“A Boy and His Blob,” a series few may remember from the days of the original NES, is finally making a comeback on the Wii. This time, however, the game receives a major overhaul. No need to worry, though, since these changes only made this puzzling platformer greater.

While there is a story in “A Boy and His Blob,” players that don’t read the instruction manual won’t get very much of it within the game beyond the opening “trailer” cinematic. Because of this, the story plays out more like “E.T.:” Boy meets alien blob, boy and blob become friends, boy and blob go on adventures together, and then there’s something about some evil black blob that wants to rule the planet “Blobolonia.” Really, it seems like the plot is only there to explain the various black blob enemies and cool bosses the Boy and Blob encounter.

The gameplay consists of simple platforming mixed with interesting puzzles that require the Boy to make use of Blob’s shapeshifting ability. The Boy uses different types of jellybeans which turn Blob into various objects like a ladder, hole in the ground or a Boy-shooting canon. As players progress, new jellybean transformations become accessible, changing the approach to platforming. Along with platforming puzzles, players will also have to use their brains to get past the game’s various enemies using rocks or Blob to crush foes.

Unfortunately, Blob can get annoying sometimes due to his slowness and ability to constantly get stuck behind walls. While this can be remedied by calling him several times, it makes one of Blob’s jellybean abilities completely useless. The controls could also have used some work. In the faster-paced moments of the game, the touchy controls become very apparent.

Early on, levels tend to have a ton of hint signs that work best when new platforming elements are being introduced, but eventually the signs start to feel more like hand-holding and can really detract from the “Eureka!” sensation of figuring out a tough puzzle. Fortunately, these become scarcer in later levels, but still show up from time to time to point out pretty obvious things.

Extra levels unlock when players gather a level’s treasure chests; however, they do not include any hint signs, creating a greater challenge. Once these levels are completed, the game unlocks fun concept art that is neat because it gives greater insight on the game’s beautiful, hand-drawn environments and characters.

With touchy control issues and minor hand-holding being the only faults in the game, “A Boy and His Blob” should entertain much more than it frustrates. The addition of 40 extra, difficult levels on top of the initial 40 should also extend time players will spend with this great game.

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