A Boy And His Blob In The Rescue of Princess Blobette
Game by Absolute Entertainment
Reviewed by Philip Wesley
Save: NONE
Released: 1990
Works with: All Game Boy units excluding the Game Boy Micro.
ESRB Rated: E or K/A
Quick Opinion: Feed it to your Blob.

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Opening Snide Remarks: David Crane is a bit of an infamous person in the
world of gaming. He designed Pitfall, the first Ghostbusters game, A Boy and
His Blob, Little Computer People, and... Night Trap. David Crane is a bit
like Jackson Pollock. He creates interesting and unusual concepts in the most
garish and sloppy way possible. People may balk at the idea of video games
being considered "art" because they feel that art should "say" something or
be a solo effort. The people who believe that art can not be made by a
collaborative effort are the worst of critics and unfit for that position.
Back to Pollock for a minute. I think the best criticism of Pollock comes
from a headline in Reynold's News describing his work in 1959.

"This is not art — it's a joke in bad taste."

And this is the best way to describe this body of work from David Crane. I
will go into detail on why this is the case later on in this review. David
Crane is all about concept in many of his works. Little Computer People was
a game with little interaction, and no development of plot or goal. It was
the inspiration for later "life sim" titles including Tamagotchi and the
PC title: The Sims. Night Trap is the horrible precursor to the concept of
Quick Time Events. David Crane certainly has had an influence in the world
of video games and he even helped co-found Activision.

David Crane makes collaborative artwork in his games. This game actually
lists everyone who worked on it in a single screen. In fact, I will go ahead
and copy that down for you. This way, you may see everyone who contributed to
the "birth" of this title.

Game Design and Program - David Crane
Background Graphics - Juan Sanchez
Musical Score - Mark Van Hecke
Audio - Alex Demeo
Additional Programming - Mark Klein

This game was made by five people and that is pretty cool. Sadly, this game
is a wonderful example of how to nail a concept and fail in the execution of
that concept.

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Gameplay Description: The gameplay in this title is pretty simple, yet
wonderfully complex. The game takes place directly after the NES title and
revolves around a Boy and His Gelatinous, shape shifting Mass. Think of it
as Adventure Time meets Al Capp's The Schmoo. The Princess Blobette is
imprisoned in a cage above a vat of boiling whatever. So, the Boy and his
jelly-bean loving allegory for Carter/Reagan Era Government set out to save
the hapless Blobette. Is Blobette a statement on the status of America in
the 1970's and 1980's? Maybe we should ponder this idea for a while. Maybe
the only enemies in the game - a kind of worm - represent the Cold War Axis
of Evil. The Jelly beans represent some sort of tax, and the Boy is an
allegory for the American public? Is this game a rich sort of satire?

That would be very, very silly.

Next, you will think that the Wayforward Technologies adaptation of the
first game is about a child dealing with the pain of a divorce by the
use of an imaginary, Hobbes-ian friend. When all the child wants is to have
affection returned, he relegates that to an amorphous blob that he alone
can hug. However, the blob is only capable of expressing affection by
candy fueled utility. The boy seeks in vain for a way for the blob to "hug
him back."

if that depressed you, than I suppose I should go forth with the details
on the gameplay. This game is similar to games like Prince of Persia or
Out of This World. You control the boy and the blob follows you around.
When you feed the blob jelly beans, it transforms into a useful item. The
Jelly beans are limited in this game and can also be used to do various
other items as well. There are a lot of different flavors of Jelly bean.
The Lime gives you a key, the Tangerine gives you a Trampoline, the
Vanilla gives you an Umbrella, the Mint can cool things down, and so
forth. Each room presents different challenges as you explore the
castle to find the Princess. The boy dies pretty easily, so you have to
be creative and careful with your Jelly beans. The game takes about an
hour to complete normally, or about five minutes if you use the glitch.
There is also a way to end the game right near the beginning and that
is pretty funny. In a way, you could say it was a critique of the Arms
Race and The Cold War. Art aside, this game is more frustrating than
actually fun and -while the concept is fresh- there are a lot of
problems to the game that are not related to gameplay.

