Super Meat Boy [Review by Uzzbuzz]Super Meat Boy is a well known 2D platformer game where the player takes control of Meat Boy, an anthropomorphized blob of meat set out to save the beautiful Bandage Girl from the evil Dr. Fetus. If that isn't enough to draw you in, then maybe the steep learning curve will intrigue you. Super Meat Boy is a hard game. If you're going for all the achievements, then be prepared to spend 100+ hours, and likely much more on this gem of a platformer that was made for speedrun enthusiasts.
Mechanics/Gameplay - This game is a blast. A blast that makes you want to both set your hair on fire and claw your eyes out, but a blast nevertheless. I did say the game was difficult. This isn't just any platformer: it is a fast paced, precision platformer, so you'd expect precise controls, and precise controls are what you get. Even using the subpar keyboard, in the words of the dev, Edmund, the controls are smooth and the game really makes you feel that if you die, it really is your fault (You can blame the stupid oobs though; I wouldn't blame you). Super Meat Boy is a super polished experience that still holds up as a frustratingly fun game today. With very few bugs, most of which are minor ones, although you get the occasional dump (with added humour).
Super Meat Boy has a few main mechanics; these are mechanics that are already popularized by other platformers both new and old: Firstly, there is the jump. Simple enough, as this is the way you maneuver through the different levels. There is also a wall jump ability which most characters have in some form or another. This allows the player to jump off walls to gain vertical height. Now the bulk of the mechanics come from the vast variety of level design obstacles which I will talk about later on. In theory, any level can be completed by any character, despite the huge variety in special abilities, from being able to flip gravity, to double jumps, to gliding. All of these mechanics work beautifully and are very satisfying to learn and to master. The difficulty comes from the obstacles and level design for sure, and although the mechanics start off easy and introductory, you are expected to have them pretty well mastered by the end. The learning curve, although steep, feels fair and is ultimately a satisfying experience, if you make it. Very few issues with bugs as well, and the mechanics, although simple, are solid and versatile with all the characters you can play as. 9/10
Fun Factor - Yep. This game is fun all right. It's definitely not a game for everyone, though. If you don't like a challenge, you won't be having as much fun past the first few worlds or so. I definitely had a bit of fun, and I didn't have too much frustration until getting to the last couple bandages and the last dark world. Getting this game completed was no easy task, but despite being a bit frustrated at times, I pushed through and overall had a good experience. There were very few levels where I felt that it wasn't fun, as each level had its own set of obstacles and difficulty curve so you could always feel like you were progressing, and adding on the speedrunning element to the game took the progression up an extra notch. 8/10
Graphics/Animation - Well, the graphics and animation are pretty typical for a sprite based game, but I have to commend the fluidity of animation for such a fast paced game. Making it actually look and feel fast paced is not always an easy task and Team Meat has done so beautifully. For every entrance to a world, and every boss level, there is a cutscene, which is just meant to be a short comic-style cutscene, but some of them are quite substantial and give a fair representation of the cliche 'save the girl' storyline. The graphics all mesh together nicely and there aren't any levels I can recall where views are obstructed or the game is hideous to look at. Every world is centered around some sort of theme, and all the graphics seem to fit with the themes quite well. Overall the graphics are nice but not outstanding, the animations flow really well, but are not overly complex at all, and the cutscenes are simple, yet a bit unexpected and welcome to have something to look forward to after a tough world. 7.5/10
Music/Sound - The music is nice and full of synths. I'm a sucker for good synths. The music is intense for bosses, and even for some regular levels, always fitting with the game so that you feel more invested in it. Awesome guitar solos coupled with a fast beat brings this game to life. You won't even notice you died 50 times on a level because the music will pick you back up again and again and it'll make you feel like you can never stop and never get out of the trap that is Super Meat Boy until you've won. I have nothing bad to say about the music. I can say in the 200+ hours of this game that I've played, I don't think that I muted the game once. It definitely is beneficial to keep you going through some of the tougher levels. You might get a little tired of the retro stages' music by the end, but oh well that's only one track. The sound effects in the game are fitting and can help you hear what obstacles are around as well as not interfere with the awesome backing track too much. Overall, despite all the hours I've spent raging at this game, I can still listen to the soundtrack without having bad memories or wanting to rip out my hair, so I think we're good here (I even ENJOY it still!). 8/10
