The planet of Nibia is under attack by a threat named the Vortex, and all of the Nibian Guardians are out of commission. You are Explodemon, a Guardian held in cryogenic storage due to your instability. Not only are you barely able to control your tendency to spontaneously explode, but you hardly have a grasp on the English language. Faced with the greatest decision of their history, the Nibian elders would rather surrender before letting Explodemon run free. Despite their choice, a stray missile hits your cryogenic chamber, and you awake from slumber to find the city under attack. Explode now, and ask ridiculous sounding questions later!
Explodemon! is a little Mega Man X and a whole lot of Splosion Man. Your body is your weapon, and if you plan on saving Nibia and letting the universe know you're not just a guy in cool armor who has no grasp on grammar, you're going to have to use it well. Explodemon can jump, dash, slide on the floor or down walls, and of course, explode. The closer an enemy is the the center of your explosion, the more damage you'll do. As he progresses, Explodemon gains new abilities such as double jumping, phase-dashing, and aiming. Aiming is a slick addition, as you can precisely control where you want your explosion to send the nearest object, which most likely also explodes.
The stages are fairly large and well designed, not nearly as linear as you'd expect from a 2D platformer. Sure you can run through the level from start to end, but there is a lot of exploring to be done for the adventurous exploder. There are plenty of upgrades to find in each stage, however they only upgrade your abilities for that particular level. Though the first world was pretty easy, the bosses on the following worlds quickly ramp up their difficulty, so exploring the well thought out levels ends up being pretty beneficial. At the end of each level, you're given a rank and informed of what upgrade items you may have missed. The inclusion of a 'par time' along with the difficulty in securing a high rank makes Explodemon! a good time for those of us who like to speed run and set high scores.
Advancing through stages is done by meeting a few conditions. Most times, after a bit of platforming, you'll find yourself in a room with locked doors. The only way to continue on is by either destroying all enemies on screen, or solving a puzzle that ranges from easy to pretty damn challenging. Most puzzles are in the vein of exploding a colored block into its corresponding slot, or exploding an exploding block next to a destructible trigger. Of course, string a few of these together, along with something such as instant death acid pits, and things can get a bit tricky. As you destroy enemies and objects, you earn currency which can be spent at the shop between stages to upgrade Explodemon in 6 different ways. Each upgrade has a few levels which adds to their effect. You know what they say, a fully upgraded Explodemon is the best kind.
The story is told between worlds through comic-panel-styled moving pictures, which give a slight sense of animation, but not too much. Explodemon is hilarious when he interacts with other characters during the story scenes and in gameplay, as he throws off both enemies and allies alike with his sometimes profound, but mostly dimwitted use of language. There is even an instance where he mentions a "bangbus". Oh my Explodemon, keep your mind out of the gutter!
The art of Explodemon! is unique to say the least. The main characters are 50% cute, 50% bad ass. I like the quirky style Curve Studios used for Explodemon and his rival, Absorbemon. The enemies of Vortex you face though, are nondescript to a fault. There's probably 5 or 6 different types of enemies throughout the entire game, each with 2 or 3 color swaps to scale with their difficulty. It would've been nice to see some more unique enemy designs, at least on par with Explodemon's interesting style choice.
My biggest gripes with this game are the controls and sound design. I really REALLY hate playing a side-scrolling platformer with the analog stick, but that's the only option Explodemon! offers. Sure, using the analog is handy when in aim mode, but at all other times, I'd rather use the directional pad. Aside from that, it also seems the controls aren't always as responsive as I'd like them to be, especially when there's a lake of acid rising from the ground and I need to explode my way up a treacherous gauntlet of floating platforms, flying enemies, and turrets. Death due to control woes happened on more than a few occasions, and it never gets any less frustrating.
Explodemon's sound design is also a bit of a sore spot. It seems like the mixing is a little off at times, at some points the music was much louder than the sound effects, at other points certain sound effects would drown out all others as well as the music. Odd. Levels for the music and effects are adjustable in the options screen, but but default these should be at a harmonious mix. On the topic of the music, it's actually quite catchy, and reminiscent of something you'd hear in a SNES or Genesis game that Explodemon! pays tribute to. Unfortunately, the track loops are awful, and I'm always able to hear where the track renews itself. It might not be too bad to the average ear, but I love me some music editing, so hearing that split-second stutter where the track loops makes my heart explode.
All in all, Explodemon! is an enjoyable and humorous throwback to the games of yesteryear. I beat the it in a little over 3 hours, and I did not even come close to hitting Curve's suggested par times, or 100% completion on each world. The seasoned speed runner could get through the game much quicker, and the completionist would probably take an hour or two longer than me. Either way, for a $10 PSN title, Explodemon! is worth the money.
Buy it if: You miss old school platforming, you want to introduce your kids to old school platforming
Dont buy it if: You can't 2D platform with the analog stick
The Score: 7 outta 10 blasters!
