Splosion Man

Boy do I love Splosion Man. It’s one of the bright shiny spots in video games this entire year. Seriously, not much has come out this year to be excited for. In a lot of ways this year has been about waiting for what’s next. Yes I am the first lemming in line for Modern Warfare 2 and have shamelessly been hyping the shit out of it. However, nothing else has come out that’s made me go all Lady Gaga and showing you my poker face. There’s been some stuff that’s come out that’s been a fun distraction. Wolverine and Punch-Out are good examples of that, but as for games that I can without question recommend? So far there has only been one, Splosion Man.

Does anyone out there remember a forgotten classic by the name of Lost Vikings? If you don’t I’m sorry. It was a blizzard game for the SNES that was a puzzle platformer that I can’t seem to get out of my mind while playing Splosion Man. Especially how the Multiplayer plays (which I’ll get to in a moment). Splosion Man has almost no story but it has tons of attitude and design. I will be surprised if Splosion Man doesn’t become the mascot for Twisted Pixel (the developers). While playing the game you can tell that they generally loved their creation. The animation of Splosion Man is spot on, from him putting his arms out and making airplane noises with his mouth as he runs or doing jumping jacks while standing still. And you must love how he quotes 80’s action movies left and right. Plus if you don’t laugh when he says “We’re done, professionally” than you better get your funny bone looked at.

The game play is extremely simple. You run and you splode. You can splode three times before you have to recharge on a wall or ground. But don’t confuse the simple mechanics with a simple game. The game is easy to pick up but you will want to rage quit countless times in the later levels. You will think that the level is impossible and want to piss all of the faces of Twisted Pixel. But you will persevere and complete the level and keep going. Because like any good puzzle game you want to complete the next one no matter how much the last one hurt.

The graphics are nice yet nothing special. You will see a lot of the same textures and bad guys. And in some instances you will think you were jumping at a wall but it was really a background. Some people aren’t going to like that but personally it didn’t bother me. The game’s genius is in its simplicity and the graphics reflect that. Plus I got such an old school kick from the game that I actually enjoyed the ‘sameness’. It’s something that I can’t put my finger on but those of a certain age and those who played the real old school games may understand.

I’ve played a lot of games on Live. And generally most everyone on there falls under three categories, mute, fun and asshat. The great thing about Splosion Man’s online component is that you honestly can’t play the game with asshat’s because you will not go far. The game requires that all of the players work together in an intelligent fashion. And if one of you dies then you have to start over. This may seem like a harsh penalty but it really brings Live to a new level. While playing the game you actually have to work together for a change and not trash talk. You will have to talk through the problems and work together. It’s an odd feeling to be sure but one you will be longing for in other games. True Co-op play. A real magical experience for sure.

So with 50 single player levels and 50 multiplayer and speed runs to be had all of them there is plenty of game to be had. Sure it’s one of the most challenging games you will own but it is a game worthy of owning and for only 10 bucks (800 MS points) you are really short on excuses for not owning this treasure of a game.

-Lance