Trial and Terror
Good mechanic
The main platforming part of 'Splosion Man works really great. The triple-jump invites speedy action where wall-jumps, triggering explosions and juggling yourself between platforms is part of the great fun the game delivers. With a large dash of black humour in the mix, things start off very well.Poor design
While the levels are imaginary and plenty, they demand way too much trial and error, and soon the entertainment turns to frustration. There are several checkpoints to a level, but they are placed horribly, making you replay the easier, slower and growingly tedious parts over and over again before getting another retry at that last hurdle. Frustration grows further as too many deaths are due of the game's fault and not your own, either by level design that's impossible to complete on the first try or by controls that aren't as tight as they need to be.I do welcome a challenge and platform games should include hardcore parts, demanding near flawless execution, but when finally reaching your goal only leads to a sense of relief and no reward, something is dead wrong.
Pros & Cons
+ Triple-jump mechanic allows good platforming fun- Constant trial and error spoils the fun
- Bad level design leads to many cheap deaths
