This is the one we’ve been waiting for. Forget your Fables and your Fallouts – 2010 was always going to be about an indie game called Super Meat Boy. Inspired by a combination of the best early Mario games and recent platformers doing it all completely wrong, Team Meat has taken it upon itself to resurrect our childhood memories, albeit with extra meaty blood to go.

We have no delusions when you say that not only is Super Meat Boy now the best game available on both Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare, but it’s also the best game we’ve played this year. There is no better feeling than flinging your meat one way then then other, grinding him up via saws, lasers and spike pits, and grinning like a mental the entire time. You must own this game, and you will play it into the early hours of the morning.

GAMEPLAY

Super Meat Boy is a hard-as-nails platformer than wants to make you feel like a god. You take control of Meat Boy and assorted indie celebrity friends as they run, jump, bounce off walls and try not to end up in a blender. Not that you’ll succeed, mind – in Super Meat Boy, it’s not about the winning – it’s about how many times you died to get there.

You won’t die due to fiddly controls, however – no, these are perhaps the most refined and perfect controls you have used in a video game in a very long time. Meat Boy feels so slick to manage, and he moves exactly how you’d hope. You’ll initially be surprised as just how perfect it feels, and soon afterwards be using this element to its full advantage.

The reason you’ll be dying so much is that Super Meat Boy is très difficult. Every level is out to get you, and require precision jumps and perfect timing. Yet even as you die multiple times, frustration simply never sets in – this is thanks to quick respawns and smallish levels that can potentially take only a few seconds to complete. You’ll find yourself eating away a whole hour on a single level, simply because you want to perfect your time to a tee.

This is Super Meat Boy‘s greatest trick – the level design is so utterly superb, that you won’t be able to stop playing.  From saw placement to platform positioning to special elements added later on, nearly every single level is a classic that will potentially be talked about for years to come.

That’s a lot to talk about, too – quite staggeringly, Super Meat Boy features over 300 levels. You’ve got the regular levels (the ‘Light World’), then there’s a special evil version of each regular level (‘Dark World’). Finally you’ve got four warp zones in each world to find that lead to retro-style Meat Boy levels, and twenty bandages to discover in each world which unlock new characters.

The dark levels in particular are a stroke of genius. Each dark level is the result of taking a light world level and making it into an absolute bastard. Seeing each regular level in its new form is entertaining enough, but then trying to actually complete them all is a whole different ballgame. The fantastic thing is that playing these dark levels isn’t essential – you can complete the game without touching a single one. No, these levels are for the masochists among us – for those who want to go the extra mile.

Once you’ve finally completed a level after dying multiple times, a replay is shown featuring every single one of your deaths running at the same time through the level. It’s such a fitting reward for beating a particularly challenging level – our only gripe is that, while you can save replays, you can’t then do anything with them, be it send them to a friend or upload them to Youtube.

But you know what? That is our single, miniscule issue with the entire game. We could sit here all day, trying to think of other areas that could be improved on or elements that need fixing but, well, we’d be here far longer than a day. Simply put, if you don’t enjoy Super Meat Boy, there is something seriously wrong with you.

STYLE

It’s impossible to understand exactly how slick Super Meat Boy is without seeing it in action. Meat Boy leaves trails of meaty blood on everything he touches, including walls, saws and spikes, and it’s a lovely effect. Each world starts with an intro inspired by an old game or movie – usually from the 90′s – and trying to guess where each one is from is a game in itself.

The levels look gorgeous, and settings are so incredibly varied. One world sees you diving around wooded areas, with cute rabbits and foxes accidentally running into blenders. Then it’s off to the Salt Factory – which is every bit as hilarious as it sounds.

And that soundtrack… oh man. Danny Baranowsky has created what is now my favourite game soundtrack of the year (sorry Souleye, your VVVVVV soundtrack was amazing, but this is even better!). The jingles will stick in your head and never let go – it’s all very reminiscent of the days of the SNES when you’d be singing the music long after you’d completed the game. The music for ‘The Hospital’ world in particular will probably stay with me forever.

STORY

Super Meat Boy‘s story is told via dialogue-less cutscenes. One day Meat Boy and his girlfriend Bandage Girl are walking through the forest, when Dr. Fetus shows up and kidnaps Bandage Girl. Meat Boy sets off on a journey to get her back, and finds himself in a variety of strange and twisted predicaments.

It’s pretty impressive that the entire story is told through animation and gesture, with no voices or text to speak of. It’s all pretty vague and extremely silly, yet at the same time there’s a sense of epicness surrounding Meat Boy and co.

OTHER

Super Meat Boy is our new favourite game and it will soon be your new favourite game too. With spot-on controls, over fifteen hours of content (and beyond, depending on how mental you are) and packing the most fun you’ve had with a video game in a good while, it should really be declared a crime not to pick this up.

You’ve got no excuse when it comes to platform, either – the game will be available on October 20th for both Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, and will be released in November for PC. Make sure you get in on the action – you don’t want Dr. Fetus flicking you off.