Games: Super Meat Boy

Published on Sunday 21 November 2010 11:21

Super Meat Boy £7.99, Xbox Live Arcade, 800MS

From indie developers Edmund McMillen and Jonathan McEntee comes Super Meat Boy, an odd yet exemplary platformer full to the brim with expert design and a vicious difficulty curve.

Set over approximately 350 stages, players must rescue Bandage Girl while avoiding such brutal hazards as spinning saw blades, guided rockets and red-hot laser beams.

The key to beating each of these ruthless death mazes is timing and precise use of momentum. By running and picking up speed, players can sprint past obstacles, leap higher and further, and chain together wall-jumps. The precision required recalls early platformers such as Super Mario Bros, which is a clear inspiration for the creators. Each world is split into both light and dark variants, each playing home to hidden warp zones and cameo appearances by other indie game stars such as Tim from Jonathan Blow's critically acclaimed platformer Braid and The Behemoth's Castle Crashers.

Each guest star has special abilities that will help players manage hard-to-reach bandages which are used to unlock new characters.

While the difficulty may be teeth-gnashing at points, figuring out the trick behind each stage is gratifying. With welcome nods to such retro titles as Castlevania, Street Fighter and Zelda, fans of old-style games will lap this up. Also, the asking price pales in comparison to the replay value and length on offer. Super Meat Boy is one of the best bargains you'll find all year.