You are a blob. Doesn’t sound very interesting does it? How about this? You are a blob flying through the air, you have a row of sharp spikes above you and below you, one false move and you will land on the spikes causing your gruesome explosive death.To add to the problem there is also a bright red instant death laser moving up and down in front of you so you need to time your movement just right so you miss the spikes and the laser to land in safety and continue the level. This is just one snippet of Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack.
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is the sequel of Tales from Space: About A Blob by Drinkbox Studios. It is a 2D puzzle-platformer for the Playstation Vita and is out now as a download only title.
The game follows the story of a mutant blob that escaped a research facility in the backpack of a kid, starting from the college you must make your way to Metropolis eating loose items within the level, solving puzzles and dodging rocket attacks. To continue through a level you need to eat enough objects to reach the target size that is indicated on the screen. Once the target is reached you can eat the cork that is blocking the part of the level to continue on your journey.
Once you start the game you are greeted with a menu which can be used either with the physical controls or the touchscreen. Jumping into Story Mode you there is aWorld Map which features 6 different areas. Within each area are the levels with the first one being College which consists of 4 levels and 1 bonus level. In total there are 24 levels not including bonus levels.
Manoeuvring the blob throughout the levels is easy enough using the left analogue stick and X to jump. Later on in the game more controls will come available, for example some levels require you to magnetize against certain outlined objects in the level using L1. Touchscreen control is also implemented to the game although I would have liked to have seen more use for it. Some platforms have a glowing green light on them, these can be moved with using the touchscreen to get to out of reach places or to block lasers so you can pass an area without dying. The rear touch pad can also be used to rocket boost. The bonus levels also takes advantage of the gyroscopic controls feature of the Playstation Vita as you control the blob through a labyrinth eating all lose items whilst trying to avoid falling into the holes. Once enough objects are eaten you can reach the end of the level.
The whole interface and design of the game screams out fun with a dash of retro. Everywhere you look there are bright vibrant colors and colourful level designs with some great cartoon-style cutscenes. In-game the retro style art design continues which suits the game perfectly. You can literally spend hours on this game trying to beat friends on the leaderboard with the levels being just small enough for a quick blast on your travels. It took me a good few hours to complete the levels and I didn’t even get every single collectable and I am still itching to jump back on and beat my friend’s scores.
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is a great title, fun and addictive it will keep you entertained for hours with the online leaderboards adding even more replay value to the game. The only negative thing I have to say about the game is that sometimes when moving the platforms too fast they can go out of view and with no way to move the camera it can sometimes cause you to have to respawn.