Just Your Friendly Splosion Man At Your Service On Xbox Live Arcade
Holy Explosions!
In Splosion Man, you play, well, “Splosion Man” who is just your normal, every day lab experiment gone awry. Twisted Pixel came up with this humorous new idea on a platform game for the Xbox Live Arcade that gets addictive pretty fast and could possibly spawn it’s own series if they play their cards, er, explosions right.
Story Line in Splosion Man (4 out of 5)
As Splosion Man, you work your way through a series of wonderfully designed levels that offer you more than their fair share of challenges. These platform levels take place in the odd scientist labs where you were created, thus allowing you to show off your abilities in some extremely odd ways. You have to time your explosions so that you can bounce off of different walls, jump over different hazards (which include freezing water, spikes, lasers, and even an acid lake). Basically, you can think of yourself as an exploding Sonic the Hedgehog, using your explosions to power yourself through the levels and enemies.
Game Play (4 out of 5)
Blowing yourself up in Splosion Man is your way of jumping, but you don’t have just a free pass to blow up. You can only blow up three times in a row without a cool down, although you can cool down on terra firma or simply by sliding down a nearby wall. But, these explosions are what propells you through the air and to your destination, so one area of the game play that you will have to overcome is how to control the explosions and your toon so that you can make it to the opposite side. Heck, even the somersaults are the same as Sonic!
The good news is that you can also use these triple powered explosions as an attack when needed as well. You can use your exploding powers as a “bomb” to take out any mobs that come your way, and you will encounter mad scientists, robots, and several other wacky mobs. There are plenty of great exploding barrels that will propel you across the area you’re in, just like a clown exploding out of a cannon.
There are regular checkpoints that you will hit that will save your game play so far. The problem is that these checkpoints are a bit far apart. One good point that I love about Splosion Man is that you have infinite lives, which really eases the challenge of the game overall and will allow any level of gamer to play with ease. Of course, if you die too many times in one specific area, the game will offer you an easy out, almost like a cowardly lion type of escape. But, the good thing about this feature is that it’s timed just right so that you won’t get frustrated with specific areas that might cause problems for gamers.
Playing Splosion Man (5 out of 5)
The pace of the overall game is extremely fast, so this is a great game for younger players or players that get bored easily. You end up feeling like a quick moving, daredevil, exploding stunt man that mows through mobs like hot butter. Your special move of juggling fireballs when you have to stop to take a breath will only add to the fun that makes up Splosion Man. All of this high paced actions normally start at the beginning of each level with some angry scientist running from you and pulling a lever to trap you somewhere. Therefore, you have to blow yourself up, cross tons of amazingly comic book style problems, and fight through some enemies to get to the other side and kill the scientist (who then spew out lunch meat).
Graphics (4 out of 5)
The graphics in Splosion Man for the Xbox Live Arcade are really great. As you can see from the screenshots below, the levels are well designed, clear, and colorful. There are special items in the levels, such as exploding barrels, that add to the colors and the action in game, and with very little bugs it’s easy to follow the fast paced action. The graphics are a bit cartoonish, but that only adds to the humor and even creates an air of fun throughout any level. Even Splosion Man seems like a cross between the Voidwalkers of World of Warcraft and some super weird X-Man hybrid.
Images From Splosion Man
Sound of Splosion Man (5 out of 5)
The audio for the game overall is weird, yet funny, yet somehow appropriate all at the same time. Splosion Man is always murmuring to himself, laughing, or yelling some of the weirdest comments at the weirdest times. The music in the game is great, and will remind you of all the different child movies that you’ve seen lately with their upbeat scores. The sounds and music all tie in together to add even more fun and humor to this already great little game.
The Bad Points (2 out of 5)
There are some downfalls to Splosion Man. One main one is that the angles of the camera can sometimes make it hard to see problems that are coming your way or special items that you’ll want to get. This can be a problem when you are trying to make your way over or under something as well. Also, the game play does get repetitive, so this can be problematic if you allow it to get to you. But, you just have to keep in mind that it’s a platform game, and that’s just the way that they are.
Overall (5 out of 5)
Splosion Man for the Xbox Live Arcade is a great game. It’s addictive. It’s funny. The game play is fun for just about any age gamer. And, the levels are so fast paced that it’s hard to get frustrated with any part of this game, even if you get stuck in one area. For anyone that has the spare 800 XBL points, I would completely recommend getting this one for your collection. It’s massive fun, addicting, and everyone in your house will love it.
