Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack Review

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Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is a side scrolling adventure by the Toronto based developer DrinkBox released on Xbox360, PS3, PS Vita and PC. I got my hands on the Xbox 360 version of the game for the review. When I saw the title of the game I simply assumed that I would be spending the next few hours of the game killing mutant blobs, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

As the game starts up you are introduced to the blob you will be playing as and my first impression was that the artwork of the game is brilliant and it put me in mind of cartoons like “Dexter’s Laboratory “.

The game begins with you witnessing the atrocities that mankind are committing on the mutant blobs, experiments of a cruel and crushing nature provoke your blob to escape from a lab and punish your captors. The game as a whole will see you (as a mutant blob) travel through each level eating whatever is lying around, trying to save your blob friends and solving puzzles along the way but more on them in a second. The predominant mechanic is eating, you eat whatever you can that is lying around, as you eat you grow in size and this allows you to consume larger things. At the start of the game you will be eating nuts and bolts as well as the odd crisp, as the game progresses you will then start eating boxes and move on to eating not only people but tanks and helicopters as well. It’s an incredibly well designed mechanic as you grow while you play, when you reach the target mass the screen zooms out seamlessly and completely alters the scale. You will score points by collecting blue orbs as well as finding your blob friends and completing the level as quickly as you can for a time bonus.

There are six different zones that you play through as you grow in size from the unthreatening Frat house to become the Blobzilla attacking a Metropolis, the different zones all add their own flavour to the game and change frequently enough to avoid becoming stale. The gameplay in Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack doesn’t get repetitive either, there are plenty of puzzles to solve and an excellent learning curve will have you tackling complex puzzles in no time. Some of the controls when manipulating the world around you were pretty unintuitive and fiddley however these can be overcome with some perseverance.

I have to admit that I was impressed with how well Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack changed the gameplay within levels. For most of the game you will be traveling from left to right in the standard platforming/side scrolling way we expect but there are plenty of ways that DrinkBox have made the entire experience more engaging. There are sections of the game when you inflate with gas and are able to fly around the map, some of these moments are the best in the game as you will find yourself being chased through a labyrinth by a laser that is just aching to save the human race. I had great fun playing the “Gamebro Colour”: a style of bonus level where you control the blob from a top down view. There are seldom any threats in these levels but they certainly change the pacing of the game and add some extra fun into it. Chasing a rooster through a farmyard as a mutant blob is a surprisingly entertaining experience. I had a great time playing Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, it really is a fun experience that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

The visuals in the game are great. It reminds me of cartoons I used to watch as a kid and really nails the animations in the few cut scenes that the game has to offer. The animation of the blob is fantastic and enemies, while pretty basic, are well designed. The music in the game has the same sense of childlike innocence as the graphics that are completely at odds with the tone of the game. I really loved it, the music is spot on, the audio of the blob eating anything and everything is lip-smackingly good and the explosions could be taken from any late 90’s cartoon. It all adds to the overall charm of the game (I never thought I’d write that about a blob game).

At the end of each level you will get to see the breakdown of your score, you can see if you collected all of your blob friends and even see your ranking. This game is simply fun so you don’t need a reason to go back and play it again but if you are looking for one then making my way up those rankings was definitely an encouragement to me.

Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is available on the Xbox Marketplace for £6.39 and at that price it’s a bargain. I really enjoyed playing through this and I am usually more into “gritty” shooters. It won me over and I see no reason why it won’t do the same for anyone reading this. For that price? It’s definitely worth a buy.