In a gaming world where the FPS now reins supreme, and platforming seems to be a thing of the past, one game stands out above the rest. Its fast-paced, full of puzzles, good humor, ribeyes, and the most important thing, ‘splosions. ‘Splosion Man is an Xbox Live Arcade title released as part of Xbox’s Summer of Arcade special, created by TwistedPixel, who also released The Maw on XBLA earlier this year. Leading off the second installment of the Summer of Arcade with a price of 800 Microsoft Points($10), ‘Splosion Man is the answer to our platforming prayers.

It tells the story of a lab experiment gone wrong and the creation of ‘Splosion Man, a man created entirely out of…..well explosions, and his desprate escape from the lab in which he was created. But of course, it couldn’t be that easy, or it wouldn’t be fun. ‘Splosion Man is met with opposition, a slew of scientist who are determined to destroy ‘Splosion Man with anything and everything at thier disposal, such as turrets, laser-bots, random rising water levels, and toxic ooze.  ‘Splosion Man’s personality is as spontanious as his ‘splosions;  he’s often making random noises, pretending to be an airplane or a chimpanzee, juggling his own eyeballs, and quoting the Californian governer. His quirkyness and crazed looks give him the ideal look of that of a mascot, like Mario or Master Chief.

The gameplay of ‘Splosion Man is your basic platformer strip down to the very basics: get to the end of the level. Even the controls are basic, as all of the face buttons do one thing: ‘splode. All ‘Splosion Man does is ‘splode, he ‘splodes as his attack, he ‘splodes to set off switches, he ‘splodes to jump, he ‘splodes to ‘splode; you can even ‘splode three times to serve as a triple jump mechanism. Though he only has one move, this one move is used in various different ways, such as wall-jumping, chain bomb jumping, ledge-hopping, and other various combination’s of the listed, giving the game a level of difficulty and depth unlike many. As you progress further into the game, the stages become longer, the obstacles become more dangreous, and the puzzles themselves become more difficult. However, the playthough of the game, no matter how difficult, is still hilarious, as you run around ‘sploding scientists into chunks of ham, ribs, and steak, and collecting precious cakes(not a portal reference), in a rush to the finish for a high score.

'Splosion Man doesn't fear danger...or much of anything for that matter.

‘Splosion Man has a single player campaign with 50 levels, split into three different zones. At the end of each zone, you fight a boss, and since the bosses are listed on the game’s website, it will not be SPOILERZ to tell you that you and giant missle firing robot, a mad scientist with a gigantic brain, and a monster made out of meat. There is also a multiplayer campaign, which supports up to 4 people over Xbox Live sporting ‘Splosion Men in four flavorful colors:normal fire red, electric blue, toxis green, and lightning yellow. This multiplayer is a an aspect of the game that defines it, as it doesnt feel tacked on; there are certain parts of multiplayer where you must rely on your friends to keep you out of harm’s way, and use each other as propulsion to get to higher platforms and switches; this mode also comes equip with 50 more levels, also split into three zones, with bosses at the end;  i won’t spoil these bosses though. The multiplayer does have some lag issues, due to the fact that the game has no dedicated servers, but for the most part it’s a great experience. For people who are really into this game, such as me, there is a hardcore mode after beating the single player campaign, which takes away the checkpoints and is set to where if you get hit once, you die; it’s a very fun challenge for those platformer veterans who are looking for that extra oomph.

SPLODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also for the veterans is the leaderboards, which breaks down to 2 different scores per level: time and points. These can be improved on with the time trial section, where you can go back to for speed runs, massive points, and cakes you missed in certain stages. There also happens to be a download content options on the main screen, which will most undoubtedly lead to extra speed run levels, and evermore complicated puzzles, so be on the lookout.

All in all, this is a great addition to any gamer’s ever-growing XBLA collection. Platforming is a genre rarely seen on the Xbox, if at all(Nintendo not includes), and ‘Splosion Man is the type of game to show people the true power of platforming. With simplistic pick-up-and-play controls, deep levels, a robust multiplayer, and ‘splosions, what’s there not to like? So get out there, download the trial, and get to ‘splodin!!!

9 Ninja Heads out of 10

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