Being able to conquer levels that previously seemed impossible is an exhilarating feeling, and the ease with which you become proficient is a testament to how precise the controls are and how meticulously designed the levels are.ĭeath is commonplace in Super Meat Boy. But once you figure out the timing to succeed, you can pull off even the toughest moves with a good degree of consistency. You may try and fail a few times, maybe even a few dozen times, without any idea what you're supposed to do. The first time you enter a level, you may be presented with a jump that seems impossible. One of the most impressive aspects of Super Meat Boy is how you learn and adapt while you play. There is a delicate balance on display that ensures you're pushed to the limits of your skill without becoming frustrated. ![]() The usual tricks you would expect in a 2D platformer are here-such as spinning saws, lava pits, and shooting blades-but they are positioned in such intelligent ways that the game is extremely challenging without ever feeling cheap. The level design in Super Meat Boy is absolutely stunning. The bosses are equipped with their own deadly weapons. But because the game holds your hand early on, you build up the skills you need to tackle anything the tricky later levels throw at you. If Super Meat Boy started out harder, or if the difficulty spiked rapidly, it would serve as a slap in the face to all but the most determined players. The execution is brilliant because it introduces you to everything you need to know while giving you the confidence to overcome any obstacle that stands in your path. ![]() The difficulty curve is incredibly smooth, giving you a taste of upcoming dangers early on but making sure you can pass these stages without much trouble. You learn your basic moves in punishment-free levels to get accustomed to how your movement feels before the real trouble begins. Super Meat Boy is one of the most difficult games around, but it starts out innocently enough. Because he responds to your every command immediately, you can tear through levels as fast as Meat can run without worrying about the controls slowing you down.Īnd you need ultraprecise controls to get through the deadly dangers that await you. Super Meat Boy can sprint with the best of them, and though it might seem crazy to hurl yourself at breakneck speeds through these deadly traps, it's not a problem here. The extreme nimbleness of your character makes it a cinch to quickly leap straight up one wall, bounce smoothly between two adjacent ones, and even contort your trajectory in midair to avoid an obstacle while you make your ascent. The titular hero jumps with such precision that you're always in complete command of your actions. Within seconds of diving into the first few levels of this daunting adventure, it's clear that your onscreen movement is amazingly responsive. ![]() In theory this makes it infinitely replayable, a fount of continual, unpredictable challenge – but it loses so much in the transition that I didn’t feel like returning to it.By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot'sĮverything in Super Meat Boy begins with the controls. The levels are now randomly generated, with enemies and layouts that remix themselves every time you start a new game. This time, Meat Boy (or Bandage Girl, the damsel elevated to a player character) moves under their own unstoppable momentum, and our job is to jump and dash at the right time. Super Meat Boy Forever was conceived as a smartphone-friendly version of the original, but over time it evolved into a sequel. It’s one of the most difficult games I’ve ever played, and yet I remember it so fondly – I can still summon the exact layouts of particularly cruel levels, and the rush I felt on conquering them. Mistime a jump and you’d explode in a splatter of red that stained the level, etching a record of your failures on the architecture. We’d take turns throwing ourselves at the latest torturous arrangement of spinning blades, lava, missiles and near-impossible wall jumps until we couldn’t take it any more, passing the pad around until someone finally made it one level further. T en years ago, attempting to conquer Super Meat Boy became a weekly ritual for me and my friends.
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