Splosion Man's Twisted Vision

TwistedPixel, a small independent game studio has recently hit the big time by becoming the debut Xbox Live Arcade downloadable title available in Microsoft’s second annual Summer of Arcade. The game has become a relative hit simply by providing a solid platform experience along with a glut of content: 50 single player levels, 50 separate multi-player levels, and free unlockable gamer pics, theme, and avatar accessories (to be available with an update once the new Xbox dashboard is available).

For anyone who misses nostalgic platforming, in particular the old-school Sonic the Hedgehog games, this game provides welcome relief from the sometimes bloated game-play systems of first-person shooters and 3rd person action games. There are two controls: move and ‘splode. And yet, Twisted Pixel manages to coax out of these controls a game that contains remarkably little bloat. Every level provides either a new twist on an old mechanic or an opportunity to perfect a previously learned mechanic in a way that is inherently rewarding once it’s pulled off.

Most fascinatingly, Splosion Man provides insight into summer entertainment in general, simply by mocking it. This was first evidenced by the way in which the game was announced. Note the tongue-in-cheek April Fools press release:

Twisted Pixel Games, creators of the award-winning Xbox LIVE® Arcade title The Maw, announced today their plans for a new game – another heart-warming tale of courage and yes, even love. CEO Michael Wilford: “Screw that. Let’s just make a game where stuff blows up.” Creative Director Josh Bear: “Yeah, lots of ‘splosions . . . like a guy made out of ‘splosions, and he’d be like ‘splode ‘splode ‘splode! and then things die.”

Things Die?
“Yeah, but not like regular dying,” explained Art Director David Leung. “He’ll ‘splode people, and they’ll blow up into big steaks and ribeyes and stuff.” Lead Designer Sean Riley added, “Put it in a lab, with lots of glass to break. Then slow motion, and scientists diving away, being all like, Oh no, I can’t believe we made the ‘Splosion Man!”
Adds Sean, “But then they’d get ‘sploded too.”

A Game Rich in Tapestry of Story and Depth
No no no no. No. Just ‘splosions. We blow the whole budget on things getting ‘sploded.

Nothing Else?
What the hell else do you need?

The next day, a more serious press release made it clear that this was not a joke, or at least the fact that the game was a joke didn’t make it any less of a reality. And so, a game was created in which we are Splosion Man, a lab experiment gone wrong who is totally and completely amoral. The very definition of a psychopath, Splosion Man spends the entire game really enjoying destroying things and killing people. The game is fun precisely because the player views such things within this game world as neutral. They are only good or bad insofar as they bring us joy.

The simplicity of the controls solidify the player’s identification with Splosion Man by reducing distractions and enhancing the unthinking nature of the journey. The levels are designed to cause the player to focus on fast-paced problem solving, with constant ‘splosions rewarded at every chance. Once the player is well into the game, he is Splosion Man. He finds satisfaction not only in problem solving, but in creating “steaks and ribeyes and stuff,” merely by ‘sploding scientists. This could be a revenge mission. It could masquerade as a search for justice against corrupt scientists who created a monster as a result of unethical experimentation. But it’s not. It’s all for the sake of fun. Nothing personal.

This is all perfectly harmless, of course, simply because it is so ludicrous. But the incredible, self-aware hilarity of causing so much destruction and agony while being so oblivious is not far removed from much of the films, television shows, and general entertainment we take in without thought. Action movies, reality shows, sensationalistic news, celebrity feuds, and misleading advertisements all use and destroy real people for the sake of our entertainment culture. This is a inconvenient truth if I’ve ever heard one, but it’s a truth we must force ourselves to think about and deal with in a real way.

After all, in the real world the pain and destruction we cause is often hard to detect. It is often easy to tell ourselves we have nothing to do with it, that we’re merely taking advantage of what the world already has to offer. Of course, it’s often hard to tell ourselves such lies when our mouth is so full of delicious steak.