Liked: Interesting gameplay that works in concept.

Hated: It only works in concept.

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Graphics Description: The Boy and the Blob look okay and are easy to see on
any of the Game Boy screens. The backgrounds work well and the morphing
animation is amusing. The game is not a graphic powerhouse and the settings
never actually change much. The graphics exist to convey the most simplistic
of ideas and do so with success.

Liked: Easy to see and understand.

Hated: There really is nothing that stands out in this title. It looks very
dull and boring.

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Sound/Music Description: There are some fairly stock sound effects and they
get the job done. The music consists of about two to three tracks that loop
over and over and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and
you get the idea. It quickly becomes tedious and headache inducing. The music
tends to emphasize that this game is very plain looking and drag it down even
further.

Liked: The sound effects match the action on screen.

Hated: The MUSIC. Looping music is a staple of many old games. That is only
okay if the music that is looping is actually good. This music is not good
and it gets on your nerves after the first few minutes.

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Play Control/Game Design: This is a short, plain looking, horrible sounding
game with practically zero replay value. The boy moves with a sense of
momentum that could throw off any sort of precision. The blob is not
directly controlled by the player and has a tendency to get "stuck" in to
items and things in the game. The game is littered with horrible glitches and
feels rushed to market.

The concept: A Boy uses a friendly Blob to solve puzzles and beat enemies by
transforming the Blob through candy.

That is a cool concept, IF it is in the hands of competent programmers with
enough time to bug test and polish it up.

Here we get a great idea in search of narrative, polish, and skill. David
Crane, like Pollock, has set out an amazing concept that looks like so
much splatter on canvas. Devoid of artistic skill and deft handling, this
game suffers greatly.

Liked: The concept is amazing.

Hated: The technique is garbage. The Boy slides all over the place and
barely responds to movement inputs. The puzzles make fairly little sense
and feel woefully lacking. The game is just devoid of fun and joy.

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Improve: Polish up the controls, the graphics, and the music. The puzzles
need more variation and the game needs to be longer.

RIYL: Concepts in game design. This is more of a case study on game design
than an actual game.

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Final Words: "This opium you feed your people.." - Marquis de Sade

Are those Jelly beans more to us than sugar candy? Some people say that art
is a way of expressing a narrative. The narrative in A Boy and His Blob is
left to the viewer. The concept -the idea- of the game is the key point in
why this is an art piece. I would pose the idea that art is defined by who
it affects. The concept of this game makes me feel good; but the expression
of the concept fills me with frustration. It feels like there is more to
this game than the ugly trappings and hideous defects. This is similar to a
Quay Brothers film or the performance art of Matthew Barney. It feels like
I am looking at a Picasso painting of a woman weeping. There is a narrative
to why she is weeping that is largely imagined by the viewer. The concept
of the weeping woman fills the viewer with ideas of what it may be and it
profoundly affects them. However, the presentation of the weeping woman is
flawed with sharp lines and disjointed features. The painting has no merit
in a technical sense; but demonstrates concept and narrative despite those
flaws.

I like the idea of this game, but I hate this game at the same time. In a
way, this game is like children that are playing in the tall rye grass near
a deadly cliff. The children are Concept, Play Control, Music, Graphics,
and David Crane. David Crane has seen the cliff and he runs to catch the
children. He quickly grabs Concept and watches in horror as the other
children trip, flail, and fall to the rocks below the rye field. Upon their
landing they are dashed into many pieces. David Crane holds Concept close
and whispers: "I felt sorry as hell for that..."

I suppose I should give this game a technical score now. After all, that
is the pain you came to enjoy.

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Score
Gameplay: ***
Graphics: ***
Sound/Music: *
Play Control/Game Design: **
Value: *

Star Total: 30%

Personal Opinion Merit: 15%

Final Score: 45%

Letter Grade: F

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