Ms. Splosion Man is a platform video game developed by Twisted Pixel Games, and was released on Xbox 360 on July 13, 2011 as well as Windows Phone. It is the sequel to 2009's 'Splosion Man. The game takes place directly after Splosion Man. In the celebration of 'Splosion Man's capture, the scientists behind his creation accidentally create Ms. Splosion Man. The gameplay draws most of its core elements from its predecessor, but adds new gameplay mechanics such as jump pads and riding on rails.
The game was generally very well received by critics. Aggregate websites GameRankings and Metacritic report scores in the 85% range. Individual scores ranged from a 60% approval to multiple perfect scores. Critics generally felt that the game was a great expansion and improvement over the original. The game's humor was also lauded. Criticisms included long load times between levels and increased difficulty over the original Splosion Man. The game sold over 70,000 units as of year-end 2011.
Ms. Splosion Man was released on November 22, 2018 for Nintendo Switch.
Gameplay
Ms. Splosion Man shares much of the same gameplay with its predecessor, 'Splosion Man. The character is made entirely of explosive material. The aim of the game is to "splode" through a series of levels consisting of puzzles, traps, and enemies. A splode is effectively a jump, and can also be used to kill enemies, such as scientists and robots, demolish walls, detonate explosive barrels or trigger other effects.
Various new gameplay elements have been added to Ms. Splosion Man, including energy rails on which the protagonist can ride, and cannons that toss her in specific directions, some of which can be controlled by the player. The game features both single-player and multiplayer cooperative campaigns, each including levels set in the outside world. Also new to the game is a mode known as 2 Girls 1 Controller, which enables a single player to play through the cooperative campaign controlling both Ms. Splosion Man and 'Splosion Man simultaneously.
In response to player feedback about the first game's difficulty, Ms. Splosion Man contains an overworld that clearly marks each level's difficulty and allows players to skip more difficult levels if they so choose. Twisted Pixel CEO Micheal Wilford stated that the overworld map was inspired by Super Mario World, and that it contains similar secrets such as secret exits.
Synopsis
Following from where 'Splosion Man left off, 'Splosion Man is finally captured by Big Science. As the scientists celebrate in their lab, one scientist inadvertently spills a bottle of liquid onto some electrical wiring. This causes a surge of energy to flow to a nearby experimentation platform where a yellow bow is falling. As the bow touches the platform the surge of energy is released, and Ms. Splosion Man is created. For the first time in the series the character will escape the fictional Big Science facilities and venture out into the world.
Development
Ms. Splosion Man was announced on December 3, 2010 via a press release and teaser trailer. Josh Bear of Twisted Pixel Games said: "I think with Splosion Man a follow up was something we really wanted to do, and that is why you never saw DLC for that game. We could have churned out new levels, but we wouldn't have had the time to add in new gameplay puzzles or cool new character stuff. But we didn't just want to do Splosion Man 2, it had to be something a little more interesting. That is why we decided to do MSM". The team chose a female variation on 'Splosion Man as an homage to Ms. Pac-Man, which, according to Bear, the game pays homage to. Bear continued by explaining that as Ms. Pac-Man was an improvement on Pac-Man so Ms. Splosion Man is meant to be an advancement on Splosion Man. He stated the goal was to ensure that the game "stands out on its own as a much bigger and better game overall, not to be confused as an over-priced DLC pack which I think a lot of retail "sequels" can be a lot of the time". The game runs on Twisted Pixel's BEARD engine, which has been used to power all of their titles.
Twisted Pixel stated that their desire was to keep the game character driven. CEO Micheal Wilford said: "Everything is character based. The thing that matters to us is that hopefully there's a memorable character that makes you laugh, cause no one makes games like that anymore". One of the ways in which they do this is with pop culture references. For example, if the controller is kept idle long enough Ms. Splosion Man will do the Macarena, a popular dance from the 1990s. Additionally the character will quote movies and other references as the player navigates through levels.