Meat Boy

Play through hundreds of platform levels as small boy made of meat.

Meat boy is a hardcore 2D platform game produced by Indie game developers Edmund McMillen and Jonathan McEntee. The game was created, originally, as a flash game drawn, programmed and drawn over the span of only three weeks. The game, now in more advanced versions has been released in Steam, Valves game distribution system and over Xbox live to critical acclaim. Lauded for it's massive amount of content, secret areas, unlock able characters and nods to other indie games, meat boy is widely seen as a great success.

Game Play

Meat boy is a platform game in the same vein as the classic Super Mario Brothers games produced by Nintendo. The player navigates Meat boy through a level strewn with hazards like saw blades, pit falls and floors that will fall away when touched. Meat boy navigates these hazards by running, jumping and wall sliding his way to the end of each level which is represented by meat boy's girlfriend, bandage girl. Some of the unlock able characters have unique powers, but for the most part players will rely on reflexes and split second timing in order to navigate meat boy to the end of each level. players have as many lives as needed in order to complete a level, except in certain secret levels where at times only a limited number of lives are available. Levels are separated into chapters, and completing a number of levels in each chapter will unlock a boss fight that, when beaten, will unlock the next chapter. Secrets can be found, bandage items can be collected to unlock new characters. Some secret areas can only be found by some using some characters and and some bosses can only be beaten by some characters. The game finds success by being simple with a ton of different options, secrets and variations.

Presentation

Meat boy has a a weird art style and a strange story. the characters themselves, Meat boy, Bandage girl and their nemesis Doctor Fetus are strange and add to the game. meat boy leaves a stain of meat juice everywhere he moves and players will be able to see every move they made in the level, regardless of deaths, until they beat the level. In a neat option, once a chapter is beaten, a player can watch all the play through of a level at the same time.

Pros

• Simple and fun platform game
• Tons of indie game pop culture references and inside jokes
• Huge number of levels, characters and content to play through

Cons

• Weird art style and content won't be for everyone