So what is your goal with the game? Run out Conrade Black from the color world by restoring color to everything. Each stage has a certain number of objectives to complete; paint all of the buildings, free all of the slaves (citizens are enslaved when they’re all-grey “Greydians”), and restore all of the flowers and trees. You can complete all of these things by rolling around the entire stage to touch things with a painted Blob.
Co-op changes the game a little bit. If you plug in another controller, you play as Pinky. Pinky is a floating robot that assists Blob through the story, but you can play as her with your second player. As Pinky, you get a pink reticle (circle and cross-hair) to shoot paint at the screen. Well, you can shoot pink at certain items you would be able to pick up in the world.
Each of the levels have a time-limit, so having a second player help earn extensions is fairly handy. You earn extensions on the time-limit by completing tasks like freeing Greydians or painting buildings. Once the story goal is done on the level, you can basically free-roam and complete challenges as well as finish up any collectible hunting or painting you may have missed.
Pinky can’t help paint buildings, or continue the storyline. In fact, Pinky can’t even earn achievements. As soon as player two drops in, a notice pops up to remind you that “Player two cannot earn achievements through the story.” Pinky can help with picking up color particles (which help Blobs score) and blast some of the enemies later in the game.
The Co-op (and general gameplay) feels a lot like Super Mario Galaxy, only you can play it on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or Wii however you so choose. It is nice to see the game expand from the Wii, but it is certainly designed for the Wii. Much of the movement and camera feels like you’re playing a Wii game, even with an Xbox 360 controller.
I will give a hearty ten points to Gryffindor de Blob for a very fun loading screen. The story is relayed to you through silly movements and adorable sounds of the main characters, but the dialog is actually written in the loading screen. When you’re waiting for the game to load for each level, you can hit the A button to read a comic book style story. Or, you can paint all over the screen with your pointer.
The variety of gameplay seen in de Blob 2 makes it so everyone who plays the game won’t get bored. There are also a lot of challenges after you complete each level so you get more points and can really get back at Conrade Black. for people who played the original de Blob on the Wii: It transfers over to the other consoles fairly well, but the Wii version is still perfectly intact. If you liked the first, de Blob 2 should sing in colors to you.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Co-op is somewhat lacking where player two is limited to picking up items and blasting enemies, but little else. Player two is reduced to a reticle that cannot help de Blob paint the world or even earn achievements/trophies in the game. This is a perfect type of co-op for something like a gaming parent and a very young child - otherwise its better left single-player.
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.