Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is an unreasonably long title, but a fun and quirky indie game. I’m guessing you’re not going to accept that as a good review of the game. Fine, but I’m just calling it Mutant Blobs for the rest of the article because its proper title is unruly and TfS:MBA just looks ridiculous. It is, however, worth playing if you’re a fan of platformers and the destruction / consumption of all life on the planet. It’s a mutant blob – that’s its shtick.
Devour everything!
Mutant Blobs is a solid little side scrolling quasi-puzzler that puts you in the role of a mutant blob that has escaped from a science lab as you seek your revenge against your former captors. You’ll start small, but gain size throughout the levels as you consume everything you can roll over while searching for and saving your fellow blobs. So yeah, you start out by consuming screws and paperclips in a dorm room, but eventually there’s the satisfying feeling of smashing a consuming those pesky tanks that think they can stop you. You’ll explore 24 levels set across 6 distinct areas that even include the moon. Each area also has an overhead perspective bonus level just to break up the side scrolling routine.
Artistically, Mutant Blobs is bright and engaging. The cartoon style of the art gives the game a very whimsical feel and makes it all the more fun to roll over and consume the fleeing humans. It’s nice to have a game that doesn’t go over the top with gore and explosions. Ditching realism for goofiness is what makes this game work for me. Even the cutscenes of news anchors speaking gibberish to highlight the horror of your rampaging blob are clever and fun to watch. The soundtrack is entertaining, though it can get monotonous after playing several levels in a row. I found it best to break the game up over several short sessions.
The biggest problem I ended up having with Mutant Blobs was the control setup. While I generally prefer to do my PC gaming with a mouse and keyboard, doing so with this game became unwieldy and cumbersome as soon as movement and manipulation of objects through telekinesis had to happen together. So I switched over to playing with a controller (natively supported and automatically recognized) which helped a bit, but not entirely. I found that even after setting my telekinesis target before moving into a complex puzzle with multiple manipulation options, it would sometimes change targets without my telling it to and cause me to begin swearing and complaining. Overall, it’s not a deal breaker, just a bit frustrating. I highly recommend the controller over a keyboard and mouse regardless of that one flaw.
My recommendation: worth putting on your wishlist
If you enjoy platformers and puzzle games, this one is worth checking out. Drinkbox Studios has done a good job putting together a lighthearted and enjoyable game about global annihilation. I managed to complete the entire story mode in about 4 hours, so it’s definitely good for players that want something that can be played for short periods at a time. Though I had a few issues with the controls at times, it was something that I was able to work around and it didn’t detract from the more holistic fun of the game. While I played the PC version via Steam, Mutant Blobs is also available for PS Vita through PSN. Give it a shot if you have some spare gaming cash and want something to play that isn’t going to require a long commitment.
