DE BLOB
(THQ; Nintendo Wii; Everyone)
If iconic game characters like Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog have taught us anything, it's that every successful platformer needs a colorful personality. De Blob meets this criterion (quite literally) with its articulated bouncy ball of goo who — at any given time — might be red, blue, yellow, green, purple, or orange. And it's not just an attempt at being fashionable: El Blobbo needs to re-paint his hometown after an evil syndicate has turned Chroma City into a monochromatic wasteland.
It should be said that De Blob is off-the-charts cute. In addition to coloring Chroma City’s buildings, you need to liberate its citizens: stubby, giggling gumdrop-like creatures called Raydians. Of course, as in all good platformers, the villains here are about as threatening as Elmer Fudd. But what De Blob lacks is variety. All of your objectives seemingly involve the same basic actions: roll around town, assume a particular color, and pounce on a building to paint it. Even though you can do these things for a reasonably long time without getting bored, you'll wish this character had a more diverse skill set. We still like the game, if only because it made us use a kind of thinking — red + blue = purple! — that we haven't used since grammar-school art class. —Gary Eng Walk
WHAT WE LIKE:
· Liberating Raydians — and hearing them giggle
· Painting the town red. And blue. And green. And...
· Still remembering that mixing blue and yellow makes green
WHAT WE DON'T LIKE:
· De Blob features many colors, but not a whole lot of variety otherwise B
WARIO LAND: SHAKE IT!
(Nintendo; Wii; Everyone)
Those who've grown up on goombas and gold coins will find plenty to like in this old-school 2-D platformer. All the elements are there: zany animations and sound effects, beautifully detailed hand-drawn environments, traditional side-scrolling stages. But something feels missing...oh right, challenge anyone? Most of the game's 35 levels can be completed in a few minutes. Sure, there might be some replay value in beating your own best times, or going back to search for treasure items, but considering you can't even use those items, it's kinda hard to justify the extra effort. For casual gamers (and especially those whose first console is a Wii), Shake It! is a great introduction to the platformer genre. But for seasoned gamers, this romp through Wario Land is no great shakes. —Samantha Xu
WHAT WE LIKE:
· It's another solid 2-D platformer for the Wii
· Beautiful hand-painted backgrounds
· Wario’s badonkadonk bottom (and I don't care if that's wrong of me)
WHAT WE DON'T LIKE:
· The story mode is too short
· Lack of challenging puzzles and enemies B-
