Aside from her vibrant pink color and some (confirmed) anatomical differences, Ms. Splosion Man obviously has a lot in common with her male partner in spontaneous combustion. She makes her debut in Twisted Pixel's first sequel, characterized by an exuberant overflow of energy, a destructive resistance to captivity and, of course, a blasé inclination to blast scientists into chunks of meat. So far, so familiar.
The bigger picture -- that is to say, a world map with a top-down view -- reveals environments that lie far outside the clinical laboratories of the first game. Ms. Splosion Man's initial escape represents Twisted Pixel's attempt to provide a clearer tutorial phase, while the red labels on more difficult levels, such as one set on a picturesque tropical island, are meant to eliminate the surprise of a sudden jump in difficulty. The harder levels don't mess with the elegance of the one-button splode jump, though they are likely to rely on some of the new transport gimmicks.
We'd be hard pressed to think of platforming more frantic and dynamic than Splosion Man's most difficult segments -- though, to be fair, we hadn't seen these Ms. Splosion Man screenshots and video (after the jump) until, like, two minutes ago. The followup looks even more hectic than the franchise's first, masculine installment, and here's the kicker: The trailer was clipped from the game's first level. We shudder to think what those later levels are going to look like.
We only hope that Ms. Splosion's library of pop culture quips and, um ... other quotes ("Do I look fat in this?"; "Who left the toilet seat up again?") is extremely expansive. Those sound bites, if repeated too frequently, could approach Gex 64-esque levels of abrasiveness.
