Explodemon PSN – Review- PS3

For an indie developer, getting a game on the market can be one of the hardest things to do. A lot of times, a great idea is scrapped or put away in a drawer due to low funding among other factors. Chances are they release a smaller funded game, which again, most of the time is great but likely doesn’t stack up against their main idea. Indie developers tend to have small development teams as well, but, with a small team, ideas are able to flow through the team easier. After reading the full story behind Explodemon, hearing some of the struggles Curve Studios had during the development, and the subtle similarities to Splosion Man, I could tell this was a platformer I would love. On a first playthrough, my excitement was quickly drained and filled with rage, but with multiple playthroughs, the excitement started to come back. Why did I not like it at first? Why did my opinion change over  time?

Story: The world, Nibia, is being attacked. The last known solution to the world leaders before surrender is the release of a genetically altered guardian, Explodemon. However, this super weapon guardian is incomplete and releasing it would likely do more harm than good. Unfortunately, or lucky for the leaders depending on how you look at it, a stray missile hits the storage tube that Explodemon is in and he escapes. With guidance, Explodemen sets out to save the world. From who? – Absorbemon, another genetically altered guardian who seems to have been corrupted.

Gameplay: Normally when you play a game, especially one you have high hopes for going into it, you expect to be drawn in right at the start. With Explodemon, I had a hard time really “getting” the game. As an action platformer, Explodemon is really well done. Controls are fluent, and various offensive and defensive moves are available. Explodemon’s main way to attack is by a single explosion, but this explosion can also be used in combination with a dash to take out multiple opponents or combined with jumps to reach greater heights. All this is quite fun. However, and even though I said the controls were fluent, I had some trouble with the way Explodemon would manoeuvre. Wall jumps for instance weren’t as fluent as I had hoped. Aiming boxes can be finicky and inaccurate. A lot of this may have been because of the recharge rate for the explosions. You have to wait a few seconds before you can explode again. It’s not something I am used to but over time I was able to master it.

Levels can be massive with many little secret areas that contain little puzzles and usually reward the player with an Explodicon. There are 10 Explodicons throughout each level. Obtaining all 10 will give the player an overall S rank. These Explodicons are hidden quite well because in most levels, I sit at an A or B rank with only 8 or 9 collected. Depending on how you play, levels can take a while to complete due to their size and collectable items, but for speed runners, levels can be completed in minutes, which is pretty ridiculous considering some sections are blocked off until you defeat a certain number of enemies.

My biggest gripe with this game is with the main villian Absorbemon. He is the only boss type you encounter since he runs away. You come across him multiple times in the various levels and although the level layout changes giving you different strategies to defeat him, he himself doesn’t change. Absorbemon, as his name suggests, is an entity that can absorb. At all times, he has an absorbing barrier around him so you can’t just explode in his face. Instead, you have to dash through him or explode boxes in his direction. Another attack he has is a laser that will track you as you move around the level. And a third attack is the ability to draw you closer to him. If you get hit by the laser or are drawn too closely to him, he will absorb your health. I don’t mind too much that he absorbs your health, but the fact that he can regain full health is a little unfair. With the health bar, both you and he have certain levels that can be reached. For Explodemon, these levels give him increased strength and such. During the boss battles, Absorbemon can regain health to a maximum amount set by the world level. I wished that if you reduced his health to a certain level and below, he would only regain health up to that level and not beyond. But no, he can regain it up to the maximum amount again. This makes the boss fights longer than necessary at times and very unfair. With a good strategy, he is really easy to beat, but with a seemingly random travel pattern, it can be tricky to predict his next move and get ahead of him. Another thing I found annoying was the lack of separation between the levels and the boss. If you feel like giving up, be prepared to redo the whole level over again before getting to the boss section. A way to save before the boss fight or have the boss sections separated would have made sense to me. I know the levels can be fairly short, but there were times when I had to quit part way through or wanted to take a break from the boss.

After scaring away Absorbemon during each encounter, you are given a new upgrade item which includes a new move for Explodemon. These upgrades slowly and progressively increase the fun of the game. By destroying objects and enemies in each level, you are given credits which can be used at the shop to buy enhancements for Explodemon. I didn’t notice much of a difference after buying them. I mean, I notice a bit of a difference as some things were easier, but it wasn’t a huge noticeable increase.

Graphics/audio: The graphics in Explodemon are bright, colourful and vibrant. The models seemed almost clay-like but with more of a defined or polished shape. Explodemon’s character design definitely seems to draw inspiration from Mega Man though. Cut-scenes are presented in a Comic style with illustrated panels and bubble dialog. Occasionally the dialogue would disappear too fast giving barely any time to read. I’m a fairly fast reader, but some of the dialog was up for what seemed like 2 seconds before disappearing. The game has a serious but also comical tone. Explodemon for instance sounds dumb and broken. He Speaks Engrish.

Overall: I usually really enjoy a good platformer. Explodemon definitely has elements of good platformers but at times it felt like too much was going on at once. There are a lot of great ideas in Explodemon that are inspired by other platfomers, but at the same time, Explodemon can be consider something completely different and enjoyable all on its own. I liked Explodemon, but I had trouble with many things. After a first playthrough, I thought I was ready to write my review and at the time, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I was told that if I continued playing, trying to master the controls and get an S rank, I would really enjoy it. So I did and to my surprise, after continually playing, I really found myself enjoying Explodemon more. The more I played it, the more I loved it and my opinion completely changed. Although replaying the levels isn’t necessary, and generally, the idea of playing them again seems repetitive, I had a lot of fun and didn’t notice too much repetitiveness even after my 3rd playthrough. With so many ups and downs during the development, I’m impressed and happy with what Curve Studios was able to accomplish.

Pros:
-Great fluent controls
-Comical dialog
-Very little repetition after many playthroughs

Cons:
-Takes some time to really like the game
-Repetitive and unfair boss
-Jumps can occasionally be frustrating

Overall score: 7.5/10

A PSN code for this game was provided from the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Popularity: 6% [?]