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No Alternate Soundtrack: de Blob

Posted by Derrick Sanskrit

I can't stop playing de Blob. I've tried, honestly I have, but I'm convinced that de Blob will maintain control of my home console gaming time until LittleBigPlanet arrives and is likely for a powerful comeback even after that. Yes, as an art school graduate, I find a certain nostalgic rush in a game where the story involves splattering paint around a sprawling metropolis in order to take down an overbearing corporation with a military dictatorship over the land, and yes, the game's bright and enthusiastic roll-into-everything gameplay brings back the charm of the original Katamari Damacy, and yes, this game has easily the best art direction I've seen on the Wii since Super Mario Galaxy, but I'm not sure that those are what keep me coming back every day (though that is certainly enough, I imagine). No, what keeps me coming back, oddly enough, is the music.

In true "fight the power" fashion, bringing color to the world of Chroma City also brings music. Each color of paint is a different voice in the song, so the more purple in an area of town, the more electric guitar you'll hear. As you paint the town, the soundtrack grows and swells in perfect harmony. Each restored landmark brings with it another enthusiastic section of the orchestra, and each ink stain muffles the glorious light and sound in its vignetted black chokehold. About halfway through any given stage I find myself tapping my foot and shifting my hips to the beat (I always play Wii standing up, I have no idea why). It's really an aspect of the game that needs to be experienced. Here's a little demo courtesy of the cool kids over at GoNintendo of just the first section (of three) of the second area in the game (please feel free to skip around, as its a bit slow-going):



Notice how vibrantly the soundtrack changed from beginning to end. Need I reiterate, that's just the first third of the stage. Imagine how lively this can get by the time you've reached the exit pool. The music integration is a truly compelling element to the gameplay that drives me to complete every challenge I can and paint every surface I can in as many colors as I can on a daily basis. I cannot imagine this game being half as much fun without the music and sounds. If you have a Wii, go get de Blob, and play it with the volume cranked up.

Related Articles:
de Revolution WILL Be Colorized
No Alternate Soundtrack: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
No Alternate Soundtrack: Chibi-Robo
Katamari In The Classroom part 1 and part 2


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Demaar said:

Oh wow, this game actually looks vaguely awesome. First Wii game I'll have bought in months, maybe?

October 9, 2008 8:42 AM

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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