Difficulty:

Very Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Instant classic"

Gameplay

Super Meat Boy originated from a flash game that came out a few years back, which I played on release date. It's a very fun game, and users found it to be very hard, especially getting all of the Band-Aids. Let me tell you - Super Meat Boy is at least ten times harder than the original Meat Boy ever was.

Super Meat Boy is a very original game, and it takes 2D platforming to a whole different level. The levels are much shorter than traditional platformers like Mario, but there are a lot more levels. There are no difficulty levels in Super Meat Boy, seeing as it is a standard platformer. It's overall a very difficult game, especially if while you're learning the controls. The first few worlds (there are seven different worlds, plus a secret world and glitch world) are quite easy, but the difficulty greatly slopes at the 5th world, Rapture.

The whole objective in Super Meat Boy is to make your way through obstacles and traps (and the occasional enemy or boss) to get to your girlfriend at the end of each level.

Graphics

The graphics in Super Meat Boy are very different for a 2D game. They take on more of a cartoony-like appearance and the cut-scenes take on a sort of ninja-movie animation. They don't look the greatest of any 2D cut-scenes, as they could be a lot more detailed. The levels in Super Meat Boy look very neat, and despite being a game centered around Meat, they really thought of everything. There's a world called "The Salt Factory", where Meat Boy's main enemy is, well, salt!

Unfortunately, the game can be quite glitchy. If at any time you press the alt key, you can actually glitch through moving objects without taking damage. If the game ever, at any time, for any reason, lags even the tiniest bit - you will not be able to play the game without glitching through every object. At other points in the game, where you're on moving platforms, going through a tight squeeze, you may just randomly explode from a flat wall above you, which is quite annoying.

Sound

This game has a heavy-metal sound-track at the beginning, but it soon becomes a very calm-toned track once you start playing. The music is the same throughout most of the game, despite the boss battles and a few other scenarios, but for the most part it's the same few tracks over and over, which does get tiring and will probably make you mute it multiple times.

The sound effects in Super Meat Boy are quite horrifying, given what a "cute" kind of game it's supposed to be. Actually, it's quite the opposite of cute, as it's kind of like a more depressing, violent version of Mario, but still. The sound of Meat getting hacked and sawed every time you die, which you'll be doing a lot, is quite gruesome but also kind of funny at the same time.

Story

Super Meat Boy stars Meat Boy, Bandage Girl and the evil Dr. Fetus. There are around twenty other playable characters, most of them being cameos from other games like Commander Video from Bit.Trip, or a Headcrab from Half-Life. At the beginning of the game, Meat Boy's girlfriend is kidnapped by Dr. Fetus in a Bowser-like fashion, and Meat Boy sets out to save her. Of course, at the end of each level, Dr. Fetus comes and takes her away from Meat Boy at the last second, also like in the Mario games. To make matters better, there are Warp Zones which Meat Boy enters, where he finds secret levels and hidden characters, and at the end is told that Bandage Girl is in another castle?!

Longevity

Super Meat Boy is a very long game, with 20 levels and a boss fight in each of its seven worlds, and then you have the Dark levels, which you unlock after getting an A+ grade on a level (which requires you to beat the level in a certain time, which is a set par), so that makes about 40 levels. The dark levels are also much tougher than the light levels, so they'll take a bit longer, and there are around 5+ Warp Zones per world, all with 3 levels in each, so in total you're looking at about 60 levels in a single World, so that's a lot of game-time, and if you're going for 100% completion, which requires you to unlock all the Band-Aids, worlds and characters, you're looking at around 50-100 hours, depending on your skill level.

The Verdict

Pros:

• Original

• Tons of levels to play

• Lots of unlockables and characters

• Funny story

• Neat graphics

Cons:

• Cut-scenes aren't very great-looking

• Glitchy

Gameplay: 9.0

Graphics: 8.0

Sound: 8.5

Story: 7.5

Multiplayer: N/A

Longevity: 9.5

Super Meat Boy is a game that's going to frustrate you almost as much as the likes of Demon's Souls, but you'll beat that frustrating level just before you pop. It's a very fun game with a lot to offer, and for only under 15$, you really can't go wrong, unless you aren't a fan of platformers or meat.

9.0/10