Ten years ago, a brilliant duo of game designers brilliantly dynamized the 2D platform genre by joining a new trend based on difficult assumptions and perfect frame input. A decade later, Team Meat, now having to learn to work without the right hemisphere (McMillen has been multiplying with some success since the projects), covers the table and hopes to offer cooking as bloody as the heyday of the tandem. But within ten years, eating habits have changed.
It is an understatement to say that despite all his impatience, your servant was waiting for the return of the indestructible piece of meat with the acronym: despite the split from Team Meat, which Tommy Refenes left in full power despite a development. who didn’t seem to know when to put an end to that, and even after a radical change in formula that could have cooled some enthusiasm.
Strength in numbers
After having known blood and bones to save its beauty, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl had plenty of time to celebrate their reunion by consuming their love with all the passion we imagine. A few fluid changes later, the young couple has to grapple with their hybrid offspring, Nugget, who reminds us that science is definitely full of mystery as the fruits of their union have rabbit ears that raise many questions. Whatever: Nugget will soon be found by Dr. Kidnapped Fetus to play a trick on us and provide us with a solid golden excuse to start the adventure all over again and raise the death counter. One kidnapping later, here are our two heroes ready to unravel more than 7000 levels, a score that is certainly honorable but which did not make Father Refenes’ task any easier, even though no one asked that much. Those who have ever got their hands on a strange cartridge with an astronomical amount of titles know that there is often behind figures that are so conspicuously cleared away … a wolf.
“Yes, one in twenty-five isn’t bad!”
It is impossible to ignore: Super meat boy forever frees itself from the formula of the previous opus to take the air offendless runner Not so endless that a, since each of the stages to be passed through nevertheless ends with an error Chinabloody before it goes on. So the freedom of yesterday is over: Now our heroes move forward independently, and it is up to the player to manage the color card of the jumps, attacks and other well-running wall races, which is already completely sufficient. given the myriad of chopsticks just waiting for your hemoglobin to glow. A change in the formula obliges, the first world takes on the atmosphere of tutorials and then the first hiccups appear when we discover text windows that intentionally hide the action, making us think that the rats are from home screens (in French only) sound like so many protruding nails, and one wonders how much Refenes wanted to avoid blowing out the tenth development candle.
The eagle of the holy hell groves
After a couple of levels just to warm up your thumbs up and familiarize yourself with the physics of the license, it is clear that many of the decisions made during a very difficult (and very difficult) development don’t seem to really be bearing fruit: First of all the mechanics Of the automatic race integrated into the shifts, it is nevertheless necessary to compose dealing with the strangest, if not to say questionable. In fact, the two main actions are from Super meat boy foreverThat said, the jump and a comfortable punch are triggered with the same button, which often confuses the action as the level design gets tough (and it gets tough, the guy) and increases frustration. Why did you have to assign the same button with so few actions to perform? Experts are still scratching their heads. The adventure would have been much more present with a well-differentiated management, and it will therefore be necessary to accept, to forego a comfort, but essential in order to hope to take advantage of the thousand and one freelancers who have the Machiavellian brain of the Refenes and his Troop of sadists have thought. Certainly the pleasant alternation of jumps, dives, attacks and slides in order to triumph over all dangers offers a few moments of exciting and enjoyable platform, but after how many mistakes in the recognition of counterintuitive ergonomics? If we want to be that demanding, we see ourselves not neglecting any aspect.
Pacifier calms down, yes, it calms down
With death waiting for our heroes at the turn, we still have to rely on the saving support of many checkpoints, which additionally have the advantage of restarting the stopwatch every time to avoid having to stop a run for a mess the last straight line. The fact is that finishing an internship is only a very small part of the work to be done, while one likes to find the presence of Dark Worlds, ancient portals, or prongs that one can (not without difficulty) pick up to always unlock any playable ones More characters where the bosses of the original mix with those of this weird sequel. At a time when some are demanding accessibility everywhere, Team Meat Monkey is their antagonist, proudly raising their middle finger at the slightest opportunity, while saws give way to deadly zones or platforms that emerge after a passage and that attempts to travel a few meters will be numbered in the tens, but not necessarily for the right reasons. If some shortcuts require an infinite finger of precision, then most stages too often require the path devised by the developers and too good to be creative. This feeling is also present in boss fights, nice but not that noticeable. Despite the feeling of triumph that comes with the success of certain passages, Super meat boy forever
Harder, (not) better, faster, stronger
And then the question inevitably arises about the numbers. Not that of the beast, no (though), but that of the crowd: was it really necessary to offer thousands of variations of the five main environments? Despite having multiple parties started with different backups, the answer is certainly … negative. Despite some reanimation of the evidence, the redundancy inevitably shows the nose, especially in portal areas, and we also wonder if it really is wise to start a second run when the first still poses many challenges. The dark world reveals itself particularly hardcore from the first level on. Given the ingenuity of Super Meat Boy, the level design of this sequel is barely convincing, while the random generation of elements sometimes gives the impression of traversing levels without me, far from the peaks of a decade ago. With attempts to go for 100% with deaths counting by the hundreds, one wonders if it wouldn’t be better to go back ten years and stick to the classics.
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