The concept behind Twisted Pixel’s new platformer for Xbox Live is pretty simple: you play the role of ‘Splosion Man, the product of a lab experiment who can “explode” whenever he wants to. Each explosion is able to hurl the character up in the air, which allows him both expedited travel and a cannon-like attack.
As fun as the main protagonist’s exploding powers are, it’s really just an attention-grabbing way of leaping into the air. As such, the novelty of that gets tired after a while. What does make this platformer such a great game, instead, are the brilliantly-designed levels, filled with challenging jumps and plenty of exciting hazards, coupled with the fast-paced, non-stop action.
Each level offers enough variance to keep it fresh. Some will require you to use walls to bounce off of, others will require you to employ scattered gunpowder to give your explosion an extra boost and others simply force you to avoid deadly obstacles. This all happens in a never-ending stream of pulling off combo after combo.
The whole game mechanics are pretty kooky, which keeps it fun even to jaded, old gamers like myself. I generally avoid platformers and these types of arcades, in general, but this is one title I’m glad I bothered with. In fact, I won’t be surprised if this eventually turns into a full-fledged title.
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