quote IGN

We've seen the Blue Tongue-developed de Blob on several occasions and the 3D platformer, which stars a paint-soaked gelatinous ball on an ambitious quest to restore color to a monochromatic world, has always shown heavy promise. You control said blob through large, construction-filled locales mostly devoid of color, and as you jump from building to building, from wall to wall, and from trigger zone to trigger zone, you splash everything you touch with different hues of wet, splattering paint. All the while, you must avoid or destroy the armies of the I.N.K.T. Corporation, an evil regime which has stripped the once-lavish city of Chroma of its natural color. de Blob has always possessed all the makings a of winning platformer, from a fun control scheme and compelling challenges to a highly unique style that plays to Wii's technical strengths. However, previous builds of the title have lacked a certain polish. An unpredictable framerate. Seemingly incomplete graphical effects. Drab music. So when we last left the big ball of color, we crossed our fingers and hoped that the end product would receive the technical tweaks and fixes it deserved.

We got our hands-on the latest build of de Blob this week and we've got some excellent news to report. The platformer has come completely and totally together. Blue Tongue has very clearly been busy for the last couple of months, as those framerate and visual deficiencies that frequented early incarnations of the title are all of a sudden nowhere to be found, a truth that has us very happy. Not only is the game's fluidity locked at 60 frames per second (sadly, you won't be able to see this in our videos since all of our footage is captured at 30 frames -- you'll just have to take our word for it), but out of nowhere, de Blob now boasts some of the prettiest particle effects we've seen on Nintendo's home console, from gorgeous shimmering water to beautiful heat distortion and extremely detailed paint splatters. Furthermore, the once-disobedient camera now shoots the action smartly and coherently. And to top everything off, the dynamic musical soundtrack will rock you.

All of the videos you will see in our pre-E3 coverage today are from the fourth stage of 10 gigantic worlds that encapsulate the single-player adventure in de Blob. Note that publisher THQ chose to demonstrate the fourth level because it wanted to prove to us that the game's difficulty very quickly ramps up. (In meetings prior, we had only been treated to very early worlds and therefore one of our most common concerns related to difficulty.) Having played through the latest offering, however, we're certain that de Blob will provide ample challenge for platforming purists, particularly if the selection of levels continues to ramp up where difficulty is concerned. The latest level features a variety of unique challenges, from timed paint competitions to puzzles that require you to mix and match colors in order to concoct the correct hue to open a doorway, and even a series of Z-trigger hotspots which jettison the character into zigzagging patterns between monochromatic structures. There's much more to the experience than merely rolling to and from.

We've been critical of de Blob's subdued soundtrack in the past, but that, too, has come together in the latest iteration of the game. Blue Tongue has outsourced the music to a local Australian jazz band and the results are both funky and incredibly dynamic. You'll be able to choose from a robust list of songs, which become unlocked as you play, before each level. In addition, though, de Blob can modify the sounds of songs depending on what you do in the game. If, for example, you're playing poorly and failing to color the world at an adequate pace, the beat will stay slow and inconspicuous. If, on the other hand, you're splashing the world with paint, the beat will pick up. Furthermore, you can actually change the instruments being played depending on the colors you paint with. Red, for example, plays voice harmonics, yellow piano chords and so on. These subtle on-the-fly changes give the soundtrack added depth and keep the experience fresh.

de Blob's control scheme is simple and tactile. You control the character, who grows in girth and changes weight and speed as he devours paint pellets, with the nunchuk's analog stick. You can hold 100 paint points at any given time and certain triggers require that you have exactly that amount to progress. For instance, an I.N.K.T. boss -- a hovering vehicle that shoots black globs -- cannot be destroyed unless de Blob has 100 paint points of any color. There are certain advantages and disadvantages to rolling around with all that paint, though. If you're low on color, you're also small, skinnier, and able to roll faster and jump farther. The downside is that you can be killed easily by enemies, who will suck away your paint if they get the jump on you. Oppositely, if you're full on paint, you will be much fatter and slower, but can more easily advance through certain trigger points and defeat bosses.

To jump, you simply motion with the Wii remote. We were initially opposed to this control choice as it seemed to squish unnecessary waggle into the experience, but the more we've played with it, the more it's grown on us. If nothing else, it's much more tactile to execute jumps with a forward or backward smash of the Wii remote. Hold down A button and you'll bring up a very intuitive in-game radar that hovers around de Blob, effortlessly displaying your next check point, as well as the locations of nearby paint pellets. Hold the Z button and you'll lock onto nearby enemies and trigger points. You can rotate the camera left and right with the D-Pad. And you can even go into a first-person view and look around by pressing down on the D-Pad. Your viewpoint is controlled with the Wii remote, of course. The mechanics aren't going to revolutionize the platformer genre, but they work well and feel good, which is all that's required.

THQ's platformer has gone from a neat concept that lacked a certain polish to a game that has sleeper all over it, as far as we're concerned. The gameplay mechanics have always been intriguing. Now, though, the title boasts a super-smooth framerate, beautiful new visual effects and an inspired, dynamic soundtrack to match. THQ will be showing off this new level at E3 2008 next week but we've got it for you now in loads of exclusive new videos. Check it all out in our videos gallery.