Stegersaurus can be a bit hit or miss for a lot of people, but they’ve released a lot of XBLIG games, including many I found worthy of review (such as Death Closet, “Lots of Guns”, “Tank Strike”, “Mega Monster Mania”, “This is Hard”, “Baby Maker Extreme 2”, and “Battle Beat”).
I was finally tempted to try “Blow Me Up”, and this game is no miss, it’s a neat 80 Microsoft Point game that both borrows from, and innovates on top of, games like ‘Splosion Man and its sequel Ms. ‘Splosion Man, though those games can also trace their lineage further back.
The game is broken into three types of levels: those that have you puzzling how you can explode yourself to the exit make up the bulk of them, and those are the levels most reminiscent of the ‘Splosion Man games. But there’s a whole second type, where you have to not only figure out where to explode yourself to propel your character around the level, but also have to strategically take out barnyard animals while you do it. Finally, the game offers a nod to replay value with a sandbox-ish level at the end that lets you screw around with the game’s physics and explosion mechanic.
Speaking of screwing around, the game has you on a quest to save a blow up sex doll, or something along those lines. The game’s title, “Blow Me Up”, is even a double entendre. I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to that, or other elements of juvenile humour, but I know there are people out there who will appreciate it. I think the game is enjoyable enough on its own merits, whatever your opinion on the humour, hence today’s review.
Here’s what the developer (Stegersaurus Games 2) has to say about the game:
“Proof that dynamite is the solution to all the world’s toughest problems.”
P.S. Seriously, just go buy “Battle Beat” right now. Brightest hidden gem in the entire indie games catalogue IMO.
Writings of Mass Deduction 