Written Review: Super Meat Boy

A new SMB stands into the platformer light, but does it stand worthy of the grandiose initials? Super Meat Boy epitomizes hardcore platforming to the fullest. Move over Mega Man because there’s a new Boy in town! Available on Xbox 360 Arcade, and PC for $15.00 Super Meat Boy delivers plenty of mind bending levels for the perfect price.

As Meat Boy you have to save Bandage Girl from the nefarious clutches of Dr. Fetus. After a brief intro the game thrusts you straight into the action where you quickly learn the world’s out to get you, but squirrels are your friends! The game hosts over three hundred hella hard levels ranging from the main map, to dark zone, and even classic 8-Bit portals. Wisely the developers allow some breathing room in the progression to victory. Rather than lock you down to only levels you’ve completed, the game lets you roam each world freely to peruse levels of your preference. However the game is not by any means fully unlocked from the onset. In order to progress to the next realm you need to complete a certain amount of levels and trump the boss stage. I hate when developers try to lock me into one fixed style of playing, but thankfully with free level choosing, Team Meat (the game’s developers) avoid this tactfully in their game. This becomes an increasingly important factor later down the line when the difficulty level will likely having you rage chucking your controller through the screen on certain levels!

On the topic of controls, they feel very fluid. Maneuvering Meat Boy through saw blades and salt mines is a snap in regard to controls. If you choose to get the Pc version and aren’t a mouse and keyboard kind of guy/ gal, no worries, the 360 controller is compatible and often promoted at the start screen. Hold X to run and press A to jump while wielding the toggle stick for swift movement on the 360 controller. If you go for the Pc configuration then shift for running, space for jumping, and the arrow keys are all you need.

Super Meat Boy has an extremely enjoyable mechanic of being able to wall jump perpetually off the same wall, which is vital to successful level completion. If playing as Meat Boy you’ll leave a trail of blood in your jumping fury and any death you have, your remains will remain. This bloody joy is only amplified by the clever stress reliving marathon of Meat Boys at the end. What the developers at Team Meat did was include all failed attempts at any level into one run with as many “boys” as it took. This really takes the stress out of constantly repeating levels, because in the back of your mind you’ll constantly be thinking “this is gonna look HIIIlarious at the end!” You then have the option after completing the level to save your replay. And whether for showing off your skills or pure hilarity at how many Meat Boys there can be simultaneously failing on one screen, replays are an excellent feature and very well implemented.

With so many levels, crazy difficulty, and tons of unlockable characters plus wicked stages I can’t help but recommend this to any platformer fan. However I issue this recommendation with a warning attached. This game is brutally hard, no buts about it, so if you get frustrated easily and can’t laugh at your own defeat, stick with Kirby’s Epic Yarn. But if you’re in store for an epic platformer with impetuous characters and a fantastic price, then Super Meat Boy is your game! I give Super Meat Boy a Mega Mighty Meaty 9.2/ 10

(Written By DeoGenZ)

Final Score 9.2