Review: ‘Splosion Man

In the genre of platforming games, there are very few titles that have the ability to stand out from the crowd. The formula for platformers is always the same: Go from one end of the level to other and don’t fall off of the moving platform or into the treacherous lava. Somehow Twisted Pixel has found a way to take the basic mechanics of a platformer and make it into a brand new experience with ‘Splosion Man. This game is literally bursting with personality and humor throughout the game which is what really makes it stand out. It might just seem like another 2D platformer but ‘Splosion Man combines classic platforming with puzzle solving and a great multiplayer experience to give gamers an exciting new way to play a platformer.

The premise behind ‘Splosion Man is pretty simple. You are a science experiment that has gone deeply wrong and you now have the ability to make yourself explode or “’splode”. The objective is to escape the laboratory by using your explosive powers. Scientists will try to stop you by putting up electric shields, activating turrets and releasing robots to take you out. The scientists are afraid of you so they will run from you when you get close, but that’s because if you ‘splode next to them they will turn into various meats. The experiment has also turned you into a five year old and changed your voice to that of a Jawa which adds to the humor of the game.

Though the premise is simple the game is anything but that. You can explode up to three times in a row before running out of ‘splode juice. When you explode it shoots your character up in the air and you can bounce from wall to wall. Trying to ‘splode when this happens causes an awesome squeaky toy sound effect and will probably cause you to fall to your death. To regain your powers you can either slide down a wall for a brief moment or stand on the ground. To control where your character will be going all you need to do is use the left analog stick to move and any of the face buttons to ‘splode. It is a very simple control scheme and anyone who has ever played a platformer can easily pick it up and play.

There are essentially two modes in this XBLA title: Single player campaign and the multiplayer campaign. Both modes will take you through the adventure of ‘Splosion Man which is very lengthy. There are three levels in the game with sixteen stages in the first two and eighteen stages in the last level. Depending on your skill you can get through the game in an hour or so, but the first time through it might take you up to four or five hours. Throughout the campaign you will come up against a ton of different obstacles that you have to get through. Most of the game requires you to wall jump from one part to another, hit a lever to activate a moving platform but as you progress, these simple actions become increasingly hard. Every so often there will be barrels that you need to explode next to which will give you a boost to another platform. Occasionally you will have to bounce around from barrel to barrel which can be very challenging. Some parts of the stages will be timed causing you to act fast and hit every jump as precise as you can. Couple this with having to bounce from barrel to barrel, you’ll have quite a challenge on your hands.

As you go through the stages you will also be asked to use your brain for some puzzle solving. These puzzles can be as easy as jump off the barrel to this platform and hit a moving platform to take out a scientists but they can be as hard as having to hide under a moving platform to avoid turret fire while jumping over electric barriers to get to the door switch. At times the camera can be an issue because you can’t really see that far above or below you which causes some puzzles to be harder than they should be. If you end up dying a lot, which you will, there are some checkpoints throughout the stage. Some stages might take multiple attempts to get to the finish line and you’ll be glad there is a checkpoint close by. Although there is some puzzle solving, ‘Splosion Man is meant to be a speed run game. At the end of each level you are given a score which is based on the number of scientists killed, energy used, if you found the secret cake and of course your completion time. There is a par time that is set for each stage so you can see how fast you should be going. If you are a person who loves to compete on leaderboards, this is the perfect game for you. Personally, I don’t spend too much time trying to get the best score in each stage.

As an added bonus, as you go through the game you will unlock free gamer pics and themes. Twisted Pixel has also planned to have unlockable items for your avatar but you won’t be able to check those out until the Xbox Live update hits on August 11th (Unless you’re in the preview!). These are all huge bonuses to an already exciting game. Most of these items will be unlocked after beating the game. If you do complete the single player campaign you will unlock the hardcore mode. This mode is absolutely self-explanatory made for the hardcore players. I tried it myself and got too frustrated with it. I think Twisted Pixel put it best by saying this after you have beaten the game on normal:

“You’ve unlocked hardcore mode but please don’t play it. It is masochistic, cheap and stupid. No checkpoints, everything kills you in a hit, it’s not worth it. You don’t need that high gamerscore. Besides you couldn’t handle it — it would ‘splode your sanity. Just walk away.”

They’re right, I don’t need the high gamerscore, it is cheap and stupid, and I couldn’t handle it. If single player isn’t your thing, you can jump into the multiplayer portion of the game. This is hands down my favorite but at the same time the most frustrating mode in the game. You can play with up to four people either locally or online. Most of the multiplayer stages will be similar to the single player ones with a bit of a twist. Platforms are much higher, there will be a little more puzzle solving and timed stages, and most stages are also smaller. Team work is the key to this mode as you will need explode next to each other to get a boost when jumping and you will often have to hit a switch at the same time. Some of the stages will scale to the amount of players that are in your party by adding more switches. Multiplayer is an absolute blast and offers gamers a rare opportunity to play a platforming game together. The only problem is with online multiplayer. You won’t have a hard time finding people, unlike some XBLA games, but you will have a problem with lag. In the games that I played online I almost always had someone in the game who would be lagging. Seeing as multiplayer is heavy on teamwork and coordination, having someone with lag will completely ruin the game. This is very disappointing to have a great multiplayer game that you can’t really experience online.

Graphically it’s nothing too impressive, though it does look solid. The 3D/2D cartoony art style works well with the personality of the game and while the backgrounds might not look great, the characters and explosion effects do. Issues with the multiplayer aside, I really don’t have that many problems with the game. Any problems that I have with it seem to stem from issues with platformers in general. I would have liked to have seen different modes but what’s already there works really well so I can’t complain too much.

Ultimately it’s the mixture of humor, unique platforming, excellent multiplayer and great puzzle solving that makes ‘Splosion Man stand out. Even the achievements are full of personality: “Not a Portal Reference” for collecting all the hidden cakes and “You’re the best around” for completing the game. There are plenty of “what the…” moments in the game, especially with ending cutscene and credits that make you cry because you’re laughing so much. The easy pick up and play controls turns this game into a great party game and is easily one of the summer’s best XBLA titles.
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