Replayability - Oh god where do I start. First off this game has over 300 levels. 300 levels of platforming hell. There are bonus levels, levels to unlock characters, boss levels, bonus negative world levels, and even custom user levels (which aren't included in my 300 estimate). Oh right, there are also 100 bandages to collect across the main levels, which is no simple task. They are usually in hard to reach or hidden areas, and the player must grab them and then go on to complete the level in order to earn them. There are seven worlds, each with about 2 bonus mini worlds, and a character unlock mini world. Each main world has a light and dark version, with the dark version being a much harder, but similarly designed set of levels. Once you get to the final dark world, good luck. You'll need it. If you manage to get so far as to complete every level and collect every bandage, your grand total will be 106% game completion. That's not good enough for you, now is it? After you've done that, there is TONS of replayability in getting faster times in order to lower your overall time, beat your friends times, and to pick up a couple achievements along the way as well, if you haven't already gotten them. If you're tired of speedrunning (hah) then you can try your hand at what everyone would agree are the hardest achievements in the game, and those are the no death achievements: achievements that require you to beat each world without dying, one world at a time. If, and only if you've done that, can you truly say you've beaten the game. Even then you still might get pulled back in to bring your times down a little bit~
8.5/10
Level Design - I've talked about this a little bit before, but the level design is superb in Super Meat Boy. There are a few different enemies, each with their own function. None of these enemies can be killed, which means yes, you have to avoid them unless you want to die and add to the already giant (don't lie to me) death count. The bane of many players are the oobs, which vary drastically from boobs, and are nowhere near as great. Not even close. Hell, they aren't even as good as noobs. Anyways, these enemies slowly hover towards you, and once they get close enough, they will freak out and start to chase you. Two problems:
1. They Fly.
2. They Fly...through walls.
Yeah have fun. Don't even get me started on the dog missiles that home in on your location and break up into multi-directional shrapnel of missiles. Yep...have fun in world 7X.
Back on topic: Tons of stage hazards make every level something different to learn and adapt to, from fireballs jumping out of lava, to the lava itself, to sawblades that sit, sawblades that stand, sawblades that move, sawblades that rotate...you get the point. Lots of sawblades okay? Every boss is a different experience, with one being something you outrun, to another being something you race (there's a difference, believe me!), to another that you "simply" have to dodge. What I found was really neat is that the levels are designed in such a way that you can beat them with every character (TOFU BOY DOESN'T COUNT), even though some might have a harder time than others, and that some levels actually make good use of some characters special abilities. So, if you get stuck beating a level with Meat Boy, try someone else. Their playstyle may surprise you :) 9/10
Achievements - Ahhh, the part you've all been waiting for...or the part you skipped to: the achievements. I have lots to say about these achievements, as I spent about 200 hours obtaining them all. They are tough. They are frustrating. They are well rounded. But are they fun? Short answer: yes, for the most part. Once you get into the harder achievements is when the game starts to really become frustrating. If you think you're frustrated and you don't have 106% and all the speedrun achievements done yet, then prepare for a whole new world. For perspective, I maybe died 3000 times getting 106%, without very much rage at all. Now add about 14000 deaths and 150 hours later and that's about the time investment you'll need to complete some of the harder dark worlds without dying once.
Let's break it down into main categories:
Unlock and completing levels/worlds - 4 for retro warp zones, one for each character warp zone, and one each for beating light world/dark world/light world 7/dark world 7, and 6 for the negative levels.
Bandages - 6 achievements for bandage thresholds to unlock characters
Full Completion 106% - 1 achievement
Speedrunning - 5 for getting your times low on all worlds except 5 and 7
No deaths - 14 achievements here, one for each world: light and dark.
Misc - An oddball secret achievement which you may discover on your own, as well as 2 pertaining to the kid's xmas custom level set.
Overall, damn, they've got the game covered. They've got achievements for progression. They've got achievements for speedrunning. They've got achievements for not dying in an entire world. They've even got 2 achievements introducing players to the custom level world which many people overlook. There could have been a few more achievement that were miscellaneous such as deaths, or wall jumps, or beat a level with 5 different characters. But I can't complain, and there is a good, challenging selection here for a good, challenging game. 8/10
Pros:+ Excellent, fluid mechanics and controls
+ Rockin' soundtrack
+ Well rounded, challenging achievement selection
+ Few bugs
+ Can easily spend hours playing this game
Cons: (Alright there aren't really many real cons I can think of)
- Not much room for the casual audience here
- You might forget to eat
- Stress-inducing
- Cliché storyline
- A fair amount of loading screens
Overall Score: 8.3/10
4.0