Ms. Splosion Man Preview

As a huge fan of the action puzzle platformer Splosion Man (check out the review here), I was naturally excited to hear that Twisted Pixel was working on a follow up. Creatively named Ms. Splosion Man, this time players fill the stylish pumps of a newly created Splosion woman. Recently, I was given the opportunity to try out some snippets of the almost finished game from the beta version.

The first thing I noticed about Ms. Splosion Man was the distinct style from the first game was still maintained. Twisted Pixel is known for their unique brand of humor, and there was no shortage of laughs in the menus, boot up screens, even the Beard Engine promo at the beginning. I was able to watch the intro movie to the game. The Splosion Man we all know and love is recaptured by the scientists, who proceed to party. While celebrating their victory, they accidentally create another splosion person, a Ms. Splosion Man. And of course, as splosion people do, she escapes.

The first thing Brittany and I did was try out the multiplayer. Not much has changed from the first game in terms of concept. Two splosion women need to work together to platform through environments and reach the end of a level. While one player hits switches, the other can go through doors. There is even more sploding off of one another to reach higher platforms. Aside from the new gameplay elements (which I’ll talk about later) there wasn’t much new to speak of. But this wasn’t a bad thing, as it was a still a blast to play. Although Brittany and I did notice that the difficulty seemed to be a bit harder. That or we were simply out of practice.

Single player is where I noticed the most changes in Ms. Splosion Man. While the gameplay stayed the same, the game feels more cinematic. During transitions of level segments the camera pans and flows, and the whole experience brings the player in more than the first game. For example, one level had my splosion lady being chased by a boss. This actually lasted for quite a while, and delivered a sense of urgency to my traversing the level. Eventually there would be sections where I would need to interact with the boss to continue running. But eventually it cornered me and I had to fight it. The fight was typical splosion man fare, blasting barrels and avoiding its attacks. But at the end of the fight the game shifted into a God of War style quick time event that had me taking out the boss in a cinematic fashion. This was actually really cool, and funny, and added a lot to the gameplay. I’m excited to see what more Twisted Pixel has in store for the game.

World Maps now grant access to the levels.

Other new gameplay additions are trampolines that were placed around that you could bounce off of, preserving your splosions until you reached peak height. Another new feature I encountered was a catapult blaster thing, which I can compare to the barrels of Donkey Kong Country. Some blasted you instantly, while others you can control when you are shot out, and what direction. There were also zip-lines, which allowed quick travel around, and made the game feel very fast in certain segments. The last major change came in an obvious nod to classic Super Mario Bros games, a level selector via world map. Here you can choose the level you want to play, and go back to play older levels. This also allows for branching paths, and Twisted Pixel has hinted that there will be hidden levels to be found by alternate exits throughout stages. I’m excited to see what kind of depth and replayability this will add to the game.

Overall, the quality of the game was really looking sharp. The humor is still top notch. Brittany and I were laughing at Ms. Splosion Man’s one liners. It’s hard to tell if the game is sexist or not (you no longer collect cake, but shoes, which she wears for the remainder of the level), but Brittany never seemed offended. And more importantly, the gameplay felt tight and polished. We look forward to getting our hands on the finished Ms. Splosion Man when it comes to XBOX Live Arcade later this year.