Metal Blob Solid v1.04 Review (Port by Deniska)

Metal Blob Solid (Blob Wars: Episode 1) is a new port from Deniska. This game puts you in charge of Bob. Think of Bob as the Rambo of smilies. Metal blob is a platformer where you kill a lot, and I mean A LOT of other blobs. These enemy blobs are aliens out for world domination. Will you help save blob-kind?

MBS has many types of weapons to choose from: grenades, laser cannons, machine guns, etc. These weapons are dropped by the enemies you kill, along with cherries (health power-ups) and small red and yellow orbs which give you points. There are many kinds of terrains as well: land, water,ice, lava, green toxic waste, etc. which you will have to navigate to save the MIAs and collect keys and cards which unlock different areas. Be careful while around lava and the green toxic waste because one slip and it is instant death. The water is also dangerous because you have a limited supply of air which is displayed at the top of the screen between your health and current weapon.

MBS is an excellent and very deep game. There are over 25 missions. The levels are quite large and have many areas and objectives. The high number of MIAs and optional objectives means that you may want to replay each level to save/achieve each and every one. The graphics are quite good, as is the music, and sound effects. The particle effects for blood splatter and explosions are excellent. This game may look cute until you see the first spray of blood. The controls work well and the physics feel right. The only time the physics defy belief is when you are crawling across the ceiling or climbing walls; yes, Bob can do these things.

As always Deniska has done an expert job of porting this game over to the PSP. There is one problem that must be mentioned though: Deniska warns of an "Out of Memory" error in his release post. He tells me that this flaw is due to a memory leak in the PSP-SDL implementation and will take some time to sort out. I have gotten the OoM error many times. I had to replay the third level four times to get past it due to this error. Deniska is a pro and I have faith that he will resolve this issue. I have found no other problems with this port and continue to play it. I only play one level at a time and then let it auto-save and exit the game. I then restart the game to clear the memory for the next level.

If you enjoy platformers then this is the game for you. Just be aware that it is not completely bug free and you may have to play a level more than once due to errors. Can't wait for the next version.

Here is an online manual for the game and here is the wiki.

Here are a bunch of screen shots:

World Map:


Level Map:


Mission Cleared:


Blood and guts:


MIAs:


MIA escape:


More blood and guts:


Under water:


Lava and explosions:


Green toxic waste:

Game and Watch Fantasies v2.0 review

Game and Watch Fantasies v2.0 is a very quirky, different game. You play as a strange looking guy which can only move and jump at a set distance. In this puzzle/platformer you must navigate platforms, trees, lcd displays, and much more but often you character doesn't line up with the object you need to jump on or through. You will find yourself moving the little guy up against walls or jumping up against ceilings to reset/change the pattern in which he moves.

GWF is unique and fun. The gameplay is challenging and different. Graphics are decent and appropriate for the style of game. Controls work well and respond as expected. The music is quiet and soothing which is needed at times because of the level of frustration which can be reached trying to figure out some of the levels. The score in GWF is determined by the number of moves or jumps you make. The lower the number the better. I was doing pretty good (I think) until I reached level 15 where I proceeded to triple my score. This level stopped me cold (see screenshot above). A nice feature included in Game and Watch Fantasies is autosave. When you quit the game it automatically saves your progress and you can return to the same place the next time you play.

Even though this game can be quite difficult, it is very entertaining and if you like puzzle and/or platform games I suggest you give it a try.