The Splatters

The Splatters was developed by SpikySnail and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on April 11, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

The Splatters is a bright and lively twist on the puzzle genre. The object is to use blobs of paint to smash into “bombs” of the same color. Getting to all these bombs is where things start becoming tricky. You’re forced to slide, bounce, rewind and splatter you blob around each level. In each stage you start with a specific number of colored blobs and bombs all spread around the board, making you have to think two, three, or even four steps ahead of yourself at times. One of the major focuses during each level is combos; combos are how you will complete a level within said amount of moves (blobs) as well as how to increase your score. The Splatters will feel familiar on many levels like control, but is definitely designed to stand out on its own.

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XBLA’s name is changing to…April Fools!
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Almost every game does something right; whether it’s a fantastic new engine or physics, creative and quirky design, or interesting and challenging levels in which to experience it all, but to truly leave a mark a game needs to do everything right. After playing The Splatters a few dozen times and watching those colorful blobs explode and stain the screen, this could easily be one of those games. It’s launching on April 11 and it needs to be on your radar. Coming into GDC, I wasn’t too familiar with The Splatters or its developer Spiky Snail, an Israeli company founded in 2010 by two childhood friends. Yet throughout the week I keep finding myself wanting to come back and play more.

Players take control of these blob-like creatures and attempt to destroy bombs by exploding their splatter, releasing a paint like substance and coating the bombs in the paint. The basic controls are incredibly simple, as the left analog stick points the direction and the A button launches the splatter. Holding A will result in the splatter launching with enough force to cause it to explode should it come into contact with a wall or spikes, while lightly tapping the button will allow it to move locations. Players can change direction in midair both before exploding and after exploding through this same mechanic. The beginning levels have a few stages and slowly introduce basic mechanics. Every splatter that is still alive after completing a stage will continue to the next one until the end of the level where they will add points to a players score.

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We previously confirmed that The Splatters, developed by SpikeyNail, was coming to XBLA on April 11. Now thanks to Daniel McConnell, Product Manager at Microsoft Studios, we can also confirm …
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Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews, and releases from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

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A new marketplace listing gives The Splatters a release date of April 11, 2012. Unlike other recent listings, it has been confirmed by Niv Fisher of developer SpikySnail that …
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The Splatters and Sonic 4 Episode 2 will be the next games to feature avatar awards. To see more XBLA-based Avatar awards, check out this link. If you want …
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Developer SpikySnail Games has announced that their puzzle game, The Splatters, will be released exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade sometime this spring. A studio representative said that the …
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Huge thanks to the entire team of writers who worked on this article: Christine Mitchell, Nathan Bowring, Perry Jackson, Ryan Reynolds and Todd Schlickbernd.

We’ve spent the past week searching the internet and hounding our industry contacts in an effort to compile the ultimate 2012 XBLA Game Release List. We anticipated one heck of a year for Xbox Live Arcade. So epic we couldn’t even fit everything on one page. So without further ado, check out the list:

For detailed descriptions of each of the games and videos check the links below.

XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases A-B
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
Alien Spidy
AMY
Anomaly Warzone Earth
Awesomenauts
Babel Rising
Bang Bang Racing
Battleblock Theater
Black Knight Sword
Blade Kitten: Episode 2
Bloodforge

XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases C-F
Capsized
Charlie Murder
Choplifter HD
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Deep Black Episode 1 & 2
Defenders of Ardania
Diabolical Pitch
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Dungeon Fighter Live (unannounced title)
Fez

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We’ve spent the past week searching the internet and hounding our industry contacts in an effort to compile the ultimate 2012 XBLA Game Release List. We anticipated one heck of a year for Xbox Live Arcade. So epic we couldn’t even fit everything on one page. So without further ado, check out the list:

XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases A-B
XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases C-F
XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases G-L
XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases M-O
XBLAFans Anticipated 2012 Releases P-R
XBLAFans Anticipated XBLA Game Releases S
XBLAFans Anticipated XBLA Game Releases T-Z
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