A Boy and his Blob

I’m not a huge fan of 2-D platform games. Even modern ones tend to be rather shallow when it comes to story. Rather, these games tend to lean a bit too heavy on item collection as a player goal. This can be a fun challenge, but its appeal is of a more casual, occasional pick-up-and-play type. A Boy and his Blob follows this formula, and more specifically uses the puzzle-platformer tropes laid out by earlier puzzlers like Oddworld or Braid. The focus here isn’t twitchy platforming skills, it’s finding the correct solution for getting from point A to point B. In your toolkit is Blob’a polymorphic alien whose transformations are controlled through the ingestion of various flavored jelly beans. Need to get up one level? Turn Blob into a ladder or a trampoline. Need a weight to hold down a button? Turn Blob into an anvil. You get the idea. There are about a dozen different objects he can become, but you only are allowed access to a few of these powers per level. Towards the end of the game this becomes a real challenge. Beyond that, what this game has going for it is its hand-drawn animation and art direction. Even the universe swallowing enemies are cute and squooshy. Also includes a “hug” button.