Did you ever have a satellite dish when you were a kid? Did you ever hop around the channels looking for wild feeds of live channels or weird stuff from other countries? Or did you ever have a really good cable package where they threw in all those weird channels where you never really knew what you were going to find? Maybe it was good, maybe it was bad, maybe it was weird. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s entirely okay, you’re way too young, and I belong in a nursing home.
On the other hand, if you do know what I am talking about, Blippo+ is…let’s call it a “satellite dish/weird cable package hopping around looking for weird shit simulator” and man, does it hit that niche perfectly. There’s a larger narrative at play, which I won’t spoil, but it’s basically about exploring the world of Planet Blip through its most important cultural export: cable TV shows and programming.
And what amazing TV shows it has. I have no idea where they got the actors, cast, makeup, and outfits for the segments here or who did the writing, but it is a note-perfect production for “I found something weird and I’m not really sure what I’m watching, but it’s weirdly compelling.” You’ve got soap operas, talk shows, news, weather…and then weird viewing modes that let you see even more weird stuff going on.
Poking around the guide, I stumbled on things like channels playing music videos a la Pure Moods. You could absolutely get high as the damn clouds and just poke around the channels in this here…game? Interactive FMV experience? Narrative experiment? I dunno what to call it, man, but it hits the notes just right. Maybe I wanted to see a guy in a silly hat argue about existentialism and meaninglessness, or maybe I wanted to watch a soap opera where every character was played by the same actress, and I didn’t even know it until I saw it.
The perfect delivery even comes down to the TV Guide-style interface, which anyone of the right age will recognize, but beyond that, even the menus and interface for the faux-TV box feel like the kind of crappy 90s cable box everyone had, at least everyone alive at the right time. Poke around obscure submenus and you might find out a little more about what’s going on in the world of Planet Blip. Watch enough and more data packets unspool with more programming, more shows, and more…hmm, what exactly is going on here? A guy with an axe? Interesting.
Blippo+ Is the Weirdest, Most Brilliant FMV Game You’ll Play This Year
Look, is it a “fun game” where you “level up” and “get da cheevos” and “save the princess” or whatever? It absolutely is not. But if you want something weird that perfectly hits the “I am channel surfing on another planet, it feels like I’m watching 90s cable feeds, and I don’t know what’s going on”, settle in for a night of Blippo+. I still want to know how they got the outfits, costumes, makeup, and casting so note perfect. Or, possibly, they captured wild feeds from Planet Blip itself, and it’s all a conspiracy. Ever heard of the TV Alien, Scully?
