XBLA Retrospective Part II - 'Splosion Man/Ms. 'Splosion Man

I figured it was worth lumping these two games in together as they are both very much worth your time!  I played through both of them when they were first released and they are honestly some of the best downright fun I've had in this generation of games.  You'll not find any tearful cutscenes or Hans Zimmer scores here - what you will find is cheap comedy (Arnie impressions and blowing up fat guys) and really really good platforming.  And explosions.  Lots of explosions.

The basic premise is that you ('Splosion Man or Ms. 'Splosion Man) are the result of a science experiment gone wrong.  You are essentially a bundle of energy shaped like a person that will explode with very little encouragement.  You use this "talent" to make your way around the levels in two ways, firstly it acts as your ability to jump - secondly it will acts as your only weapon in the game.  When you explode it throws you into the air acting as a jump, while in the air you can explode again to give you a double or triple jump.  You only store enough energy to do a triple jump, but you regain your energy when you land on the ground and you can refill your energy by sliding down a wall or going through a flame so there are times in the game that you spend a good 20 seconds jumping around without touching the ground - where one wrong move can be fatal.

That's another thing about 'Splosion Man - it can be very hard at times, but never unfairly so.  You usually know what you need to do quickly enough, but it's all about accurate timing and reflexes.  There are lots of incredibly challenging but fun puzzles to figure out along the way and there are more than 50 levels in each game so they will last you a long time.





In addition to the single player mode both games feature a co op mode with a whole new set of levels.  This is devilishly fun but at times incredibly frustrating.  Now you don't have to just get your own timings right, you have to get your timings in sync with your partner.  Luckily by pulling the left trigger you can kick off a three second countdown so that you can plan to execute your plan simultaneously.  This is a real lifesaver but still requires a lot of communication so is better suited to "couch co-op" rather than online - or at least with someone that you know.

In terms of differences between the two games, there aren't an awful lot.  The playstyle is exactly the same, but the sequel (Ms. 'Splosion Man) just does things on a much larger scale.  The puzzles are more inventive, the levels are longer and the art style is a lot more interesting than the slightly samey levels from the original game.





The only criticism I have of the first game is the boss battles can be a bit underwhelming and don't really match the rest of the game.  The mini bosses that feature in the middle of a few levels are much better and involve you being chased by a giant robot through an obstacle course with the hope that you can reach the end before he catches you and set off a laser to destroy him.  Intense and - there's that word again - fun.  The bosses in Ms. 'Splosion Man are much improved.

Admittedly I haven't played a lot of 2D platformers this gen, but Splosion Man/Ms. Splosion Man are probably my favourites of the bunch - they're cheap and you can get them without leaving your house.  If you're looking for a platform game or something you can play with your friends that are a lot of fun then definitely look them up.  If you were a fan of Earthworm Jim or the Ren & Stimpy games from the 90s you will love them.  Ms. 'Splosion Man is the better game all round, but 'Splosion Man can be had for cheaper and is still brilliant so that is probably the better choice if you aren't sure.  If you like it though you will absolutely love the sequel so try them both out!


_______________________________

Review: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

I only really got into the Ghost Recon games with the first GRAW as it came at a time when good games for the Xbox 360 were few and far between and having been a fan of the Splinter Cell games I thought I'd give it a go.  It was a good game but nothing spectacular and not overly memorable.  GRAW2 did a lot to improve on it without really changing that much, it really just refined everything.  I loved that game and the multiplayer was loads of fun, coming at a time when the 360 was Halo-less.  People complained it didn't feel like a proper Ghost Recon game but having never played one I couldn't comment.

Future Soldier feels a lot different from the Advanced Warfighter games so I've no idea if it feels more like a Ghost Recon game or less like one but my gut feeling is the latter.  As is the trend in games nowadays it seems to have gone more down the action shooter route than the tactical one so I'd imagine there would have been some disappointed fans playing through this game.  Here's the thing though - the action is absolutely fantastic!  The cover-shooting gameplay is honestly the most fun take on the genre that I've played.  The shooting feels accurate and thanks in part to the sound effects, feels realistic.  In a lot of cases your cover is fully destructable so although it will provide temporary respite, you'll need to pick off your enemies before they take you out.  The game also does a good job of keeping you suppressed if your cover is under heavy fire so you can't just pop up, take a few hits, shoot some people, take cover, regenerate health and repeat over and over again.  You need to pick your times to come out of cover carefully, especially when snipers are about, or you'll catch a headshot very quickly.



