PixlBit

Sometimes a simple gameplay mechanic can pigeonhole an entire game. Take Tales from Space: About a Blob, for example. Within 30 seconds of the first level, comparisons started pooling in the back of my mind like little gelatinous blobs of reasoning. Is it Katamari Damacy? I mean, you roll around collecting stuff with the goal of making yourself big enough to collect even larger items, so that assumption should be safe, right? But the fact is, About a Blob doesn't just pull its inspiration from one game - it pulls from a lot of them. From Little Big Planet to the old NES version of Strider and every good to decent platformer in between - About a Blob pays homage to its roots.

As the title suggests, this PSN downloadable follows the adventures of a very goal-oriented organism as he makes his way to...well, that's not exactly specified - even in the silent cutscenes that follow each level section. Basically our blobby friend has escaped from his confines at a mad scientist's lab and is now officially able to run amok on planet Earth. What follows is a platforming escapade that uses physics and puzzle elements for challenge, but occasionally fall prey to typical frustrations that reside in every platform-hopping game.

And this is to be expected, as our unshapely protagonist squeezes through tubes, squishes in-between gears and hops over dangerous pools of radioactive waste to make it to the finish line - all the while collecting increasingly larger items to meet a size goal to access the next area. You'll envelop backyard barbecues, forklift, screws, pencils and - in an appropriate nod to the monster movies of yore - tanks and helicopters. It starts out easy enough, but after you collect permanent power-ups that enable you to magnetize to things and sap/deliver electricity, the real challenge begins.

And this real challenge, unfortunately, is also what hurts About a Blob - not because it's too hard, necessarily, but because the controls for these power-ups don't always respond like you'd want them to.

In one section I was tasked with using my magnetize ability to flip in-between pipes hanging over a dangerous laser field, but every time I'd try to switch between attracting and repelling magnetism my blob would limply flop onto the instantly deadly laser and force a checkpoint restart. It got frustrating enough to make me /ragequit more than once, and it wasn't the last time I was snagged by unresponsive controls, either.

Yet, the control faux pas are the only complaint I have - seriously. The rest of About a Blob is a charming romp through '50s and '60s sci-fi suburbia and beyond, with razor sharp graphics, a Theremin and surf-guitar heavy soundtrack and appropriately gushy and wobbly sound effects, sure to suit any jelly fan's discerning tastes. I also couldn't help but fall in love with the last couple levels of the game as they fulfilled my every dream of being a sci-fi movie monster. I won't give away the endgame entirely, but I will tell you it was worth the frustrations I endured to get there.

All in all, Tales from Space: About a Blob is a great addition to your PS3's hard drive. It makes good use of the established tropes found in the genre, which should sate any platforming junkie, plus it does it with a charismatic style that kids can get on board with, too. Just make sure you're handy when they come to a particularly hard part or boss fight.