'Splosion Man

'Splosion Man is a platformer where you play a man (?) that can 'splode to deal damage to people, turn scientists into meat, and jump around.  That's really all there is to it.  You're pretty much just using one button for the whole game.  Seems pretty simple then, right?  Well, you'd be surprised how much you can accomplish with just one action.
 
The game does a good job of introducing new mechanics without having to go through a tutorial or anything.  You 'Splode a barrel of green ooze and realize that it sends you flying to a specific location; you walk through some mist and notice that you can't splode when you're inside of it.  I think that the fact that it doesn't take you long to learn any of the mechanics introduced is great because you can focus on 'Sploding instead of being dragged through tutorials.
 
The levels in 'Splosion man focus on moving from one checkpoint to the next while progressing through mini obstacle courses that I like to call set pieces.  When done well, these set pieces are great.  You'll splode off one barrel that gives you enough height to hit another barrel to send you flying onto a platform that you have to hang off of to avoid a laser beam.  When these set pieces are done well, they are a ton of fun.  The issue is that some of these are not crafted as well as they could be.  If it takes you a few tries to get through a set piece, I think that it's fine and has to do with just learning what you need to accomplish; however, if it takes more than 15 or 20 tries to get through a set piece, I think it may have just been designed poorly.
 
My only other complaint is the length of this game.  I think that if the developers had pruned it down to 35-40 levels and just tightened up thoss, it would have been a more enjoyable experience.  The game just kinda dragged on and seemed to reuse a lot of set piece ideas while just making them longer or a little more complicated toward the end.  There are only 3 bosses in the game, and they are all pretty enjoyable.  The last boss especially is a ton of fun and just looks crazy.

'Splosion Man is a really fun (albeit frustrating at times) game that capitalizes on some pretty unique platforming concepts, but I just got tired of the game at a point where I still had 10 or 15 levels left.  It's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for a unqiue and challenging platforming experience.