There’s a deep irony involved with escapism; insofar as to it’s quality at least. As one escapes to escape the drudgery of reality, but then when the escapism is even more drudging, one then needs to escape back to the drudgery from whence they came,

The want to angry nap intensifies

After spending some time talking about a lot of the elements surrounding Super Meat Boy 3D (SMB3D), industry affairs and the frustrations that surround them, etc, I finally felt primed and ready to be in the headspace to talk more about SMB3D proper, but as I anticipated, it kind of ended up being a drag, quite honestly, as what exists to talk about in reference to the game was just kind of a painful reminder of what the game seemingly lacks, which isn’t necessarily what one wants to hear when discussing a follow up to what was an endearing experience, once upon a yonder.

I think what’s weird when talking about SMB3D, is that there isn’t a lot specifically and outstandingly wrong with the game, outside of my citation I made with my last article discussing the step-down of quality where the music is concerned, but I feel as if my elaboration on that was so on point, I won’t bother reiterating any of my thoughts in regards to the audio again. That aside, and regressing slightly to me scratching my head on where to begin with how SMB3D misses the mark, it all boils down to these hard to articulate moments that I don’t think a lot of people would even notice, as they all amount to blink and you’ll miss it instances overall.

I’m almost inclined to say the hypothetical conception process of the game involved something akin to “Checkbox Development Standardization”, where they literally just took an inventory of what they thought should be in a Meat Boy game, instead of taking the spirit of what makes a Meat Boy game, and building from there. This is a really bizarre metaphor, but in struggling to articulate my own thoughts on the matter, the idea of what the difference between Star Wars:, A New Hope and The Force Awakens entails sprang to mind. You end up having this nearly beat for beat replication of what made the first one memorable, and then more or less just rehashing the entire thing, but being so frightened that any new additions or major alterity to the formula would be so alienating and detrimental, you end up just rereleasing what is more or less the same idea, except this time the freshness and the novelty have already worn off.

Which, again, does point to the notion using that comparison process, there isn’t anything horryfingly abysmal that came out of that approach of replication, as those elements work they way they do because they are engaging on some level, and there is something to be said about reliable formula, but I think when one has absolutely nothing new to say, is when the formula starts to silently demand that there needs to be a reevaluation of innovation or extrapolation on structuralism of some sort, or else one just really has nothing new to say at all, which ends up making everything feel slightly played out and totally by the numbers.

Which, I guess makes sense, cause with Meat Boy, the title is pure gameplay, as there isn’t a whole lot else to really focus on. It’s certainly not the case that platformers can’t be visually appealing, as there are no ends of examples of the genre rocking our impressive visuals in all kinds of regards, and I think thats why when any platformer does surprise people with some cool visuals or art style, it is a genuine surprise, which is why they usually standout to people as memorable. SMB3D doesn’t really do anything with that, though. In fact, I think the original game had way more in the realm of varying visualizations and interesting graphical treats throughout, where as outside of the secret level parodies, everything is kind of trite visually speaking, with almost no serious eye candy to speak of.

Meat Boy has always maintained a sense of humor, and in that regard, the story of the game is more of a throwaway joke referencing the barebones standard of stories in older retro titles…which, you know, are pretty much non existent. So too, does SMB3D deliver similarly, in that there isn’t much plot to speak of, and no dialogue to boot, so writing quality is irrelevant, as well. Not that the game “needs them”, per se, I think it’s more a matter of being realistic about what the game does have that one can appreciate about it? And the list of authentic moments of pure satisfaction within the experience is a short one.

Which leaves one to fixate on what should be the saving grace of the game, in honing on on the one quality Meat Boy has unabashedly in spades: and that’s difficult platforming, which does remain true. However, due to the transition from 2D to 3D, and the unavoidable truth of what is lost in the transition of adding a whole other dimension, one of SMB3D’s most valuable assets from the original game, the precision part of the precision platforming it was so well known for, is just a little less precise as a result. What’s insane is that, it isn’t even wildly less precise, just a little, but the missing little ends up feeling like a while hell of a lot where a world of difference is concerned. That’s why the whole thing kind if hurts in a way to talk about it, cause it’s just this little, little bit that you wouldn’t think would amount for such a fundamentally negative impact it has on the pacing of the entire games design methodology, but the reality stands that it completely transformed the vibe of the game from endlessly compelling challenge to kind of an awkward mess of stilted discomfort.

Which you know, just doesn’t leave a whole lot to sing praise about with what the game has to its name. I think where the original was concerned, it didn’t feel as if the market was that overflowing with choices, and SMB felt like kind of a cheese stands a lone scenario, but now a days, challenging platformers are so dime a dozen, the bar is set ridiculously high, so if you’re game isn’t bringing the thunder, it’s just going to be a wash out instead of a spectacle of a storm to weather.

At the risk of sounding too vague in a practical approach to the breakdown involving the metaphyiscs of a game, from a casual glance, SMB3D has, hypothetically speaking, everything the game should need to work, but it just…lacks that “it” factor that made the first one such a mesmerizing and enrapturing experience. Maybe it really was just time and place, and the original game was just what the gaming landscape needed at that exact moment to effortlessly bring that wow factor along with it.

Times change, unfortunately.

-Pashford