Super Meat Boy Review

It's hard to put into text the sheer primal grunts and groans that emanated from my vocal cords as I played this game of sheer frustration and annoyance. Never have I encountered such b*****disation since the days of I Wanna Be The Guy. Super Meat Boy is absolute genius in its application of addicting gameplay coupled with pure brutal rage that we call a difficulty curve.

Essentially, Super Meat Boy is a 2D platformer in which the game is split into hundreds of micro levels lasting only a handful of seconds. Your aim is simply to survive and rescue your girlfriend, Bandage Girl. The amount of content that is crammed into this game is just staggering, not only do you have your standard run through but you also have the flip side levels in the Dark World. These are really the same levels from your first run through envisioned by Satan himself, not even the mighty Chuck Norris could stand up-to this trial by napalm.

In addition to these levels, you'll come across warp zones which whisk you off to an alternative dimension. These levels are sent in various eras of console/computer capabilities. You may end up in Spectrum world, or levels that look like you're playing on an original Gameboy. These hidden worlds offer you the chance to earn more bandages or even unlock extra characters, due to some worlds allowing you to control an alternative protagonist; once the section is completed you generally earn the character you use. The visuals in the main game and also in these alternative zones are rendered with beautiful precision, now due to the nature of the game you won't get face melting 3D graphics as it's only a platformer but you can tell there's been love poured into the artwork throughout the game.

You'll also come across pop culture references like they were going out of fashion, from the Street Fighter 2 inspired first world intro, to the dramatic chipmunk Youtube meme music on starting a world, all these little references just build upon the rock solid foundation of entertainment that this game has already established. It goes to show what is capable from a development team when they are passionate about their work, it kind of asks the question - "Just what the hell are the devs which push out shovelware smoking? Why are you creating crap when you could focus on making something great like these guys?"

Anyway, you will cycle through emotions rapidly while playing this little gem of an indie game, though I suspect for most, rage will be the primary emotion, until you beat that level and feel a sudden rush of elation. It's this which compels you to push further, to endure the torment longer and in all honesty it's been a while since a game grabbed us by the scruff of our necks with no sign of letting go. This may actually deter the more casual gamer as the unrelenting difficulty of this game in the later worlds, even more so in the dark world, may appear as an unconquerable mountain to overcome so I fear the less formidable gamer would not experience everything this game has to offer them.

Nevertheless, the game offers an astronomical amount of game time for such a bargain price, £11.99/$14.99/€13.99 on Steam or the price of a Call of Duty map pack on Xbox (1200 MS points). It would be silly to not pony up the cash for such a gem of a title.