As developers Team Lazerbeam put it, Teenage Blob bursts onto the scene with bright colors, an album of music, and a heartfelt purpose. Right from the get-go, it is clear that Teenage Blob is going to be a unique experience through and through. And that it is, also throwing in a dash of teenage nostalgia.
Being Co-developed by indie game developers Team Lazerbeam and indie rock band The Superweaks, Teenage Blob is a tribute to late Superweaks bass player Corey Bernard and is set to launch on steam on August 13th, 2020.
There really are some heartfelt moments
With 6 songs and 6 games, Teenage Blob takes the player through a day in the life of a blob in Capeadelphia. Getting ready for the biggest concert that’s happening, the player needs to make sure their teenage blob is tricked out with what’s trendy, boots! And how does a teenage blob make money? By taking whatever job adults don’t want to do.
Of all the things that Teenage Blob does right, it is creating an atmosphere. From the art direction to the music, almost everything stylistically is on point. Immediately upon starting the game, energy and style are thrust onto the player to the point that it’s almost overwhelming, if still pleasing.
Going way back to keypads and flip phones
Being co-developed with indie rock band The Superweaks, the most pleasing thing in Teenage Blob is certainly the music. It is heartfelt, meaningful, and most importantly, every song is almost a perfect fit for each game. Unfortunately, though, there are times where the music might outpace the actual gameplay. However, in the end, the music is pleasing and actually caused this reviewer to want to listen to what else The Superweaks have to offer.
There are six different games (from this point individual games will be referred to as levels) that range from the guitar hero-esque to sidescroller skateboarding. But don’t let the brevity of the total game (which is only a 30-minute indie game) mislead. Teenage Blob is a game that, though short, makes players want to come back for more. There are a few different challenges and interesting aspects to explore, however, these parts are not what fuels the replayability; It’s the music.
Experience working as a peon again!
The game itself functions more like an interactive song album, which can be to its detriment as the music is really the star of the game and what brings players back. The artwork and overall aesthetic are great but it’s the music that pulls everything together. If the songs later came available as part of an OST, then a large part of what brings players back to playing the actual game might be lost.
Teenage Blob packs a lot of feelings in its brevity. Even so, there are some inconsistencies and glitches that do harm the game. First, there is no distinguishable way to actually save the game, a save function cannot be found, and this is confusing because on the main menu there is an option to “continue” that seemingly does nothing.
As well there is a single visual inconsistency that may cause confusion on one of the six levels, “Paperperson.” The level directs players to throw sandwiches to purple houses and to avoid red ones, however in the level there are visual prompts that direct the player to throw to yellow mailboxes. These prompts will constantly pop in and out of the level, sometimes telling the player to throw to a particular mailbox, and oftentimes not. Listening to these prompts will lead to a very bad score, as they distract the player from looking at purple and red, and tell them to look at yellow (the color pallet isn’t large).
This game did make great style choices
The game is also marred by glitches that can delay progress and require a restart of a level. There are times where dialogue bubbles say nothing, the player can exit the boundaries of a level, and times where a level simply doesn’t work. In the guitar hero level, if a player skips through the intro dialogue too fast, then the level breaks (every time), music doesn’t start and keys will not pop up requiring a restart of the level.
Other than these examples, nothing else in Teenage Blob takes away from it. It is a colorful, energetic, fun-packed game that will be pleasing to play even if the player remembers it more for the music than the actual gameplay.
Being available on Steam for only $7.99 USD, it easily earns that price by the music alone, and developer Team Lazerbeam has a track record of interesting games and Teenage Blob definitely shows that they are growing out of their teenage development years, and into a full-fledged game development studio.
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