Splosion Man

With a name like “Splosion Man” I expected a dimwitted character with annoying repetitive catch phrases, and boy does Splosion man deliver!

Splosion man’s hook is that the character explodes to navigate the map while avoiding traps that crushed, slice, crunch, shoot and douse you in water. Splosion man can be best described as Sonic the Hedgehog mixed with a "special" kid playing with a match and dynamite, except that would be an insult to Sonic and "special" kids everywhere. Let’s start the review.

Art Style – SHINY! SHINY!
The art style in Splosion Man is very well done, it's cartoony and colorful world gives the player a hint of a much larger and interesting world. Bouncing from one platform onto a wall and then super “splodein” off a barrel into the face of a mad scientist looks like a Saturday morning cartoon!

Sound – YES, it had sound.
Not much can be said about the sound. The music is downright forgettable, the menu sound effects are horrible and the character’s ramblings, although humorous at times, tend to lose their charm by the 16th time they’ve said it.

Controls – YEAH! It works!
The highlight about Splosion Man is that the controls are tight, pulling off trick jumps from wall to wall can be done with pinpoint accuracy. That being said it really doesn’t take much to design a game that utilizes the advanced mechanics of moving left, right, up and down… oh and “Splode ”.

Game play – Oh look, it’s another wall to bounce off… zzzzz
This is where the game takes a nosedive. Splosion man is the very definition of “repetitive game play”. Since all the maps are designed the same there is NO difference from bouncing off the wall on level 1 as level 12.

As the player progresses through each level a new object is introduced to increase the difficulty. This usually involves a new barrel to "Splode" off of or a new trap or weapon being pointed at you by the evil clones that populate the world.

To call Splosion Man a "puzzle" game is a downright lie, the only puzzle you’ll get is whether the user should splode 3 feet, 5 feet. If you’re looking for a challenging puzzler, this isn’t it.

Splosion Man does come with Multiplayer which groups 2-4 players and allows users to work together to navigate the levels. In theory this sounds promising, but, like the rest of the game, its poor design and downright horrible interface makes multiplayer a frustrating and painful experience. DO NOT TRY TO PLAY THIS ONLINE! You will use the controller as a blunt object to pound that sensation of frustration out of your head! Luckily the designers set all the controllers face buttons to “splode” so, while you’re beating yourself stupid, you’ll still be progressing through the level.

Conclusion: - Meh…
Splosion Man had the making of a great puzzle game, but with poor design and simpleton puzzles the game falls flat on its face. For $10 this game leaves you feeling abused and bored.