Splosion Man Review

[darth jacen]

[color=dark red][HEADING=1]Splosion Man[/HEADING][/color]

The main difference between the Emmy winning television shows Robot Chicken and The Simpsons is brevity. Both are worth experiencing and make you laugh, but one is 30 minutes long and the other 15. One is a set of quick hits that keep you laughing and never wanting to change the channel. Whereas the other, is one long joke with other related jokes tied in to keep you from switching the channel during the comedy troughs. Substitute Robot Chicken with Portal and The Simpsons with Splosion man and everything makes sense.

Isn't it cute?​

Portal roughly consists of 19 levels that all show you something for later and the commentary along with other aspects keep you glued to your chair for the entire game. In contrast, Splosion man surmounts to a single running joke of killing scientists as an experiment gone wrong with the ability to explode, explode, and explode some more. Length sometimes is a bonus and other times a burden. With more than 45 levels in the single player alone, Splosion man drags on for so long that the game loses appeal as one night stand game like many on the arcade market. Along with having too much length, there is not that much added after the first 20 levels. Most of the mechanics come in early and are just recycled in identical ways, only in a different order to get from left to right. Yet, the multiplayer helps make up for some issues. With a long campaign that is new and does not repeat any levels from the single player, multiplayer will keep you and your friends yelling "3, 2, 1, Explode!" for at least a few days. While the multiplayer also succumbs to the same issues as the single player campaign, the added enjoyment of up to four players solving puzzles that require more thought and precise timing helps to overlook the length and overly simplistic game play.

The standard "Left to right" platformer, save the new 2.5 D aesthetic, is a dying genre in today's gaming world; Splosion man shows that there is still room for these games somewhere. The main shortcomings at play are length and simplicity. Although, being on the Xbox Live Arcade partly excuses the simplicity of only having one action to perform for an entire game. Splosion man is worth the money, especially if you plan to play the multiplayer. However, if you plan on picking up this arcade game, be ready to play for a few days to earn your gamer score. If you are searching for a challenging platformer based on more than timing puzzles, try the artistic masterpiece, Limbo.

Spoiler: My other reviews

A Sith Reviews:

Infamous [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.186434-A-Sith-Reviews-Infamous]
The Godfather 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.187955-Poll-A-Sith-Reviews-The-Godfather-2]
Splinter Cell:Conviction [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.189822-Poll-A-Sith-Reviews-Splinter-Cell-Conviction]
Bully [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191313-A-Sith-Reviews-Bully]
NCAA Basketball 10 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.192798-A-Sith-Reviews-NCAA-Basketball-10]
Mercenaries 2: A world in Flames [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.193992-A-Sith-Reviews-Mercenaries-2-World-in-Flames]
Red Dead: Redemption [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.200958-A-Sith-Reviews-Red-Dead-Redemption]
Alan Wake [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.207003-Poll-A-Sith-Reviews-Alan-Wake]
Crackdown 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.209377-A-Sith-Reviews-Crackdown-2]

 

[darth jacen]

Umm.... this review was way too short.
It reminds me of those short articles done on really crappy games that were done in Pc Gamer, where they would spend just one paragraph telling you the game sucks.

Since your review of Infamous (which I just read) was a lot longer and a hell of a lot better, I'm gonna presume you either didn't really care about this game, or didn't really care about making this review, either way your review is rather bad.

500 words for a game that is roughly 1/3 the length of a full title which averages 1000 words. The infamous review was my first and in my opinion least focused review. Read the Crackdown 2 review for my favorite. Also, length does not denote quality. If you have a critique please share, but generalizations of "it's bad" doesn't help myself improve in any way.