Video game number two hundred and ninety seven: Super Meat Boy

Video game review number two hundred and ninety seven in my 365 Games in 365 Days project is "Super Meat Boy".

Super Meat Boy is an awesome, retro arcade game...with 10 second levels and tons of re-playability.

The game begins with some old school cut scenes, explaining how you are Super Meat Boy, and your girlfriend is Bandage Girl, and how everyone hates your enemy (Dr. Fetus)..so he hates you. He captures your girlfriend and you embark on an endless journey to save her.

Each level is a puzzle, and they get progressively harder. The first one simply requires you to jump onto a platform to save your girlfriend (who is promptly stolen again). After that, you start to encounter fire pits, circular saws and all sorts of other classic video game obstacles between you and your princess.

As Meat Boy walks, he bleeds and turns the ground red. Dying immediately starts the level over again, and when you finally beat it, you'll see a replay of your performance..which includes every life you've spent on that level. That means if it took you ten tries, you'll see ten little meat boys trying to beat the level at the same time, sequentially dying off at the places you died..until only one remains. It's awesome.

Throughout the levels, there are bandages to collect (I'm not sure why), and warp zones to find. I found one of the warp zones and discovered a new character to play with, who has completely different physics than Meat Boy. Apparently, there are a ton of these new characters to unlock if you want to 100% the game.

I played through the first chapter (24 levels) and then started going through some of the "Dark" versions of those levels. Apparently, every level has a dark version, and when you enter that...it'll be the same basic level, but with many more saws and other obstacles. I think one hundred percenting this game is going to be incredibly challenging. Thanks to a good save system and really short levels, I also don't think it would be completely impossible.

Overall Score? 8.5/10. As far as Xbox Live Arcade games go, this is right up there with the best of them. The replayability here is....well, not unlimited, but insanely high. I've picked this up and played it several days since getting it, as it's fun to just attack a level at a time...or two or three in a play session. It's retro, the controls are awesome...and the story is pretty funny too. Definitely a must buy for anyone with Xbox Live Arcade.