Ms. Splosion Man

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local, Online)

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Review:

Ms. Splosion Man is a Platformer originally released to Xbox 360 in 2011 as a sequel to 2009’s Splosion Man, with the name and concept clearly being a wink and a nod toward Ms. Pac-Man. And much as Ms. Pac-Man did, Ms. Splosion Man is a subtle evolution of the formula from the first game, not making any drastic changes but adding a bit more depth.

Visually, this game looks decent, with colorful, expressive, well-animated characters, although the game’s levels can seem a bit repetitive at times.

However, the most noteworthy part of the presentation here is the sense of humor running throughout the game, which fluctuates from “okay, this is amusing” to “… okay, this is starting to get to be a bit much”. The game is presented very tongue-in-cheek right from the genuinely funny tutorial, and the game’s major characters all have extremely explosive personalities… even the characters that don’t literally explode. However, whether or not these personalities will appeal to you is kinda’ a personal thing. Ms. Splosion Man herself, for example, is extremely manic and constantly spouting things off as you run around the levels, babbling stream-of-consciousness comments that seem patterned off of stereotypical “girly” stuff, even having her singing snippets of pop music… which you can either take as a fun parody of “girly” stuff, or be genuinely annoyed at the cartoonish stereotype. However, it won’t take long for you to start hearing these clips repeat, and even if you were amused by her girlish ramblings at first, before long you’ll probably want her to just shut up. I don’t mean to get too overdramatic here – it’s tolerable, and there’s enough variety in the “story” to keep things interesting, but I definitely feel like the game isn’t as amusing as it thinks it is.

As for the gameplay, much like with the first Splosion Man game, I tend to think of Ms. Splosion Man as being something like a cross between Donkey Kong Country and Sonic the Hedgehog… but with explosions. Ms. Splosion Man doesn’t have Sonic’s speed, but there’s definitely the same sort of energy propelling you forward through the game’s levels, and there’s definitely a skill to the timing of jumps to get through these levels that felt a bit like some of the tougher levels in the Donkey Kong Country games. There are definitely points that can get a bit repetitive, but for the most part things continue to be engaging throughout. Overall, this game is fun, challenging, not overly-cerebral, but not brainless either.

There are a few things that Ms. has that, if I recall correctly, weren’t in her guy’s title. There are new rail sequences, a new co-op mode complete with its own levels built around the feature, and even an unlockable “Two Girls, One Controller” mode that allows one player to play the co-op levels on their own, coordinating two characters’ movements. On the whole, I’d say this game’s co-op is pretty good, and just as much of a draw as the single-player campaign.

All told, Ms. Splosion Man is a solid Platformer. It can get a bit repetitive in places, and the amusing presentation does wear out its welcome before long, but overall this is well worth a look for fans of the genre, especially if you’re looking for a decent co-op game.

tl;dr – Ms. Splosion Man is a solid Platformer with good co-op and an amusing presentation, although that presentation can wear a bit thin before long. Still, this is definitely worth a look for fans of the genre.

Grade: B+

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