super meat boy
One of the first memories I have is of playing Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I can remember blowing the game cartridge to keep the game from crashing, the feel of the worn down buttons on my fingers, I can still hear the 4-bit soundtrack that would repeat over and over until it would drive my sister insane and I can certainly remember the unending stress I endured at attempting to get past that last deceptive last level. I remember the first day I completed Super Mario Brothers and how it ignited my passion for computer gaming, literally jumping into the air, not unlike how Mario himself would, and hugging my dad as a victory prize.
In the same way that older games were, Super Meat Boy is harshly unforgiving, it just makes it well worth the £6 you will part ways with to get your sweaty palms on this meaty gaming experience
So my dad may not have understood why I was so passionate about the fact I had transported a two dimensional character from one side of the screen to the other, but it appears the developers at Team Meat were completely understanding, when they developed their latest title, Super Meat Boy.
Super Meat Boy is developed directly from an online flash version game of the same name, coming from the masterminds Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. The game begins very much in the same way that Super Mario Brothers does. The protagonist, named Meat Boy, has his girlfriend Bandage Girl stolen away from him by the dastardly Dr Fetus. It is of course your duty as the controller of Meat Boy, to help him traverse the various two dimensional landscapes that are littered with traps, enemies and spinning meat grinders, to rescue your beloved girlfriend.
The artwork and design of the game is deceptively charming, with the cute looking Meat Boy often exploding into a pool of cartoon blood or being grinded into a pulp by spinning blades. The Smiling Meat Boy clings to the walls for a fraction of a second so you can plan your next leap to safety, that fraction of a second changes the dynamic of the game completely and benefits the player to no end.
For a platform game the action comes thick and fast, the buttons are incredibly responsive and mean that the only mistakes that are made can only be blamed on your own slow reaction times, no matter how much you scream at the television otherwise. This is just it with Super Meat Boy, the satisfying frustration I experience when falling into the same flame pit for the 450th time mirrors exactly how I felt when playing Super Mario all those years ago. The only difference is, when you finish the level on Super Meat Boy you get a wonderful replay of all your failings all in one cartoon blood filled 30 second clip.
In the same way that older games were, Super Meat Boy is harshly unforgiving, this just means that that the 350 levels you get with the game, available for download on XBOX live arcade, PC and MAC, take much longer to complete and make it well worth the £6 you will part ways with to get your sweaty palms on the meaty gaming experience.
Female First Edward Lewis