SMB is hard and precise, but with a rebellious soul and more content than you can finish, it's fantastic! Yeah Indies!
9.7
Wickedly Difficult without Dragging you Down: Yes of course its the hardest game you'll play, but it never feels that way due to tight controls, level design, and a forgetfulness of death
Rebellious Soul with Aesthetic Flare: Great score, humorous self-reflective perspectives, and a fetus!?
Oodles of Content and Value: there's so many levels and new content and unlockables that i doubt anyone's at 100% completion yet
A Love Letter to Indie Games and their Fans: Long live indies!
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In a word: PRECISION
Super Meat Boy, indie darling of IGF and this fall's XBLA releases, has already captured plenty of deserved acclaim for it's crazy-hard platforming as well as it's wicked-awesome presentation and sty*le. Let me also add: "indie and proud", for no other indie game has included more of its predecesors into it's gravity well (from Gish to Spelunker to Machinarium's Josef). And let me also add: "the bearable lightness of being" for whereas in LIMBO, death was a gruesome and painful trial, in SMB, it's light as a feather, with no thought or remorse following your ill-timed demise. But if you had to sum up Super Meat Boy in one word, it would simply be "Precision", for no other game in history has required the high degree of control from the player, not Mario Bros, Not Ninja Gaiden, nothing.
Yet such precision flows so smoothly and is handled so lightly that instead of being a horrible painful trial, SMB is light as air, and as fun as, well, playing a fantastic video game (and yes, other stuff :) ). Such lightness rises up from it's soundtrack, which is quite good, driving you onwards, never skipping a beat upon your death, as much as it does from your ability to skip any level at any time. SMB is hard. Super hard. But it's not a punishing game which is the magic of it all. And since you replay level after level, learning the exact timing of every moving object which will destroy you, over and over, the reward for completion is therefore greater than you find elsewhere. Without much work comes few rewards, and with much effort, bliss. That's SMB in a nutshell. Of course, precision would not be possible without tight controls as well as fantastic level design which pushes you as a player to rise to the challenge and accomplish what initially looked impossible. And precision is what it takes to do the impossible.
Of course, great gameplay is good in it's own right. But SMB does it in style. As noted, the music does a great job of keeping you driving forward, and the artwork is both functional for instant recognition, as well as stylish in a rebellious manner. That rebellious nature bleeds through with panache, though, from amusing cut-scenes to the bloodied walls and the hoard of Meat Boys that challenge the course in a meta-recap of every level. It extends to warp zones, dark side levels, and more. It also extends to the many unlockable characters, which are able to be used in any level, and give the game not just personality, but "indie" personality. SMB is in many ways a love story about indies, the arcades, and an homage to great gaming. It shows through at every level.
But not mentioning the amount of additional content that Team Meat has continued to pack in would be a crime. Notorious for trying to get Microsoft to release additional content for FREE, they've consistently added new levels, new unlockable characters, and hoards of new content to every platform's release. This player-centric focus is so refreshing that I might be able to get used to it!
The transcendence over death and pure joy of precision might just elevate your conscious to new heights. But even if it doesn't, Super Meat Boy is a game to savor. It's unabashadly difficult, but never gets bogged down in it's own difficulty. As a love letter to indies and fans of the great games of old, anyone who appreciates game-history, a rebellious nature, and great gameplay owes it to themselves to play this game. It's definitely one of a kind.
9.7/10