About 2 years ago I published my review for Twisted Pixel’s ‘Splosion Man, which kicked off Xbox Live’s second annual ‘Summer of Arcade’. We have come full circle, and we are in the 4th year of Summer of Arcade and Twisted Pixel is once again starting it off with the sequel to ‘Splosion Man, Ms. ‘Splosion Man. Twisted Pixel is going down the similar road that Namco did when they branded Ms. Pacman, but made her much more fun, charismatic, and raunchier than her counterpart.
Like the first game, Ms. ‘Splosion Man doesn’t make much of an effort to tell an expansive story. Instead, it starts off with her creation in a lab by a group of scientist and immediately throws you into a world map where you move from level to level. Twisted Pixel treats Ms. ‘Splosion Man like Super Mario World, but without the main objective of rescuing a princess or prince. The main objective is to keep moving forward through each level with a big boss after each world section. Though it doesn’t have a full story, the progression of each level followed by a boss battle does give the gamer a sense of progression, not to mention that each world also looks distinctively different than the last.
Ms. ‘Splosion Man will make you smile, giggle, and will have you downright laughing. Twisted Pixel has always brought a good sense of humor to their games and that is present here. Ms. ‘Splosion Man is without a doubt their best character yet. She is very charismatic and a joy to hear. Ms. ‘Splosion Man’s knowledge spans across her love for shoes, which you collect, and all things considered female pop-culture. She will randomly perform Beyonce’s dance moves, quote Salt-N-Pepa, and will mockingly gossip on the phone to her girlfriends. She can be offensive to a small group of people but its all fun and games, she doesn’t step any major boundaries. You wont see her on FOX News anytime soon.
The sequel plays exactly similar to the original game. You have your basic movement controls and the ability to ‘splode three times before you can ‘splode no more. Ms. ‘Splosion Man does introduce some gameplay changes in the way of new obstacles and some solid platforming mechanics. Cannons, zip-lines, rocket cars, trampolines are some of the new additions that make the gameplay alot better than the first where it was more about just reaching the end. The levels in Ms. ‘Splosion Man are thought out more, resulting in much more difficult game than the first. The game will send you into a trial and error period which I found to be unfair and cheap, with many of my deaths resulting from miscalculated jumps as opposed to a challenging puzzle that had me stumped. If you get stuck in a certain area you will be able to skip ahead so the game does offer the player some bit of mercy.
‘Slode on your own or with a friend. Ms. ‘Splosion Man offers similar options to the first games multiplayer. Two to four players can start a world map and run through the game in a unique set of levels specifically made for multiplayer. I never got a chance to complete all the multiplayer levels in the first game and I don’t think I’ll do it here either. Jumping in to play with a random stranger was too much of a hassle than it was a challenge. I just couldn’t get some random stranger to listen to my plans to move ahead. Unless you have a friend that you know and can work with, multiplayer can be a nightmare to get through. Luckily, Twisted Pixel realized this and included a mode where I can control 2 characters with one controller. Obviously that is alot tougher but the fact that this is included is a symbol of Twisted Pixel’s acknowledgement to their fans feedback.
Twisted Pixel went above and beyond to make Ms. ‘Splosion Man a successor to its predecessor. A better character, new gameplay mechanics, more detailed levels, even more difficult puzzles, and a crap ton of unlockables are all reasons why Ms. ‘Splosion Man is a better game than the original. It’s safe to say that if you haven’t taken a liking to Twisted Pixel’s library of games or ‘the original ‘Splosion Man, chances are that wont change here. If you feel the opposite, go ahead and buy this game immediately. Ms. ‘Splosion Man is one of the best downloadable games of the year. I hope she has a baby because I want more.
