Meet 'Splosion Man and watch him 'splode the meat out of everyone.
So who exactly is 'Splosion Man? Well, he's a product of a scientific experiment, and like all self-aware scientific experiments, he wants to escape from the lab and kill as many scientists as he can on the way out. It won't be such an easy task, though, because the eggheads have all sorts of traps lined up for our unstable hero. 'Splosion Man will have to do his best to avoid their obstacles, because he needs to be free. After all, you can't possibly hope to contain so much energy in just one lab.
'Splosion Man is a platformer that takes place across three main worlds comprised of roughly 16 levels a piece, with the final level being a boss battle. Gameplay involves 'Splosion Man jumping from platform to platform by exploding himself up to three times. After the third time, he becomes vulnerable to enemy fire and will disintegrate. His explosive particles will regenerate after a second while on the ground and a few seconds longer while sliding down a wall.
Sometimes blowing himself up isn't enough force to get him to cross great distances or gain new heights. Explosive barrels are littered everywhere to give 'Splosion Man an extra boost, and there will be several opportunities throughout the game that will require him to chain his jumps with these barrels before he even sets foot on the ground again. Some levels will be pretty straightforward, merely jumping about looking for ways to open doors, while other levels will be of the 'push along' variety, forcing 'Splosion Man to stay ahead of a giant robot in pursuit, or above rising flood waters.
Along the way, you can let loose your revenge on the poor hapless scientists by blowing them up. You can then revel in your rampage as the carcasses are rendered to a pill of assorted meats. You can also destroy their tables, work areas, monitors and rec rooms. All this wanton destruction and slaughter adds to your point total at the end of the level. To boost your score even further, there's a hidden cake in each one of the game's levels. Some of the cakes require merely an observant eye, while others will call on your heightened reflexes to collect it. If you manage to get it, you'll be treated to a warm animation of 'Splosion Man hugging his new found pastry to pieces. Lastly, every level has a par completion time and a leaderboard, so this encourages replayability if you're the competitive type.
The level design is pretty fantastic, presenting the gamer with a variety of decent platforming challenges. It is, however, not impervious from imperfections. Sometimes the difficulty curve spikes and you're stuck at one particular period in a level where you just can't get the timing down. These moments of the game afford you with zero margin of error, but it is thrilling when you finally nail it. The other flaw resides in the sometimes irksome camera angles the game will shift to. You'll be merrily running about and suddenly, the camera will swing to one side, showing you a more dynamic view of the level but compromising your perception as well. It doesn't prevent you from passing a level, but it is enough to cost you a few lives.
As fun as the gameplay is, it's the humor of the game that really puts its best foot forward. The character of 'Splosion Man himself is hysterical. He has great animations, speaks a lot of gibberish as he's running around, and even utters some pop culture references. For instance, after killing a scientist, he might say "I'm done with you professionally", a rib to the hotheaded Christian Bale. One of the funniest moments in the game is when you pick up the fat donut eating scientist and the original song Nuts for Donuts plays. After you finish using him as a human shield, you can then 'splode him to pieces.
'Splosion Man is a great looking Xbox Live Arcade title. The animations and special effects are its greatest strength. Everything movies fluidly, and those animations help establish the game's character and personality. It has such a excellent cartoon-like quality to it. The great usage of lighting for the character also helps convey just what kind of state 'Splosion Man is in. The environments are built well, but there are some rare instances where an occasional glitch might cause a bit of unintentional slow motion.
The audio is also just as wonderful as the visuals. Since the game's called 'Splosion Man, the explosions need to sound great, and they do. What's more is that while 'Splosion Man's exploding, it adds of layer of guitar strums to the game's music. Other sound effects such as 'Splosion Man kicking a weapon back to a robot or shattering through glass do a great job of further delivering that cartoon feel. The music is nice, but it would have benefited from a few more pieces, as it gets repetitive after a while. The original songs are terrific, though, and are very funny. The voice acting is also hilarious, making you chuckle several times.
Twisted Pixel has established themselves as a solid developer for XBLA. All their games thus far have delivered wonderful content, loaded with humor and exciting gameplay, and 'Splosion Man is no exception. If you want a fun, challenging and hilarious platformer, 'Splosion Man will fit the bill. It's only really flawed by a few incredibly frustrating moments, and a camera system that takes some adjusting to. Boss fights also could have used a checkpoint or two, as they can prove to be arduous affairs if you keep dying over and over again. With that said, at least try the demo of 'Splosive Man. You'll most likely end up buying it after that.