This fun platformer is just sploding with excitement
Splosion Man is an experiment at "Big Science Labs" gone horribly wrong. Thanks to the scientists' carelessness, this self-aware experimental psychopath has escaped and he has only one goal in mind; escape the laboratory and kill every scientist that gets in his way. However, he'll have to get through the eggheads' several traps and obstacles first.
Like many great platformers before it, the story is simple, but thanks to the quirky characters, the story is given plenty of charm to make up for that simplicity. More specifically, the main character, Splosion Man, is hysterical. His animations are fantastic and he's constantly showing off his madness by speaking gibberish and pop cultural references as he runs (i.e. when you kill a scientist, he'll say something like "We are done professionally" or "Get to the choppa!"). Hell, every time you run, he provides a different animation every time like playing airplane with his arms out to the side or dangling his arms and acting like a monkey. It's this character's witty personality that makes up this game's charm.
As the title suggests, the game revolves around the "sploding" mechanic. That is, with the tap of a button, you can "splode" (or explode, for those of you who aren't hip enough) multiple times to get over obstacles, deflect missiles, and kill enemies or helpless scientists. This may just sound like a fancier jump at first, but it's more than that. It's also your health. Sploding 3 times in succession will burn you out and deplete your energy, leaving you vulnerable to enemy fire resulting in death. Luckily, landing on the ground will recharge you almost instantly. It's an interesting new mechanic and it flows really well with the rest of the game.
There are only 3 stages to play through but each stage has up to 15 levels each with one boss at the end. As expected, each level gets increasingly harder as you progress. And let me tell ya, this game's difficulty is no joke. It's not so bad at first but in the later levels, you will be dying a lot. Luckily, it's not an unfair challenge. The game does show you some mercy by placing frequent checkpoints for you to return too. You are also given the choice to skip the level if you die enough times, but what sort of accomplishment do you get from that?
Going back to the stages, the level design and puzzles are this game's strongest point. There is quite the variety of puzzles and challenges to be had. You'll have to navigate through each level by, deflecting missiles, avoiding killer robots, shutting down turrets by killing the scientists controlling the switch and using barrels (some blow you upward, some can be used as projectiles, and the green ones blow you towards a specific area). There are certain things that get repeated, like sections where you have to continuously run from a giant robot while navigating obstacles, but the level design is top notch, and it never feels unfair even when you get to the really challenging levels. My only complaint is all levels take place in a laboratory. That's ok for the most part but I get kind of tired looking at a lab background. Other than that, it's hard to get annoyed at the levels in this game even when you're stuck and completing each level gives you a great sense of accomplishment.
Along with the single player comes a co-op mode with up to 4 players, locally or online. The game pretty much plays the same but you'll have the ability to "splode" off each other to reach certain platforms. This is when you run and jump into each other, explode at the same time, and launch one or the other to incredible heights. That's the only new move you get but you'll also have to cooperate by flipping switches for the other guy so he can pass or activating barrels or him to use. With the same amount of levels as the single player, this mode is almost as engaging but it requires A LOT of cooperation. This means it's probably recommended that you get a buddy to play with instead of trying your luck with strangers.
For what it's worth, Splosion Man is one of the best platformers available on the Arcade. Even though repetitive at times, the great level design, challenging puzzles and crazy main character make Splosion Man a blast to play (no pun intended). Twisted Pixel has been known for their imaginative games on the XBLA and no game shows that better than this game. Not only is it one of the most original platformers to come out all of this generation, it's one of the best deals you'll find on the marketplace. If you're craving a new platformer on a system with very few, here's a good place to get started.