Splosion Man

DLC Review from Jae - Monday, 03 August 2009 @ 10:41pm

I've been thinking long and hard about how I can lead you all on a one track mind with Splosion Man and make it sound like a sexual reference. Something along the lines of a raging Splosion Man, a warm Splosion Man in your mouth or instead of playing Splosion Man make your own in your pants with some palm sugar. Glad I got that pent up frustration out of the way. Onwards to review time!

Imagine being able to spontaneously combust whenever you feel like. Or imagine waking up in a laboratory where scientists have been poking and prodding you. With failed attempts to make you something useful you become the kind of guy that can explode whenever you like, in lots of three. Wait a few seconds and you can continue your splode-onisation of the entire laboratory. With a bit of humour to boot you will use your new found power to make your way out of the lab towards freedom. Something tells me if you walk out into the open looking like Splosion Man the Al-Qaeda will hastily pick you up and make you their number one suicide bomber. There's something to look forward to.

Super farts are uplifting

Your goal is to 'Splode all the scientists, eat some cake where you find it and get to the finish line as fast as you can. Did you just smell a platformer? Well it sure is, I can't help but think if the makers of Sonic 2D games were sitting on top of the makers of N+ they would bump and grind so hard that the outcome would be Splosion Man. A nice pearly necklace of Splosion Man all over your Xbox. Sorry I couldn't help myself. You'll come to appreciate the level of detail in this downloadable game. Whenever you blow up a scientist they will turn into traditional butcher cut meat like a leg of ham, its kind of cute and funny all rolled into one.

The camera plays it smart throughout the game knowing when to zoom in, turn and face the right direction. Controls are simple with you using the right analogue to move and any of the four face buttons to splode. You have to use your ability to jump, cling from wall to wall and accurately time your splosions to hit nearby barrels to give you that extra boost. The loading screen gives me a headache though, all that blurry spinning in the background kind of makes me feel like splode-ing in my belly. Don't let that detract from its good parts though, the game plays great as a platformer and you'll have a barrel of a time making your way through 50+ levels.

He's after the source of my splode-ing; my bubble butt

Only briefly touching on multiplayer the concept is pretty much the same except you will now work together, with up to 3 others, to reach your goal. Timing your splosions with other players to get that extra boost is your key element to success. Thankfully talking to each other or using a handy countdown timer will keep you synchronising your splosions. If you're playing local multiplayer you could even sit in a circle and splode all together at the same time. Teehee.

Pros

Simple gameplay as a platformer traditional with a good balance of challenges.

Cons

Getting hassle from telling people you spent the whole night splode-ing all over your TV.