Meat Boy is a comic, challenging, aesthetically pleasing platformer that will satisfy your hunger despite a few flaws.
Aesthetically engaging with great sound design and solid visual environments
Challenging platform play and smart level design, with the option to skip over levels
Lighthearted approach to the game, developers' fun really shines through
Controls can be frustrating, specifically moving Meat Boy with arrow keys
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With the impending release of Indie Game darling Super Meat Boy to the world, I figured it would be worthwhile to take some time to play through the "original". Of course, Meat Boy isn't meant to be as much an original as it is a primer to SMB, a warm-up or taste, so to speak. Regardless, Meat Boy succeeds as a stand-alone game, and may cause some drooling either if you like raw meat or just want to play the soon-to-be-released SMB.
Essentially, Meat Boy is a platformer which will find you challenged in multiple levels as you chase Dr. Fetus who has stolen BandAid Girl away from you. Fancy that! Each level will find you close to BandAid Girl, and attempting to reach her before (when you do) Dr. Fetus comes and snatches her away. But while Meat Boy is a challenging game, for sure, the design allows for you to skip past levels which you're just finding blindingly hard. It's a great system, because it allows one to play either as a completionist or to simply get to the end. In other words, the difficulty doesn't have to spoil the game for you. Given the variety of traps that await, it's a good thing. You'll travel from ancient forests, to factories, to Hell and back, all to save BandAid Girl, and beating every single level therein should amount to some great play for even the most hardcore platformer. And that's a good thing!
While much of the difficulty comes from interesting, and non-recycled levels, much of it will be due to controls. Thank god SMB is coming to the consoles, because controlling Meat Boy with arrow keys is kind of a pain. First of all, Meat Boy jumps and moves quite a bit in the air, but the movement isn't what you'd call sharp and responsive. It took me a while to really get the hang of it, quite frankly, and even then I died often due to control issues. Part of the issue is that Meat Boy moves really quickly over solid objects, but seems to delay in the air. Landing on a solid object while moving can easily cause you to fly off into fire, salt, or other game enders, which lead me to try to position myself in the air before landing. That's easier said than done, mind you. So it's a tad frustrating in a game where the level design is so darn good to have to fight the arrow keys to navigate your way. Not that it's a game breaker, but the controls will take practice, and will frustrate you even when you've played for a while. But as noted, the controls are only frustrating at times because the level design is so great. Challenging, non-repetitive, and thankfully short levels abound, which can be skipped whenever you're not feeling up to one.
Aesthetically, Meat Boy offers up some familiar yet interesting locals for the romp, and the visuals do a lot to easily indicate what's dangerous to touch and what's safe. Meat Boy has a sort of cute overall ambiance, a very playful approach, which comes across to the player quite well. It's clear that "Team Meat" had a great time making the game, because it really comes through in the play. Furthermore, the music is spot on. Every "world" or so has its own tune, and the music doesn't stop when you die. Did you get that? The music plays right through your deaths, anticipating the fact that you won't make it most of the time, so that you can get in a groove and just keep at it. Rather than death feeling like a blockage, it's just a part of the game, and you pick up and play as if nothing happened.
Overall, Meat Boy does have some minor issues, mainly with the keyboard controls in a game requiring finesse, but the aesthetic presentation, happy go lucky feel, smart level-design, and a bloody protagonist all go a long way to elevate this game into a solid platforming experience. Free to play at Newgrounds or Kongregate, Meat Boy will satisfy your appetite until dinner.
8/10