Having said that, the game isn't really that difficult.  I played on Veteran level on my first play through and although I died quite a few times I never got stuck on a sequence for too long, it was usually just because I did something stupid.  I'm not that good at shooting games either so I'd recommend this difficulty level to pretty much everyone that plays this game - especially if you're playing in co op.

I played the game solo and although your squad AI is pretty good (most of the game you're in a squad of four soldiers) I would imagine playing with a buddy or three would be the best way to experience the game.  On your own though you still have a lot of control over your teammates - your can direct them to certain places, mark out targets for them to line up a shot on while undetected or assign them an enemy to focus on while in full combat.

Marking out targets for a "Sync Shot" will feel instantly familiar to anyone that played Splinter Cell Conviction as it works in a similar way to that game's "Mark & Execute"mechanic.  The Sync Shot is only available if your squad is undetected and is a good way to either take out a good number of enemies before getting into a firefight or in the conveniently abundant number of occasions that there are only four targets you can take them all out at once and then continue on in your stealthy ways.  You use the right bumper to mark your targets and your teammates will automatically find a good position where they can line up a shot on their target while remaining undetected.  If you've only lined up three targets you can order your teammates to fire by holding the right bumper again, but you can mark a fourth target for yourself as well.  If you have four targets marked then the sync shot will be triggered as  soon as you take your shot, so line up a nice headshot and let rip.  Your teammates will also kill their targets if you mess up and get detected.

 

There's one level later in the game that you have to go it alone and it feels a lot like a stealthier version of Splinter Cell Conviction - so fans of Sam Fisher should enjoy that!

So far this sounds like an amazing game, right?  And in many ways it is, but unfortunately it's hampered by a couple of issues that tie into each other and really bring the overall experience down.  Firstly (though this is not unique to this game), the story and characters are completely bland.  In between levels you see the four Ghosts out of their suits in cut scenes, supposedly setting the story and giving you an idea of who they are.  The problem with this is that all four of them are completely unlikeable and lack any charisma - furthermore because they spend the cutscenes out of uniform and the whole game in uniform it's very hard to tell which character is which.  Honestly I went through about 70% of the game with absolutely NO idea which character I was actually playing as.  Since you're directing your team mates about the place I kind of assumed you were the soldier known only as "Ghost Lead", but you aren't.  I did figure out which character I was at some point but I've since forgotten.  The point is, the characters are so lacking that it doesn't really matter.  You do feel a bit of a bond with them when in the field, but they might as well just be called Soldier1, Solder2 etc.

The poor character development plays into my next issue with the game - the pacing of the levels.  You'll be either stealthing or blasting your way through a level, really getting into it and eager to get onto the next set of enemies and you get slapped with a cutscene.  Back to the action then 5 minutes later you're hit with one of those forced "slow walk" sequences which tries to be better than a cutscene by being "interactive" and forcing you to hold forward on the left stick while the four characters move forward very slowly while talking about not a lot.  Throw into the mix some very laboured door opening sequences to disguise loading screens and you start to feel quite frustrated.



The story is your standard "crazy russian guy wants to destroy the world" or something, but it's used mostly as an excuse to have you travel all over the world to a wide variety of locations, James Bond style.  This is one of my favourite things about the whole game - the different locations you visit are massively varied and all beautiful in their own way.  Too many shooters nowadays just have you trudging through a bunch of levels that feel and look very much the same as the last - not here.  You've got plenty of the standard level types - Jungles, woodland, remote army base, snow base, desert town - but they're all done really well and feel like a real breath of fresh air.  The graphics for the game's environments are fantastic and it really takes advantage of the brilliant lighting effects to set an engaging atmosphere.  The sound is also fantastic with realistic sound effects that make you feel like you're really in a firefight and a score that sets the tone.

If you're into 3D this game supports that as well, but don't get too excited.  The effect adds a good sense of depth without losing too much detail in the graphics, but because your HUD overlay is so in your face at times it can be a real chore switching your attention between that and the action.  As such I played 90% of the game in 2D.



So overall GRFS is a flawed game that at times can feel a bit of drag to play through - most of the time though it's an absolute joy to play through and I'd recommend it to anyone that's a fan of the Tom Clancy series or futuristic military shooters in general.

One last thing though - why in the fuck does it have two separate title screens?