Ms. 'Splosion Man
Review
A sequel to splode about
by Chris Priestman
reviewed on X360
You Had Me At Splode
Time to drop your linen and start your grinnin’ ladies! Ms. Splosion Man is here, so chalk one up for the girls, because this sequel is definitely a huge improvement over its male counterpart. Splosion Man was a crazy platformer that offered both a challenge and laugh-out-loud gameplay, but Ms. Splosion Man takes the legacy of Ms. Pacman, in which the original is much improved upon, with plenty of new gameplay mechanics and a lot more personality thrown in for good measure.
Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner
Ms. Splosion Man is a tooty-fruity cocktail blend consisting of plenty of oestrogen, pink fruit juice and rocks…for the rock hard gameplay, duh. Despite the girly makeover, Ms. Splosion Man actually feels exactly the same as its predecessor, and that is of course a very good thing, as this ensures smooth and finger-easy gameplay. Outside of the core basics of the game remaining the same, everything else has been pasted over with a delicious cream topping, with jam, and cherries…oh wait, why am I dreaming of cake? Probably because Ms. Splosion Man replaces the cake collectibles on each level from the first game with shoes. Yes, shoes. Not cake. Stereotypical you might say, but this is only the beginning of what is the most hilarious portrayal of a female character ever. Ms. Splosion Man is the result of gluing together every single female stereotype imaginable; from the dumb blonde, to the fashion whore, and even the gossiping ninny. As she skips across the levels causing utter destruction to the laboratories that created her, one is reminded of Dee Dee’s elegant chaos from Dexter’s Laboratory. Ooh, what does that button do?
By far the most gratifying switch up in this sequel is the change in environments. Those boring old labs from the original are instantly made more exciting with balloons and banners all over the walls – the scientists were celebrating the capture of Splosion Man. Following in the footsteps of Half Life 2 though, Ms. Splosion Man ventures outside to get rid of the claustrophobic interiors and replace them with a futuristic city and a holiday resort, to name a couple. Unfortunately, some of the backgrounds are quite ugly as they are just blurred out postcard pictures of paradise, not to mention how empty some of the environments feel. But those drawbacks are forgiveable when you are having this much fun in the foreground. The lack of clarity due to too many bright colours clashing with the faint pink glow of Ms. Splosion Man does become an issue at times. Only on two occasions was this a real problem; upon jumping over flying cars that blow up when you land making it hard to see; and while fighting the extremely colourful Octo Pussy boss. The difficulty in the latter mainly comes from barely being able to make out your lady in pink, and it gets a little annoying after dying several times because of this.
8.4
fun score
Pros
Feels as good as the first but is made much better with tons of new ideas. Co-op is still fantastic.
Cons
Graphics are at times ugly and backgrounds empty.
