Slime-san: Superslime Edition is served as the ultimate version of developer Fabraz’s Slime-san, coming packed with heaps of additional extras and goodies. You wouldn’t think it at face value, but Slime-san is one hell of a well rounded 2D platformer. I wanted to get that straight right off the bat. The game includes all three of the major campaigns, new and exclusive content and extra features. This is all tied together by the game’s diverse pixel-visuals, its solid design and its accompanying, damn well addictive soundtrack. Simply put, it’s a winner.
By and large, if you enjoy the likes of Super Meat Boy, you’ll absolutely love what’s on offer here. However, with that being said, Slime-san sets itself apart thanks to its distinct gameplay elements; its unique dash, morphing and time mechanics. The aim of the game is to make it to the end of each four single-screen stage, with added collectibles and time-pars thrown in to add another layer of replay value. That’s not to mention its sprawling hubs and the ability to play the game again through New Game Plus. Seriously, it’s content galore.
Hell, simply aiming for the collectibles and the time-bragging rights alone, sends the game’s replay value through the roof. In any case, it goes without saying that there’s no shortage of content to soak up. The campaigns are split into three sections. There’s Mama’s Madness, Blackbird’s Kraken and Sheeple’s Sequel, all of which offer up their own challenging parameters. Superslime Edition also includes the aforementioned extra 10 exclusive levels in which players can take on the role of Grandpa-san himself. Let’s break down each offering.
In terms of story telling, I wouldn’t come into Superslime Edition expecting much in the way of a vastly intriguing plot. Don’t get me wrong, there are stories to be told, but nothing in the way of anything that will blow your socks off. Mama’s Madness sees you being swallowed by a giant worm in which you’ll need to platform your way through its insides to survive. Blackbird’s Kraken shares the same key format as Mama’s Madness, only this time around you’ll need to make your way through a Kraken’s insides before you’re inevitably digested.
Sheeple’s Sequel, however, sees the titular Sheeple believing that he’s an NPC in a game and does what most bog-standard NPCs do, gets in the way. Sheeple re-codes himself as a villain and it falls to you to overcome his tricky challenges. That finally leads us to those exclusive levels. These largely play out the same as the rest of the campaigns, but here, you’ll have access to a ‘Dynamic Color’ feature that lets you toy with the game’s color palette. On top of this, you’ll be taking control of unique characters that all play differently to one another.
There’s no gated content here, meaning that you’re free to jump from campaign to campaign however you see fit. Now, the core goal may sound simple on paper, but let me tell you, it’s a whole lot harder in practice. Those that relish the challenge of a tough-as-nails 2D platformer will feel right at home, but that’s not to say that newcomers are out of luck. Slime-san may well be a hard game to overcome in its entirety, but its difficulty curve does a good job at slowly letting go of your hand from the onset and before long, you’ll feel pretty confident.
Much like any other game of this standing, you can expect narrow platforms, plenty of environmental hazards, enemies and other like-minded obstacles that are purposely put in place to send you to an early doom. Outside of standard traversal such as movement, jumping and wall jumping, you’re also able to slow down time through the use of the phase ability, which doubles up as a mechanic that allows you to move through specific objects. This comes on top of being able to dash, which all combines for some very interesting moments.
The variety, even from level to level, is outstanding despite its visuals not changing much at all from the get-go. There’s even some cool additions to each level that will force you to run it quickly rather than taking your time. It helps, then, that the controls feel response and fluid at every flick of the stick or smash of a button. This means, regrettably, you wont be able to pin any deaths or faults on the controller. Nope, it’s human error alone I’m afraid to say. Throughout the course of the game you’ll be picking up those collectibles alluded to above.
These can be spent on new cosmetic items, filters, characters and even mini-games. These one player to two player mini-games often serve as fun little pokes to other well established game franchises, including that of a kart racer that’s suspiciously similar to (SNES) Mario Kart, a rip-off of Doom and more. The content doesn’t end there, ladies and gents, there’s even more modes to tackle, such as boss-rush and rhythm, as well as a fully customizable house at an island resort that can be altered via unlockable furniture. For its price, it’s a freakin’ steal.
I’ve always held Super Meat Boy in high regard. So much so that it stands as one of my favorite twitch 2D platformers of all time. I would be lying if I said that Slime-san wasn’t on par with that now that I’ve sunk several hours into its vast bundle of well developed content. Sure, it would have been nice to see more visual variety throughout, but with that minor issue to the side, this game offers up heaps of exciting ‘edge of your seat’ gameplay with countless hours worth of fun on top of that. I cannot recommend this game enough.
Conclusion
Slime-san: Superslime Edition is packed full of exciting and diverse content. Not only does this game cater for those that relish a 2D platforming challenge, but it offers a decent learning curve that’s suitable for newcomers too. The controls are tight and responsive, the game’s mechanics are unique and function well, though above all else, it’s fun, thrilling and addictive. For its price, this game is an absolute steal.
This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox One. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version.
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