A Boy and his Blob - Nintendo Entertainment System

Review comments

A Boy and his Blob box art It is the twenty-first century and a crisis faces the rotund blob-like beings of Blobolonia. The Emperor has suddenly become a rather evil tyrant bent on force-feeding the inhabitants a staple diet of marshmallows and chocolate. This may sound fine to most people, but in reality not a lot of blobs like marshmallows and chocolate, preferring the lovely taste of jellybeans

One such Blob (named Blobert, but he prefers to be called Blob by his friends) has escaped to Earth and has made friends with a young boy (draw your own conclusions about this). This young lad is pretty upset about the treatment his chum is getting and decides to brutally murder the emperor and liberate the inhabitants of Blob. Hurrah!

Many days and sleepless nights are spent by the boy and his Blob formulating cunning plans with which to bring down the evil Emperor. In the end, our heroes decided to collect a load of treasure, swap it for some vitamins (why he can't just go down to Boots and buy some isn't explained) and then force-feed them to the Emperor back on Blobolonia. Only then can the Blobs be free from their gastronomic oppression.

Staff comments

A Boy and His Blob scores no points for pulse-racing excitement. The pace of the game is quite sedate, and you have to get quite a way into the game before your reactions are put to the test. However, A Boy and His Blob is one of the most challenging arcade adventures I've ever played. What I like about it is that there's always more than one way to complete a puzzle. For example, cushioning that massive fall can be achieved with either the Cola Bubble or the Vanilla Umbrella. The game also has a superb graphic quality. Some of the backdrops are digitised and superbly coloured, whilst the sprites are fantastic. The boy moves smoothly and realistically and the Blob himself is a masterpiece of animation. He smiles inanely when he sees a jelly bean being tossed his way, and has the most pathetic look on his face if you don't feed him for a while! There's months of gaming in this cart, and it's worth every penny. Nintendo owners should go forth and purchase immediately!

A Boy and His Blob is every bit as strange as it sounds. The gameplay is very unusual, with elements of arcade adventuring and puzzle-solving thrown together in a highly original way. The way the problems are presented is neat, requiring you to use your blob to the best of his transforming abilities. Some situations are quite tricky, and require plenty of lateral thinking to see them through, but they're never so tough that you give up completely - just try out a few beans and see what comes up! As well as being great fun to play, A Boy and His Blob looks and sounds brilliant. The graphics are tremendous, with superb sprite animation and stunning backdrops, and there are a variety of excellent tunes and effects adding a great atmosphere to the game. Put them together with the amazingly addictive gameplay and you've got a game that'll keep you playing for ages.