DoctorFinger
08-10-2009, 07:23 AM
'Splosion Man Review
Title - 'Splosion Manhttp://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?p=333039
Platform - XBLA (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/splosionmanxboxlivearcade/)
Developer - Twisted Pixel Games (http://www.twistedpixelgames.com/)
Publisher - Twisted Pixel Games (http://www.twistedpixelgames.com/)
ESRB Rating - E10 (Everybody 10+)
MSRP - 800 Microsoft Points/ $10
Editor - Michael "DoctorFinger" Chauvet
Missiles Are - Awesome
What's Hot: Very simple controls belie a wonderfully deep and entertaining 2D platformer. Great sense of humor and style in the game. Spot on perfect difficulty curve. Great co-op play.
What's Not: A few issues with the camera made things a bit too difficult at times. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2444/3807153371_3b4ae24cb1.jpg
"Ooh, I get to blow up a fatty"
Twisted Pixel's 'Splosion Man has what may be the simplest control scheme seen on a modernly developed game. You move with the left stick, and you 'splode with any of the face buttons. That's it. You could have played it on an Atari 2600 controller. And yet this simple control scheme produces some of the most engrossing and challenging gameplay you'll find in an arcade title.
Splosion Man - a glowing, sparking...something or other - is good at pretty much only one thing: exploding. It's his primary means of locomotion, defense and attack. By hitting any of the face buttons on the controller he blows up. That explosion propels him up and away, allowing you to get over and around various obstacles. You have enough energy to Splode three times before you have to recharge, which is accomplished by standing on the ground for a sec.
All of these explosions are designed to get your man to the end of each level without succumbing to the multitude of threats facing you. Lakes of acid, spinning blades, auto turrets and robots with shifty eyes are just some of the things which can kill you. The energy you use to Splode is also your health, so certain shots which would just knock you down on the ground may kill you while in the air. You'll have to use triple splodes, as well as exploding barrels and recharging flamethrowers to work past the traps. And, oh how entertaining the traps can be in this game.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3478/3807153253_d01a7ce817.jpg
Bye-bye robot
As you progress through the levels the game throws more - and more difficult - obstacles in your way. What begins as simple platforming quickly evolved into a challenging mix of death traps and precision jumping 'sploding. You'll eventually hit these long, elaborate set pieces in which every explosion and move must be made with exacting precision. The difficulty level on some of these gets pretty high, yet never gets frustrating even when some of the set pieces reach 20+ elements to overcome. It helps that after a few deaths in the same section the game will offer you the chance to use "Way of the Coward Mode" and skip the offending level. I'm proud to say that, no matter how badly I did, I never used Coward Mode. Even though I was sorely tempted at a couple spots.
The only slightly discordant spot came in the third and final act of the game. Up until then the developers had unleashed a constant stream of new threats and combinations of threats. But in the third act the new obstacles seemingly dried up. The third act is still entertaining as hell, but I wish they'd kept up the new threats throughout the whole game. My overall time to complete all 50 single player levels was just under 8 hours, about 5 hours more than the Par time for the game. Yeah, I suck, I know. But the Par Time really isn't meant to be achieved on the first try, but in Time Trial mode, so even once you beat the game you can still try your hand at besting the Par Times. Oh, yeah and you can find cake in the game for extra points and achievements. We're assured this isn't a Portal reference.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2667/3807968516_241be28e43.jpg
Comin' through!
'Splosion Man is, at it's heart, a cartoony 2D platformer, so at a bare minimum the character models need to be good, and the game delivers. Splosion Man himself is expressive exudes charm. He randomly spits out action movie cliches ("Get to tha choppa!") and if you run for any distance he'll do his best imitation of an airplane. The rest of the character models - the mad scientists and their robot minions - are equally expressive and fun. The scientists running around the levels will also explode into a cloud of juicy steaks when you blow them up. Except the fat ones, who can be used as human shields to get past gun turrets.
And then there's the co-operative multiplayer action. Another 50 levels of which are available for 2-4 players to conquer. The base gameplay is the same, with the addition of a countdown timer to let you synchronize your Splodes. In co-op you can also explode off of one another, allowing you to traverse even larger gaps and traps. The co-op levels are a neat sort of remix of the single player stages which add quite a bit of extra content to the game. Best of all the online co-op play is smooth as silk, which is a necessity for such a precision title as this.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/3807968392_c05cd5df0d.jpg
Multiplayer mayhem
Ultimately Splosion Man is one of the best values you'll find on the Xbox Live Arcade or on any digital platform. The combination of charm, simplicity, challenge and multiplayer action produces one of the best packages out there.
Score: (4.5 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4_5.png
Michael says, "'Splosion Man is a wonderfully entertaining and creative platformer. Very simple beginnings quickly give way to wickedly difficult - but fun - levels later on. Come for the single player, stay for the co-op."
