Years ago I played a challenging flash game called “Meat Boy”, in which you had to speed-run levels, avoiding obstacles. Later, a sequel would be released across multiple platforms, and from what I heard it was a good game. I never found out because I never played it. Well, it turns out that it ended up in my Steam Library somehow.
The story of Super Meat Boy is simple: Meat Boy is spending time with his lover, when his jealous nemesis decides to punch her in the face and kidnap her for himself. This is the setup for our game. You need to save the girl. It’s a simple and effective setup – the moment you start the first level you immediately know she is the goal.
The basic gameplay behind Super Meat Boy is a speed running platformer. You have to jump to the goal, avoiding obstacles, and sometimes racing against the clock. Meat Boy can run, jump, and wall jump. And that’s everything you need to know to play the game.
The gameplay can be punishing. You need to practice over and over if you want to get good at this game. But it never feels overwhelming. The game’s mechanics are slowly teased and introduced as you progress. The first time you see spinning saws they are embedded in the platforms, unable to harm Meat Boy. But your brain knows they are coming, and subconsciously (or consciously) you are prepared for them when they finally appear.
You will find yourself dying a lot. Whether falling out of the screen, or spraying blood everywhere as Meat Boy is ripped to shreds, you will get used to death. As soon as Meat Boy dies, the level restarts. By throwing you right back into the action like this, the game is encouraging you to keep playing, to practice.
The game is divided into worlds consisting of 20 levels each. After finishing all 20 you will have to fight a boss. The boss fights are incredibly well designed, pushing the obstacles you’ve learned so far to the limits. They are challenging and feel like a genuine fight, but you don’t need to use any special skills. Run. Jump. Wall Jump. That’s all you will ever need.
The game also has a lot of hidden secrets. If you do a level well, you will be awarded A+ for the run. After achieving this you will unlock access to the Dark World version of that level, a much harder challenge for masters of the game.
You can also find warp zones which will let you play different invented versions of the game. From retro-style, gameboy-style, and others I’ve yet to discover. Some of these warp zones are based around a specific character from another video game. If you complete these you will unlock that character and be able to use them to finish levels. My personal favourite is the head crab from Half Life.
And yet, despite all the praise I’m giving this game, I don’t like it. I’m not saying it’s a bad game. It’s an excellent game. Given the reviews and praise it gets, and it’s overall popularity, it is a fantastic game. A perfect challenge for hardcore platformers.
It’s just not a game for me. I don’t find it fun to be frustrated over and over failing a seemingly impossible level. The reward being I get to now play another level that’s going to frustrate me over and over. I guess I just lack the patience.
So while this is a game I would recommend people try, especially if they like ultra hard twitch platformers, it’s not made for a gamer like me.
