Twisted Pixel
Ms. ‘Splosion Man takes inspiration from other well-established platformers such as Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country. The most obvious of those is the ‘Splosion Cannons found in the second level of the single player demo. Despite looking significantly more high-tech, they operated exactly like the barrel cannons spread throughout Donkey Kong Country. Some automatically rotate and fire while others require perfect timing to launch yourself. None of this is a bad thing though, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Another addition to Ms. ‘Splosion Man is an all new top-down world map, allowing you to choose your path through the story mode. This is incredibly reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3. Instead of being forced to progress through numerically, you can often jump around ever so slightly if you chose. There’s also a mall you can stop by to buy things with the coins you earn for completing levels. This includes concept art, movies, audio clips, photos, and a few exclusive items such as Twisted Pixel T-shirts or Ms. ‘Splosion Man gamer pictures. Again though, this has all been seen before in Twisted Pixel’s 2010 smash-hit Comic Jumper. Perhaps the most exciting part of that, however, is you may gain content for other Twisted Pixel games. Comic Jumper’s store featured additional levels for the original ‘Splosion Man, so it’s likely that Ms. ‘Splosion Man’s mall will do the same.
The most interesting addition is the new zip-lines placed throughout the levels. ‘Splosion Man has always been an incredibly fast-paced game, but these zip-lines speed things up to a Sonic like pace, forcing you to jump straight in and react as opposed to sitting back and figuring out precisely where you need to ‘splode. To help keep up the fast-paced action, all cinema’s now flow seamlessly with gameplay so there’s no down-time to bore you. The only downside is that occasionally you can’t tell when you should be watching Ms. ‘Splosion Man run, and when you should be making her run!
Ms. ‘Splosion Man features 50 new single-player levels and another 50 new multiplayer levels. If you’re suffering from poor internet or are just down-right anti-social, fear not, for Twisted Pixel has added a “2 Girls 1 Controller” mode, allowing you to play through the multiplayer levels using the left analog stick and left bumper to control once character while using the right analog stick and right bumper to control the other. Bogh also said “I think this mode is really unique, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it in any game before. It will also be great for anyone who was really good at ‘Splosion Man, because it will give them something different to get good at.” There’s no doubt this new game mode will take a little time to master, so it’s also a great challenge for anyone looking for something a little bit different from the norm. No matter how you decide to play, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be on your way to saving Mr. ‘Splosion Man when Ms. ‘Splosion Man releases this fall. If you can’t wait until then to get your first taste, check out the slideshow to the left for some screenshots.