Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack Review

By Kevin Mitchell  |  Posted: March 15, 2012

Expanding upon the original PlayStation 3 release from last year, Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack improves on an already great game in just about every aspect. Mutant Blobs Attack, releasing in time for the PlayStation Vita launch, sets the bar for downloadable titles on the Vita, while possibly being one of the best games to pick up for Vita owners.

If you are unfamiliar with the original title, you control a blob that coordinates a daring escape from a laboratory along with his friends. You start off very small, rolling your green, one-eyed self around books, test tubes and anything else you would expect to find in a lab. The stages are designed perfectly with just the right amount of platforming and eating of everything in your path. Let's face it: you're a blob trying to get back to space and you are going to be eating anything that gets in your way; it's what blobs do. Getting to the next section in a level requires a set size and diameter for the blob. To do this, you first must start with small objects such as pushpins, jacks and the like, but once you become large enough, objects that seemed to be massive in comparison are just a thing of the past and you will be eating cars, people, cows and more with ease. Bottoms up.

To accommodate the sensation of growing to an incredible size without taking up the entire Vita screen, it's the world itself that grows smaller. In one section a cow may be twice your size, but after growing a few more meters that same cow might be half your size and easily eaten whole. No vegans here. It really is something when at the start of the game you are merely a tiny dot in the world, where books were massive platforms to jump across, but near the end you are platforming your way across cityscapes with no problems.

Strangely enough, you wouldn't think a blob to be able to move so easily, but the blob here has no problems squeezing his way through tight tubes, or performing ninja-esque wall jumps. Rolling around is not the blob's only option now as there are sections where you turn into a rocket-powered blob and must weave your way through the stages. Somewhat early on you also become magnetized with the ability to attract and repel to certain parts of the environment. Getting through these environments is even easier, although there are some challenging sections throughout, with the ability to control the blob using the D-pad. These, along with not having to press a button to eat something, are my favorite improvements that really do help improve the flow of the game.

Touch controls also come into play, as you are able to control moveable platforms to help the blob make his escape. At one point you have to position the blob on top of a giant boot and then perform a kicking motion to launch the blob across a chasm full of spikes. Bonus stages are set up like those labyrinth puzzles where you control the X and Y-axis to tilt a ball from the start to the end without falling into one of the holes. Instead of using dials, you simply tilt and twist the Vita. At times the holes feel like they have some sort of gravitational pull – once you are close enough it sucks you in.

The art style fits with the game perfectly with almost a cartoon feel to it. Floating inside the blob you will see things that you have eaten: a chair, a cow, a farmer etc. While some people may not even notice it, it is a neat effect that just adds to the game that is oozing with presentation. Combine this with the inside jokes about popular culture and video games that, while funny, are hidden in the backgrounds of the stages. Any game that takes a shot at hipsters is A-Okay with me. The only downside to the presentation is the music. While not bad, it tends to repeat itself with it sounding similar across the stages.

Simply Put

Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is a worthy sequel, and is simply a fun game to play. Add in online leaderboards and a cutscene viewer, for only $8, you have a downloadable title that is surely the best bang for your buck.