Hey all, here’s a review on ‘Splosion Man, one of XBLA’s summer of arcade games released over the last few weeks.

Developer: Twisted Pixel
Publisher: Twisted Pixel
Date of Release: 2009/07/22
Platform: Xbox 360 (XBLA)

Genre: 3D Side scrolling platformer
Players: 1-4

The Graphics:

It’s a 3D Sidescroller. At times the camera’s point of view pans to the sides, pans out or closes in for a special cutscene. These usually involve a new aspect to the game. Like a Donut eating scientist or a new robot bad guy. It’s all done in a lovely simple cartoony look. It works well. Also, the scientists “gib” into pieces of meat when you decide to ‘Splode on them. By pieces of meat, I actually mean a sausage, some pork roast, etc.

The Game:

There’s only one button! ‘Splode. You can rebind it if you want and it will give you an achievement. Bonus! The game, like most side scrollers has you travelling from one end of the level to the other. To get to the other side you will need to do some puzzle elements and some timed elements. You’re almost always moving and it has a very nice pace to it. You get points for finishing the level in a small period of time, getting a hidden cake and destroying things. I found the humour in it to be quite good! It has a very happy mood to it, even if the ‘Splosion man seems to be a crazy maniacal loose running experiment out to destroy all in his path.

The Sound:

The game’s music, sound effects and voice overs are excellent. Twisted pixel put a lot of effort and love in this game and it shows. Everything works so well. You’ll even be treated to several songs at the end with funny videos to accompany them of course.

The Bottom Line:

This is one of my favorite games so far this summer. I’m really impressed by what Twisted Pixel pulled off with this one. It kind of makes me want to get Maw and check it out since it was their previous game. There’s also talks recently about their next title. Seriously, take a few minutes to demo it. Judge for yourselves!

Pros:
- Good ol’ side scrolling platformer goodness.
- The difficulty scales up as you progress through the levels.
- New elements are gradually added to the game.

Cons:
- If you are incredibly violent when a videogame frustrates you… try and not break something?
- Bosses can be unforgiving.
- Certain timed sequences don’t give you much slack.

The Save Factor:

This game sells for 800points (10$) and it’s worth every frustrating points. If you’re into a funny, easy going, quick paced platformer with timed sequences in which you will die… frequently. In all honestly I would have probably bought it at Microsoft’s new standard price range but I’m quite happy the 800point price isn’t dead. Thank you Twisted Pixel.

The Video Review:

The Image Gallery:

Victor Review, video, XBLA, xbox 360