The floor this year at PAX East included a section indie developers dubbed the Indie Megabooth- 16 independent developers showing off twenty of the latest and greatest indie games on all sorts of platforms. One of those titles was Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, the follow up to PSN title Tales from Space: About a Blob, now available for the Playstation Vita. I decided to pick up the title to play during my free time at PAX East, and I’m really glad I did.
Much like the Katamari games, Mutant Blobs Attack requires you to eat everything in sight to proceed through the level, as long as it’s not bigger than you. But, while Katamari is a 3rd person perspective three dimensional game, Mutant Blobs Attack is a 2D sidescrolling platformer, more like Loco Roco. As a blob, you’ll also gain powerups to allow you to fly, float, and magnetize yourself to walls.
The game utilizes the Vita’s controls without overdoing it and becoming cumbersome to play. You control the blob throughout the levels using the analog stick, but there are also a few random levels that require you to tilt the Vita around like a ball maze to try to move the blob to the goal. The back touchscreen don’t come into play at all, but the front is used to manipulate the environment to proceed.
The level design is one of my favorite parts of Mutant Blobs Attack. In one particular section, the blob navigates through a college campus, sucking up leftover Cheetos and garbage in a frat house. “Red Strip” and “Hipster Juice” beers line the walls, as well as a sign that claims “All Your Beers Are Belong to Us”. This playful humor exists throughout all the levels, so that you’re not just moving through the levels to finish them- you’re excited to see what’s next.
Mutant Blobs Attack is proof that the Playstation Vita doesn’t need $40 titles with high-res graphics and familiar, outplayed IPs. Utilizing fantastic artwork and level design, familiar but dynamic gameplay, and effective controls, this game proves that developers concentrating on mobile games for iOS or Android shouldn’t disregard the Vita as a great platform to develop for, whether they’re independent or part of a bigger studio.
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is available now for Playstation Vita. You can download it directly from the Playstation Store for $7.99.
