I think it bears noting that I never played the original A Boy and His Blob for two reasons. First, the reader understands why I don't comment on how well the game adheres to the original - I have no frame of reference, so I cannot comment. Second, it speaks of the popularity of the NES title that, despite never having played the game, I still understand the premise and basic gameplay mechanics. A blob lands on Earth, seeking help in defeating the evil emperor who have taken over his planet. He meets a boy, and together they discover that feeding the blob different flavors of jelly beans grants it the ability to transforms into shapes that conveniently aid in the platforming adventure they embark upon to defeat the aforementioned evil emperor.

With a basic understanding of the game in hand, I ventured into the delightful world of this new A Boy and His Blob. What did I gain, aside from a killer craving for jelly beans?

Loved
Storybook Graphics: The sharp 2D graphics of A Boy and His Blob look as if they were lifted straight out of a children's storybook. The backgrounds are vibrant and colorful (if a bit repetitive at times), which serves as a sharp contrast to the simple style used to render the blob and your enemies. I found myself completely charmed by the game's style.

Here's Your Blob, Go!: If you want to delve into the story behind A Boy and his Blob, read through the game's manual. Once you start playing there are no words; no tutorials; no encyclopedia containing pertinent information. You figure out how to play the game on your own. In other titles this might have been a negative, but A Boy and His Blob plays intuitively enough that you don't need such distractions.

Choose Your Own Jelly Bean: Once you get into the thick of things, A Boy and his Blob affords you a certain amount of freedom in terms of how you progress. While I'm sure there are specific ways of overcoming obstacles that WayForward had in mind, judging from the predetermined set of transformations available to your blob in each level, but there are multiple ways of approaching certain problems that, if successful, leaving you feeling very pleased with yourself.

More To Love: A Boy and His Blob contains 40 levels of gameplay, which is more than enough to keep you blobbing all day long. Then every level contains three treasure chests to collect, which in turn unlock special challenge levels for you to play through. That's 80 levels worth of gameplay, plus the joy of obsessively searching for treasure chests. I'd say that's more than enough.

The Hug Button: The game has a button assigned to giving hugs. Every game should have a game assigned to giving hugs, not just A Boy and his Blob and Army of Two.

Hated
Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs: A Boy and His Blob pretty landscapes are rife with graffiti. Everywhere you go you'll find quaint wooden signs, defaced with symbols letting you know exactly what form your blob should take in order to progress. As you progress through the game they get fewer and farther between, but they still make an appearance now and then, taking away from the most enjoyable aspect of the game - trying to figure out how to progress using the tools given you. An option to turn them off entirely would have been quite welcome.

Pet Pathing: The most frustrating element of A Boy and His Blob for me was waiting for the blob to catch up, which happens quite a lot. In many instances the blob simply comes when you call. In others, it feels like you have to hit the call button over and over again, like an impatient person waiting for the elevator, while the blob slowly made his way back to your side.

Even though I had never played A Boy and His Blob before, I have to admit that I came into this review with some idea of what to expect. The original was such a unique experience, that the re-creation had a lot to live up to no matter who was playing. Now I'm not sure what those of you who played the original game experienced, but I found myself quite pleased with the re-creation as a whole. The sharp and colorful 2D graphics, soothing music, action puzzle-based gameplay, and minimalistic presentation all add up to a gaming experience that can only be described as delightful, and that's not a word that I use lightly. Hell, that's not a word that I use ever. Enjoy it while it lasts; I'm off to stock up on jelly beans.

A Boy and His Blob was developed by WayForward Technologies and published by Majesco for the Wii on October 13th. Retails for $39.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed the game proper and played through at least half of the bonus challenge levels.

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A very official looking trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines DS, one that requires a great deal of squinting, was uploaded to YouTube recently, giving us our first look at the unannounced game. Attached are developers Gearbox and WayForward Technologies, the latter responsible for Shantae, LIT and Contra 4.

Music aside, the trailer looks spectacular, a very capable 2D side-scrolling shooter that's packed full of what you'd want from an Aliens game: chest-bursters ripping through sternums and waves of aliens being turned into acid salsa.

While we'd normally be suspicious about a randomly uploaded trailer for a game we'd not heard a peep about, the trailer appears legit. WayForward employees write on their personal web sites about an unannounced "action game on DS" that's "based on one of the best licenses imagineable [sic]," calling it "WayForward's spiritual follow-up to Contra 4."

