The digital delights of Sony’s scrumptious PlayStation Network service know no bounds. Aside from letting punters compete in online gaming, stream films, browse the Internet and more, its premier attraction rests in the copious supply of downloadable games ripe for the picking. From PSN exclusives to PSOne Classics, minis and plain old add-on content, Sony’s online space is chock full of goodies battling it out for your hard-earned digital dollars.
Welcome back to another installment of Inside PlayStation Network, where every Monday – Friday we’ll pluck a PSN release—be it new or old—and put it in the spotlight for a thorough dissection. Fancy getting a new PSN game but don’t know what one to plump for? Perhaps this feature will help. Didn’t realize that a game was available in your region until now? We’ve got you covered. Or, perhaps you were musing over what those lucky Japanese folk were tucking into over in the Land of the Rising Sun? You can be sure our coverage will extend to those rare regional exclusives as much as those firmly embedded on the public consciousness.
For our latest entry, we have a blast with Curve Studios’ Explodemon.
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Developer: Curve Studios
Region(s) available: North America, Europe
Players: 1
Arriving on Sony’s online service in February 2011, Explodemon spent much of its infancy being shoved around from one platform to the next in the fiery pits of development hell. And, despite a strikingly familiar outing ‘Splosion Man arriving on the scene during this time, the chaps at Curve continued to chisel away behind closed doors, eventually delivering the stonking retro-flavoured blastathon we have today.
Explodemon casts players in the shoes of the game’s slightly bumbling eponymous robot hero, who finds himself out to stop a dastardly alien race from obliterating everything in sight. To do this, our brave bot must plough through three worlds – each one boasting four stages each – while in hot pursuit of his foes, getting a helping hand from friendly NPCs along the way. Adhering to the old-school platform template of old, Explodemon features Mega Man X-esque 2D landscapes, while chucking in a few unique twists of its own in the form of the titular hero’s penchant for, well, exploding.
Being the slightly defective robot he is, Explodemon finds himself blowing up from time to time, making him highly effective at dispatching any foes unlucky enough to be nearby. Concurrently, our volatile hero can also utilize his explosive nature to blast him upwards into the air, allowing you to reach new areas. This is the nucleus of Explodemon’s gameplay, and your bread-and-butter method of ploughing through each of the game’s stages in your goal of stopping the notorious Vortex. Using this core mechanic, you’ll be able to not only blow away incoming foes, but also solve puzzles, engage in some rudimentary platforming and uncover secret routes dotted throughout the otherwise predominantly linear levels.
Things kick up a notch in latter stages though, so it isn’t always a walk in the park for our decidedly unconventional hero. As mentioned previously, there’s plenty of hidden areas to unearth, which often yield multiple collectibles to gobble up, as well as a speed run to take part in which grades you on how quickly you’re able to barrel through each stage, and how many pick-ups you hoover up along the way. As expected, Curve’s also chucked in the obligatory online leaderboards so you can compare your scores to other players, affording ample replay value if you fancy it. In addition, you can also obtain currency to spend on various upgrades, which augment Explodemon with increased strength and speed, and embark on a Trophy collection spree – most of which are fairly tough to acquire, we might add.
Join us again tomorrow as we once again go gallivanting around Inside PlayStation Network.