accurate and enjoyable.
This is because the Android version of de Blob is blighted by some particularly problematic slowdown, especially when there’s an excessive amount of activity.
While it doesn’t entirely ruin the experience, the sluggish nature of the game does cause a few problems, especially on the more demanding sub-missions, where time is tight.
Too often we found that our commands weren’t being immediately recognised by the game, or the erratic nature of the framerate made controlling the action difficult. Enough of the enjoyment remains however, so it’s not a total write-off by any means.
Sadly, it does seem that developers are taking the easy route with Android games and simply porting the existing code without making much in the way of effort to optimise it for the new hardware.
With a bit of spit and polish, this could easily have been on par with the iPhone version, but as it stands it’s sullied somewhat by the irksome slowdown.
de Blob
Although it retains the outstanding visuals, brilliant sound and addictive gameplay, annoying slowdown and erratic frame rate ensure that this Android port is rendered second best to its iPhone counterpart
Damien McFerran
Damien's mum hoped he would grow out of playing silly video games and gain respectable employment. Perhaps become a teacher or a scientist, that kind of thing. Needless to say she now weeps openly whenever anyone asks how her son's getting on these days.