We're checking in with Sega and WayForward to see what's up and hope that the "shelved due to money issues at Sega" description is inaccurate.

Okay, I picked the blackest of black screen shots to lead with, but this is probably the least colorful game since WARP's Real Sound for the Saturn. The official LIT web site, just recently launched, says the "3D horror action puzzler" is coming to WiiWare "soon."

Until then, check out new screens in our gallery.

WayForward Technologies Announces LIT for WiiWare

Valencia, Calif. - (March 5, 2008) — Independent game developer WayForward Technologies announced today that its forthcoming game LIT will make its debut exclusively on Nintendo's upcoming download service, WiiWare. LIT utilizes the unique features of the Wii to bring a tense and unnerving adventure to the Nintendo Wii audience.

"This is the first time in recent memory that our team has felt the freedom to begin experimenting on consoles outside the confines of established IP, budget, or publisher dictates," said John Beck, CEO of WayForward Technologies. "The scope and business model for WiiWare really make this possible."

LIT is a 3D horror puzzler set in a dark high school overrun by creatures. The game follows Jake, a below-average student and the game's protagonist, as he makes his way through each classroom, utilizing what light he can find to create safe paths across the darkness. Jake's objectives are to escape his school and reconnect with his girlfriend, Rachael, who uses the school's phones to keep in contact with him. LIT combines environmental puzzling with horror combat and boss battles to create a uniquely unsettling Nintendo Wii experience.

"It's incredibly exciting to be working on an original game for the WiiWare platform," said Adam Tierny, director of LIT. "After settling on the concept of light vs. shadows, a horror theme seemed to make sense. The team working on LIT had also recently finished a creepy demo for the Nintendo DS that I think whetted everyone's horror appetite. We decided to make it an action-puzzler because of how infrequently horror and puzzling gets combined in games, and to squeeze out the greatest amount of gameplay possible from a limited file size."

LIT is WayForward's first internally-developed property since the hair-whipping, belly-dancing Shantae was released by Capcom on the Game Boy Color in 2002. LIT currently does not have a release date or price point.

About WayForward Technologies

WayForward Technologies is a game development company based in Valencia, California. Founded in 1990 by technology entrepreneur Voldi Way, Wayforward develops games for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii systems, as well as TV games and PC educational software. The company has created a variety of original game properties including Shantae which appeared on the Game Boy Color and was published by Capcom.

The addition of a grappling hook won't add much in the way of icky strategy to the successful formula, but it will keep things interesting. You'll want to keep high ground, paying attention to grapple opportunities. You'll need a keen eye and fast reflexes to dodge enemy fire and take advantage of the elevation. Raining spread beam fire or a double machine gun stream down upon hordes of robo-chumps makes your one-man assault a breeze compared to when down in the trenches.

While the first level wasn't on par difficulty-wise with something like Contra: Hard Corps or Contra: Shattered Soldier, few will accuse it of being too simple. It took me six attempts to learn the first levels patterns and play through with the appropriate level of dexterity and control familiarity, but I suspect actually finishing the whole thing will be for hardcore fans only.

Visually, the game looks solid, but at times a bit dry. It's still early and has no release date yet, but I'm hoping that the team at WayForward will find the time to add in some additional, series-appropriate visual effects.

As I said earlier, only the first side scrolling level was available for play at E3, but beyond those six standard run and gun segments, three behind-the back tunnel levels are promised.

At the point, Contra 4 seems to be coming along swimmingly. Control is tight, graphics are sharp and hardcore fan expectations are mostly met. Some odd collision detection curiosities aside and a lack of in-game music, Contra 4 is shaping up to be a surprisingly well-thought answer to Contra fans' years long questions.

Check out dozens of new screens in our gallery below.

We'd been privy to some Nintendo Power scans of the game, courtesy of some our readers running afoul of copyright, but 1UP have ten in-game shots of the shooter, showing just how solid and old-school it's going to look. In addition to the respectable visuals, it seems WayForward is going to stick to the series roots and are well aware of the Western-developed Contra heritage, eschewing experimental gameplay for meat and potatoes run and gun fun.

It looks like it just might be crazy enough to work. Michael McWhertor

Previews: Contra 4 [1UP]