For just a moment, take your eyes off your computer screen and settle them somewhere else. Look around you, and really see the colours you’re surrounded by. Now when you’re sure you’ve taken everything in, imagine all of these vibrant shades fading away. Drain your world of texture, hue and saturation. Rid it of colour and experience just how goddamn boring your surroundings suddenly become.

In the once vibrant world of Prisma City, this is a dawning reality that all seemed to begin with the appearance of a mysterious figure called Papa Blanc (who looks strikingly similar to the original game’s villain, Comrade Black). With an election just around the corner, all the colourful candidates seem to be disappearing, fading into the black and white background that is slowly absorbing city and civilians alike.

Sensing something amiss, Blob and his handy sidekick Pinky set off on their mission to restore colour to the beautiful Prisma City and get to the bottom of this two tone dilemma. So begins the platforming shenanigans of de Blob 2.

At the beginning of each level, there’s 15 minutes on the clock to complete all of Blob’s objectives. The more objectives you complete, the more time you get. The gameplay itself is incredibly simple; just do what Pinky says. If the she tells you to ‘liberate Graydians’ then you soak Blob with colour and paint every civilian you see. If Pinky says ‘colour these buildings’ you roll Blob over every structure in sight, and if Pinky says ‘kill those dudes’ then you lay a body slam on every enemy that stands in your path.

Within each level there are many different things to do. Spend your time liberating Graydians and restoring colour to buildings, plants and everything else in sight and you’ll finish the level with some cool medals and a bunch of achievements to show off to your friends. The main plot objectives however are slightly more complicated than simply spreading paint over everything you see.

Just like real cities, each area of Prisma has certain landmark buildings, and you can be sure that they’ve been taken over by the bad guys. Naturally, it’s up to you to take them back. To do this, you need to squeeze Blob’s big fat colourful body into the building and complete the puzzle within so the structure can once again ooze colour and vibrancy.

These mini puzzles are a thoroughly enjoyable aspect of the game. In order to complete them, you need to soak up the relevant colour and hit the matching switch. Sounds easy, right? But it doesn’t stay that way. Each new level brings a new obstacle to overcome and freeing buildings soon becomes a desperate dash to evade enemies, mix colours, avoid pools of water, slam bad guys, not fall into tubs of ink and then find the switch to get you out of there.

Though the levels do become hectic battle zones towards the end of the game, Blob rarely has issues manoeuvring through them due to an extremely fluid control system. Navigating through the enemies can be done by simply body slamming everything in sight. With a hand firmly placed on the left trigger button and the other quickly tapping ‘A’, Blob jumps from enemy to enemy, crushing everything that stands in his path. The seamless controls are especially appreciated in levels covered in water or ink. By utilising Blob’s slamming ability, it is possible to traverse the level without constantly having to line up the camera and jump from place to place.

That being said, when the option to slam around isn’t there, moving Blob while avoiding pools of water or ink can be a major chore. More often than not the camera swings out from behind him just as you leave the platform, causing you to jump in the complete opposite direction from the one you wanted. When each level is a race against the clock, niggling annoyances like these can make the difference between completing the level on time or failing dismally and having to start over. Cue the frustrated controller throwing.

Thankfully these bouts of frustration don’t last long, as the game is littered with humour, with the opening sequence in particular being incredibly funny. Though the humour is simple and geared towards a much younger audience, everyone can get a kick out of slapstick at some stage. The laughs are cheap when they’re caused by a bad guy falling off a building or being blown to smithereens, but they’re easy to come by and instantly cheer you up. Couple that with the bouncy music in the background and the overall happy tone of the game and you’ll become one very cheerful gamer indeed.

Unfortunately not every aspect is as smoothly implemented as the comedy. The game features a new upgrade system which is rather unnecessary.  Throughout the levels Blob will pick up ‘Inspiration’ and then later spend it improving himself to make the game easier. However the normal difficulty setting never presents an instance where the enhancements are needed. Blob isn’t disadvantaged by not having more armour, or a higher colour holding capacity, so scouring levels for upgrades isn’t particularly rewarding.

Despite its flaws, De Blob 2 is a title that offers simplistic, family friendly fun. If nothing else, it’s guaranteed to deliver a hearty laugh, and sometimes, that’s just what a gamer needs.