Title - 'Splosion Manhttp://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?p=333039
Platform - XBLA (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/splosionmanxboxlivearcade/)
Developer - Twisted Pixel Games (http://www.twistedpixelgames.com/)
Publisher - Twisted Pixel Games (http://www.twistedpixelgames.com/)
ESRB Rating - E10 (Everybody 10+)
MSRP - 800 Microsoft Points/ $10
Editor - Michael "DoctorFinger" Chauvet
Missiles Are - Awesome
What's Hot: Very simple controls belie a wonderfully deep and entertaining 2D platformer. Great sense of humor and style in the game. Spot on perfect difficulty curve. Great co-op play.
What's Not: A few issues with the camera made things a bit too difficult at times. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2444/3807153371_3b4ae24cb1.jpg
"Ooh, I get to blow up a fatty"
Twisted Pixel's 'Splosion Man has what may be the simplest control scheme seen on a modernly developed game. You move with the left stick, and you 'splode with any of the face buttons. That's it. You could have played it on an Atari 2600 controller. And yet this simple control scheme produces some of the most engrossing and challenging gameplay you'll find in an arcade title.
Splosion Man - a glowing, sparking...something or other - is good at pretty much only one thing: exploding. It's his primary means of locomotion, defense and attack. By hitting any of the face buttons on the controller he blows up. That explosion propels him up and away, allowing you to get over and around various obstacles. You have enough energy to Splode three times before you have to recharge, which is accomplished by standing on the ground for a sec.
All of these explosions are designed to get your man to the end of each level without succumbing to the multitude of threats facing you. Lakes of acid, spinning blades, auto turrets and robots with shifty eyes are just some of the things which can kill you. The energy you use to Splode is also your health, so certain shots which would just knock you down on the ground may kill you while in the air. You'll have to use triple splodes, as well as exploding barrels and recharging flamethrowers to work past the traps. And, oh how entertaining the traps can be in this game.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3478/3807153253_d01a7ce817.jpg
Bye-bye robot
As you progress through the levels the game throws more - and more difficult - obstacles in your way. What begins as simple platforming quickly evolved into a challenging mix of death traps and precision jumping 'sploding. You'll eventually hit these long, elaborate set pieces in which every explosion and move must be made with exacting precision. The difficulty level on some of these gets pretty high, yet never gets frustrating even when some of the set pieces reach 20+ elements to overcome. It helps that after a few deaths in the same section the game will offer you the chance to use "Way of the Coward Mode" and skip the offending level. I'm proud to say that, no matter how badly I did, I never used Coward Mode. Even though I was sorely tempted at a couple spots.
The only slightly discordant spot came in the third and final act of the game. Up until then the developers had unleashed a constant stream of new threats and combinations of threats. But in the third act the new obstacles seemingly dried up. The third act is still entertaining as hell, but I wish they'd kept up the new threats throughout the whole game. My overall time to complete all 50 single player levels was just under 8 hours, about 5 hours more than the Par time for the game. Yeah, I suck, I know. But the Par Time really isn't meant to be achieved on the first try, but in Time Trial mode, so even once you beat the game you can still try your hand at besting the Par Times. Oh, yeah and you can find cake in the game for extra points and achievements. We're assured this isn't a Portal reference.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2667/3807968516_241be28e43.jpg
Comin' through!
'Splosion Man is, at it's heart, a cartoony 2D platformer, so at a bare minimum the character models need to be good, and the game delivers. Splosion Man himself is expressive exudes charm. He randomly spits out action movie cliches ("Get to tha choppa!") and if you run for any distance he'll do his best imitation of an airplane. The rest of the character models - the mad scientists and their robot minions - are equally expressive and fun. The scientists running around the levels will also explode into a cloud of juicy steaks when you blow them up. Except the fat ones, who can be used as human shields to get past gun turrets.
And then there's the co-operative multiplayer action. Another 50 levels of which are available for 2-4 players to conquer. The base gameplay is the same, with the addition of a countdown timer to let you synchronize your Splodes. In co-op you can also explode off of one another, allowing you to traverse even larger gaps and traps. The co-op levels are a neat sort of remix of the single player stages which add quite a bit of extra content to the game. Best of all the online co-op play is smooth as silk, which is a necessity for such a precision title as this.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/3807968392_c05cd5df0d.jpg
Multiplayer mayhem
Ultimately Splosion Man is one of the best values you'll find on the Xbox Live Arcade or on any digital platform. The combination of charm, simplicity, challenge and multiplayer action produces one of the best packages out there.
Score: (4.5 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4_5.png
Michael says, "'Splosion Man is a wonderfully entertaining and creative platformer. Very simple beginnings quickly give way to wickedly difficult - but fun - levels later on. Come for the single player, stay for the co-op."