Super Meat Boy Review - A Meat A Day Keeps The….Oh Wait

It’s finally out! Edward McMillan's Super Meat Boy has finally been released on a platform that I can play it on. It wasn’t a long wait for the PC version(which is a pleasant change) but boy have I been reading about this game for a long long time. So has it been worth the wait? Is Super Meat Boy the new benchmark of excellence for the indie game scene? 



In Super Meat Boy, you play as Meat Boy who loves Bandage Girl. But Dr Fetus gets no love from anyone, so he hates everyone. Especially Meat Boy. So he kidnaps Bandage Girl and beats up Meat Boy. And so begins the adventures of Super Meat Boy. This is a 2D platformer, and you’ll have to traverse the rather short levels to get to bandage girl at the end of the level.

Super Meat Boy is not a game that forgives sloppiness. You always strive for perfection.

The levels are designed to be short and you can finish them in a few seconds(if you’re really good) so that you keep moving forward to the next level. Spoiler, bandage girl gets kidnapped by Dr Fetus every time you reach her. These are some brutal level design with traps, ledges, platforms that are placed in such a way to only allow you a small window of opportunity to do it right.

While the difficulty level is extremely difficult, like VVVVVV, I think Super Meat Boy doesn’t make death as frustrating as a lot of old classic platformers. For one thing, there are no lives. You get to try out a level for as many times as you want. Watch yourself die many times in the awesome replay system that plays at the end of a level.

Warpzones are interesting video game tribute levels that are a fun diversion

There are literally hundreds of levels divided across multiple worlds. Hidden levels, secret levels and something called warp zones. Warp zones are special levels that are a tribute to some console classics(from games to consoles) with its own graphic style. And then there are the dark worlds. A more vicious bad ass version of the worlds(as if the light world wasn't tough enough). This is why Super Meat Boy took so long in the making, there is a bucket load of content.

If you’ve managed to finish all the worlds, there are then the character unlocks. You unlock new characters when you collect enough bandages that are strewn over levels and placed in precarious positions. These new characters have completely different abilities and you’ll be able to run them though all the levels in the game, in a completely new way.

You will get to use other characters once you've got enough bandages.

Some of the characters you can unlock are headcrab from the Half Life series, Goo ball(World of Goo), Commander Video(from the Bit Trip games), and even Minecraft guy. And some of these unlockable characters break the game, like the Minecraft guy who can break walls with his pickaxe.

Encapsulating all of this is Edward McMillan's very distinct art style and humour. The cutscenes are funny and set the tone for the levels following it. It’s all very tongue in cheek and very self aware of itself being a video game. The music fits right in with the art style. Metal guitar rifts, 8 bit like music, generally video game inspired tunes.

Super Meat Boy is without a doubt the work of a man(well two men) who clearly loves what he does. Making awesome video games. It is a tribute to the ‘art form’ and a glowing testament of the game design philosophy that video games are not movies.

The narrative need not always be the most important element in a game. It definitely requires patience and skill to play this game to completion but it rewards that with an amazing sense of humour and spades of extra content. If you love indie platformers(or even indie games), this is a must get.


Pros:

• Loads of levels and unlockable characters.
  
• A lot of levels that are tributes to the video game medium.
  
• Great sense of humour.
  
• Levels a designed with pin point precision to require the player to hone his/her skills to overcome obstacles in a particular manner.
  
• The replay system is awesome. More games need something similar.
  
• Awesome music
  
• Updates are on the way to add more user created stuff and editor for the PC version.
• Playable with keyboard.

Cons:

• Despite the short levels and death not being a major setback, it still unfortunately sucks to die halfway across some of the levels and many levels have multiple traps strewn across them.
• You might destroy your keyboard/controller...in anger.

Verdict: It’s really tough but bloody good!