Not really worth a 10 Hours In, just a standard review, you see.
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Super Meat Boy [http://www.supermeatboy.com/] is the firstborn child of Team Meat, an indie developer up to this point unheard of. It's a commercial remake of Meat Boy [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/463241], a flash title created by BlueBaby.
The story is this. Your name is Meat Boy[footnote]For the love of all that is holy, do not search this on Google Images. You will regret it.[/footnote], a lovablemonstrosity sack of meat just hanging around with his girlfriend/sister/mother/wife Bandage Girl. Yes, I misread that the first time too, might be on purpose. A social outcast, Doctor Fetus, is jealous of you and Bandage Girl's relationship, so he does what everyone does when courting a taken woman, that being abduct and slap her around alot.
So it's your job, and apparently your job only[footnote]I assume the police are eating donuts or something.[/footnote] to run through as many pits of fire, vats of acid, and rooms of swinging saws as necessary to bring back your beloved. Just like in real life.
I'll just get it out of the way right now. When I first started playing it, I hated this game so much. Super Meat Boy, especially for those of us new to platforms, is expletive-screaming, keyboard-breakingly difficult, and it barely explains to you over 3 levels how to play the damn thing. It recommends a gamepad, something that I don't have.[footnote]My couch is 20 feet from my Xbox 360, wired cords are 10 feet long. Do the math.[/footnote] Maybe it gets better with one, maybe not. All I know is that it requires split second reactions and careful planning ahead of time, which quickly caused some sessions of rage even the Angry German Kid [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tmCvXeelIo&feature=fvst] would blush at.
On one particular level about halfway through chapter one, I was ready to uninstall this game and forget about it. But I decided to give it one last try, and I actually got it. The feeling when you beat a "impossible" level is almost beyond words. To add to your sense of accomplishment, they play back a replay complete with all your runs, at once. Seeing dozens of little childlike things fall screaming to their death all at once is satisfying in an almost sexual manner.
Over time you get adjusted to the timing system and general distance of traps, and then the game really evens out. The pacing is perfect, never holding your hand but never becoming truly impossible. The cutscenes add much needed comic relief, deepening the typical Mario Syndrome[footnote]Get to end of level where sex appeal awaits, only to have her whisked away at the last second by antagonist. Rinse and repeat until dead from exhaustion.[/footnote] that infests games of this type. And really, did you expect a deep and thrilling story from a platforming game?
Collectible bandages add up to unlock additional characters you can use, and while I won't spoil them, I'll say that some of them are certainly worth the effort. Leaderboards, savable replays and statistics add to the competitive side of platformers everywhere, and beating a level within the provided time limit allows you to play a more difficult version in the Dark World, essentially doubling the amount of levels playable. 15 dollars on Steam might seem like a bit much, but seeing as some of you bastards bought map packs for the same, you can certainly spare some cash for this game.
While certainly not for everyone due to it's simplified controls[footnote]Which you can't remap, by the way[/footnote] and extreme difficulty, Super Meat Boy is an honorable homage to old school platforming games, and I give it a hearty recommendation.
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Super Meat Boy [http://www.supermeatboy.com/] is the firstborn child of Team Meat, an indie developer up to this point unheard of. It's a commercial remake of Meat Boy [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/463241], a flash title created by BlueBaby.
The story is this. Your name is Meat Boy[footnote]For the love of all that is holy, do not search this on Google Images. You will regret it.[/footnote], a lovable
So it's your job, and apparently your job only[footnote]I assume the police are eating donuts or something.[/footnote] to run through as many pits of fire, vats of acid, and rooms of swinging saws as necessary to bring back your beloved. Just like in real life.
I'll just get it out of the way right now. When I first started playing it, I hated this game so much. Super Meat Boy, especially for those of us new to platforms, is expletive-screaming, keyboard-breakingly difficult, and it barely explains to you over 3 levels how to play the damn thing. It recommends a gamepad, something that I don't have.[footnote]My couch is 20 feet from my Xbox 360, wired cords are 10 feet long. Do the math.[/footnote] Maybe it gets better with one, maybe not. All I know is that it requires split second reactions and careful planning ahead of time, which quickly caused some sessions of rage even the Angry German Kid [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tmCvXeelIo&feature=fvst] would blush at.
On one particular level about halfway through chapter one, I was ready to uninstall this game and forget about it. But I decided to give it one last try, and I actually got it. The feeling when you beat a "impossible" level is almost beyond words. To add to your sense of accomplishment, they play back a replay complete with all your runs, at once. Seeing dozens of little childlike things fall screaming to their death all at once is satisfying in an almost sexual manner.
Over time you get adjusted to the timing system and general distance of traps, and then the game really evens out. The pacing is perfect, never holding your hand but never becoming truly impossible. The cutscenes add much needed comic relief, deepening the typical Mario Syndrome[footnote]Get to end of level where sex appeal awaits, only to have her whisked away at the last second by antagonist. Rinse and repeat until dead from exhaustion.[/footnote] that infests games of this type. And really, did you expect a deep and thrilling story from a platforming game?
Collectible bandages add up to unlock additional characters you can use, and while I won't spoil them, I'll say that some of them are certainly worth the effort. Leaderboards, savable replays and statistics add to the competitive side of platformers everywhere, and beating a level within the provided time limit allows you to play a more difficult version in the Dark World, essentially doubling the amount of levels playable. 15 dollars on Steam might seem like a bit much, but seeing as some of you bastards bought map packs for the same, you can certainly spare some cash for this game.
While certainly not for everyone due to it's simplified controls[footnote]Which you can't remap, by the way[/footnote] and extreme difficulty, Super Meat Boy is an honorable homage to old school platforming games, and I give it a hearty recommendation.