I’m the pleased with proprietor of an achievement for the Xbox 360 launch of Tremendous Meat Boy the place the intention is to finish a whole chapter with out dying. It’s one thing that I deliver up every time doable, as a testomony to my ability and dedication to mastering one of the crucial irritating (and satisfying) trendy platformers of a technology.
So when the chance to hop right into a demo of Tremendous Meat Boy 3D arose at this yr’s gamescom, I needed to do it. Would this be a wonderful return to kind for me, or a devastating fall from grace? Does this totally absurd, high-speed, high-stakes recreation work as properly in a three-dimensional setting?
The demo would have me consider that the reply is a convincing sure. Meat Boy’s plight is acquainted – he’s on a mission to avoid wasting Bandage Woman from the clutches of Dr Fetus, and every degree provides a slight uptick in issue as Meat Boy’s girlfriend is swept away every time.
Taking management of Meat Boy once more, even in his new, squidgy, 3D kind, ignited the muscle reminiscence of driving a motorbike – he strikes in a really comparable approach to the unique recreation and inside a number of ranges I used to be hopping, sprinting, wall-running and naturally, perishing like a professional. If these controls are lodged deep inside part of your thoughts, it’s going to really feel splendidly nostalgic, however don’t fret in the event that they’re not – all the things nonetheless feels intuitive and responsive, one other trick the unique pulled off.
Nonetheless, not like the unique, the 3D factor provides new layers of depth to every degree – in addition to shifting up, down, left and proper, Meat Boy now strikes forwards, backwards, diagonally – having to contemplate depth notion at warp velocity virtually makes Tremendous Meat Boy 3D really feel like a wholly totally different recreation. Precision is totally key in these moments, however there’s a forgiving factor – a circle beneath Meat Boy will mark the place he’s about to land on a floor, making these further dangerous leaps a bit of simpler to calculate.
Every degree is an impediment course, and your purpose is to get from the begin to the tip. Easy in principle, however there’s a brutal buffet of disruptive, violent boundaries between you and your misplaced girlfriend. It’s not simply tough jumps and avoiding falls – simply the opening ranges had me dodging chainsaw-wielding robots, large, poisonous cubes of slime stuffed with eyeballs, and Meat Boy’s well-known shifting wall saws, to call a number of. Whereas some hurdles felt seen sufficient to organize for, others took me by complete, annoying shock (and killed me immediately). Getting your butt kicked and studying for subsequent time is what made Tremendous Meat Boy so rewarding to beat – and that masterclass is introduced again so that you can retake right here.
And whereas a few of that is new, it wouldn’t remotely really feel misplaced if it had been squashed down into 2D kind and positioned inside the unique recreation, which looks like a testomony to how developer Sluggerfly is preserving the authenticity of Tremendous Meat Boy.
Tremendous Meat Boy 3D additionally appears nice, these environment – from dreamy inexperienced platforms to harsh industrial caverns – really feel acquainted in how they’re designed, however with a trendy, trendy aptitude. This new artwork model provides alternative for enjoyable new animation that actually brings the characters and environments to life – squirrels operating round with weapons, lava spewing down partitions, and naturally, many extra visceral methods by which Meat Boy can meet a swift finish.
All of the swagger and angle of the unique Tremendous Meat Boy is current right here – and it feels as if Tremendous Meat Boy 3D is constructed to iterate on its predecessor, not outperform it. That stated, for those who’ve by no means performed the unique, that doesn’t matter right here – the premise is obvious, and these opening ranges are designed to welcome newcomers into Meat Boy’s bizarre, unforgiving world, however the initiation received’t be straightforward. The demo is respectfully saying “welcome again to Meat Boy”, however there’s sufficient new concepts right here to make it really really feel like a successor value taking part in, for those who can deal with the frustration.
