This past March the small indie game studio Team Meat showed off their corky game called Super Meat Boy for the first time at the Independent Games Festival. The third serving in Microsoft’s Game Feast is a 2D platformer, which has players take control of an adorable hunk of meet with legs called Meat Boy who is desperately trying to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl from the grips of the evil, tuxedo wearing villain Dr. Fetus. Sure, that name sounds a bit strange but he actually is a fetus in a robotic suit with a remote which has lots in store for our aspiring super hero. In an age of epic action adventures like Uncharted 2 or fast paced first person shooters such as Modern Warfare 2, can a 2D platformer like Super Meat Boy still capture gamers who are used to giant scripted experiences with lots of handholding and checkpoints?
The look and feel of Super Meat Boy reminds a lot of the retro 8 bit era. Team Meat has put a lot of effort into creating the world and its characters and it shows. The game is set up in a rather typical framework of starting players out with basics and simple levels before ramping up the difficulty to a controller-breaking level and creating some very hard challenges that might have players cursing at their TV more than once. There are over 300 levels in 5-plus worlds that Meat Boy, who leaves a trail of blood wherever he goes, can overcome. While there are a lot of levels, monotony is not to be found. Within each world and even from level to level, Meat Boy encounters vastly varying gameplay scenarios including making his way though seas of buzz saws, using portals to solve a puzzle or leaping over lava from a sliding wall jump.
Each level can be played through in the regular mode while some are also available in the dark mode which adds some extra difficulty for the players who are looking for that little big extra. I for one had enough of a challenge going through the game in the regular difficulty. At the beginning and end of each world players get to enjoy a quick cut scene which tells the story of Super Meat Boy which is done in a cute way but don’t expect too much of a narrative.
Meat Boy handles extremely well; there are only a few buttons players will have to use. Jump, run and sprint which allows Meat Boy to make larger leaps or time a run through moving buzz saws before wall jumping up a narrow corridor while avoiding obstacles. It is refreshingly nice to see a modern day platformer stick to simple controls rather than implementing a gimmick to have as a box quote. Each world ends in a boss battle which even includes a bowel movement from Dr. Fetus called Brownie. While that’s a bit gross it also had me laughing the entire time. Super Meat Boy is certainly a tough-as-nails platformer with the occasional frustration but the comedic value makes up for some of that.
Another very cool feature that Team Meat built into the game is the replay function which shows the path of each attempt Meat Boy made throughout the level before his occasional or inevitable death. Seeing a few dozen Meat Boys (yes, I died a few dozen times) jump through a level at the same time and have only one of them make it to the end is very satisfying and kept me going through the tougher levels. Aside from Dr. Fetus, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl there are 15 unlockable indie game characters such as Tim from Braid, Alien Hominid, Commander Video and Flywrench. Each of those characters can be unlocked using hidden Warp Zones and can then be used in the game. Each indie character will handle differently and have special abilities. Can you guess Tim’s?
Super Meat Boy captures the classic platformer vibe and its design very well but most importantly; the game is very fun to play. Making my way through the levels and boss battles was very entertaining and had me coming back for more even with some of the frustrating levels. Saying “Just one more level” has kept me up well past my bedtime on more than one occasion. Team Meat has created an incredibly addicting, well crafted game with creative level design, tight controls and a cute story that simply cannot be missed. I am willing to trade in some of my Call of Duty time for just a few more levels in Super Meat Boy.
Score: 9 / 10
Super Meat Boy was developed by Team Meat and published by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 on October 20th. A review code of the retail version was provided to us by Microsoft for reviewing purposes.
