A true test of one's controller skills.
As a player who's grown up around games all his life I've seen and played pretty much everything that's a challenge, from Ninja Gaiden missions to the lightning reflexes required to defeat Tyson in Punch-Out. And let me just say that this game is up there with the best of them in terms of hard earned success, something which has been somewhat lacking in this era of auto aiming, quick time sequences, button mashing and puzzle solving. The difficulty here lies in the skills possessed by your fingers, accuracy, timing and ability to learn from your mistakes and correct them. Much like a mouse getting shocked while collecting cheese, you'll soon learn not to go that particular route or try that particular jump in that way ever again. Beaten and bruised you'll press on with a smile on your face or grimace of determination to save your little bandage girl, therefore I think the cover art is quite indicative of what the game has to offer.
Graphics and Sound:
From the get go you'll be taken back to the good old days of gaming with Super Meat Boy's awesome retro style design. The graphics are a cross between 16bit goodness and flash style backgrounds. Anything more would probably ruin the style of this game. Meat Boy himself is a very likeable little character. These graphics are accompanied perfectly by well composed midi style beats which help you zone out as you pound out each level in an almost trance like concentration. The presentation also throws in some modern day quirky and interesting humor, such as seeing a cute squirrel weeping to soft piano music, only have its head suddenly lopped off by a buzz saw.
Controls:
For a game with only three controls; move, jump and sprint you'd think there wouldn't be much to it, but the situations you'll find yourself in stretch these three maneuvers to the limit. The controls are super tight and accurate. I can't see how anyone complained about the controls being bad. The running and jumping in this game makes Mario look like the tortoise and Meat boy look like the hare. The speed at which you run is nice and the jumps vary with how you push the jump button. Wall jumping is done perfectly and there is zero lag between jumps or shifts in your directions. There needs to be this level of precision with some of the challenges you'll meet, and they've nailed it.
Levels:
Lots of variety and very well designed challenges. Also, the names are references to music and sometimes people. The obstacles change often and its not always just left to right movement. I'll admit there was a stage (the one before the last boss) that made me want to rip my hair out, but the frustration forced me to learn what I had been doing incorrectly and fix it. I didn't find much difficulty with all of the bosses but there were some entertaining boss "fights". This game also includes lots of hidden levels and warp zones which provide extra rewards and challenges, plus every single stage in the game has a harder "dark world" equivalent and hidden bandages to find which will provide lots more to do once the game is finished.
All in all, this game is definitely worth the modest 800 points they are charging on xbox live. I recommend it without hesitation to anyone who is a long time gamer and wants to see how good they really are at playing video games.