Overall 6 Graphics 7 Sound 7.5 Addictive 6 Story 5.5 Depth 7 Difficulty 7.5
7.9
Return of Bubsy tornadocam
In the early 1990's they where popular video games: Mario Brothers, Mega Man, Street Fighter, Sonic, and Kirby. All of these are now considered gaming icons. Bubsy was also released around this time. Bubsy was supposed to rival these icons especially Sonic. Bubsy I was a success. So the makers of Bubsy (Atari) decided they would make a second game of Bubsy the Bobcat. I will be reviewing Bubsy II and be comparing it the previous Bubsy Game as well as other games. Lets see how Bubsy II holds up. Plot: 6After saving the world from the Woolie invasion from the first game. Bubsy has become a hero to the world. However, a new threat emerges. Onkier Hamm has started to rob artifacts from the world so he can sell them to make money. Hamm has also created a machine to help him commit his crimes. Since Bubsy is a hero is assigned the task of putting an end to Hamm's fraud, get the historical artifacts back, and to bring Hamm to justice. Bubsy sets out to do just that but he will encounter Hamm's minions along the way, who are determined to stop him from reaching their boss. Okay the plot was alright but I really expected more. I think the plot did a good job introducing a new character. It also gave the villain a motive. Hamm wants to steal history so he can make a profit off of it by selling it or by other means. That was nice. However, having Onkier Hamm as the main villain just does not seem right. In the first game it was established that the aliens known as the Woolies where going to be Bubsy's enemies. It is also hinted after the first game that the Woolies would get revenge. After I played this game I expected Onkier to end up being used by the Woolies to get even with Bubsy. It was just odd that the Woolies are barely mentioned in this game. Maybe I'm just used to first games establishing who the enemies are. for the Mario Brothers it is Bowser, for Mega Man its Dr. Wily or Sigma, for Street Fighter its M. Bison, and for Kirby its dark matter. I really was expecting the Woolies in this game. I have played the 4th game and the Woolies are in it. I haven't played Bubsy 3 yet to know if they are in it. So yeah, I give the plot a 6 out of 10. It wasn't bad but it just seemed out of place. For this to be a sequel of the first game having a new villain does not make sense when the end of the first game hinted at the Woolies getting a revenge. Graphics and Controls: 7The graphics in this game are pretty good. I really like the stage themes in this game. The themes background goes nicely. Also the sprites are very good and they seemed to have fixed some of the fuzziness the first game had. I like it how the forest background looks like a forest in the forest stage that was a nice touch. However, there are parts in the game that could have used different colors. The first game was very nice and colorful. This one is too but sometimes it seems like the makers of the same game stuck to one main color for the stages instead of a variety. The controls are still an issue in this game. It seems like at times that the controls slow down or speed up. This can get you hit by enemies or cause you to fall into a pit. I was hoping this being the second game Atari would have fixed the controls. Its almost like they kept the same controls as the first game. Usually in most game series the second game is when issues get fixed but that is not the case here. So at the end of the day I give the graphics a 7 out of 10. The graphics are good but some of the stages could have been more colorful. Also the controls could have been a lot better. Sound: 8 The sound in this game is very good. The stage themes sound about right for their stages. Bubsy's voice seems to fit him right as his voice is still spunky. Unlike the first game though the enemies were given more sounds. Enemies now have a boom sound when they fire weapons at you. Also they make sounds while jumping too. In addition, Bubsy has gotten more sounds especially when he has a weapon like the Nerf gun. I thought that was very nicely done. While the soundtrack was good in this game. I think it could have been better. The first game had a variety of soundtracks. This game only has 4 or 5 soundtracks to it. My guess would be because the stages are short. Therefore, I give the sound an 8 out of 10. Its still very good but they could have included a variety of soundtracks like they did in the first game. Replay Value: 6I really liked playing the first game for several reasons. First of all it was the game I remember and played the most of the Bubsy series when I was younger. Second it seemed to have a special charm to it. Bubsy II is a fun game to play and I had fun playing it. But it seemed like it lost some of the charm the first game had. I was kind of disappointed that the villains from the first game do not appear in this game. To some people that is no big deal but this game was billed as being a sequel to the first game. Usually sequel games are revenge games. Super Mario Brothers 2 was a sequel to the first game and it did not have Bowser in it. However Nintendo did a good job tying Super Mario Brothers 2 into the series. The Bubsy series not so much. Maybe Atari was trying to go the Super Mario Bros 2 route. Also the depth is less in this game then the first. Don't get me wrong this is a fun game to play and you can enjoy it. I just find myself playing the first one more. So I give the replay value a 6 out of 10. Depth: 7 The Depth was hard for me to rate. The reason being is this game does have a lot of depth to it. They are side games to play, secret areas, items to collect, and each stage requires the player to cover every part. The problem is the stages are short and there are not that many of them. I cleared a stage in under 3 minutes in this game. So, while the game has depth to it the stages could have been longer. While I was playing the game I noticed the stages had lots of depth. It made me think these stages must be long like Mega Man or Mario Games. Then I hit the end mark. I was like really this is it, after all the items I collected the end is here. That really shocked me cause I was expecting the stages to be longer. The side games, secret areas, items, and covering every part of the stage bumps the rating up. The stages being short keeps it from being higher than a 7. Thus, I give the rating a 7 out of 10. Difficulty: 8 The difficulty in this game is good for the right and wrong reasons at the same time. I will start off with the right reasons. This game has a lot more enemies than the first game did. Enemies will hide and ambush you, dive out from the sky, hit you from behind or gang up on you. In addition, you can only take 2 maybe 3 hits and your done. Moreover, the enemies take 3 jump attacks or two hits from a weapon to knock out. There are more instance deaths in this game too. Touching certain things like spikes, thorns off of branches, fire, water (unless equipped with the snorkel) and even symbols are instant death. To make matters worse is the game does not tell you what is instant death. Its a trial by error in this game. It took me several tries to realize what is instant death and what is not. Also the enemies are trial by error too. When playing this game one can expect to die a lot. I died a lot my first time playing this game. I would say this game is more difficult than the first. After playing the first game for a while I learned where the traps and enemies where. In this game its not so easy due to how the enemies move around more. Now the game is difficult for the wrong reasons too. The main reason is the controls. The controls can get you killed in this game. I found myself fighting the controls. As I mentioned earlier they either slow down or speed up. The bad thing is its impossible to tell when the change of speed in the controls will occur. I found myself dying a lot in this game due to that reason alone. I would end up into a pit, into an enemy or landing on something that is instant death. I give the difficulty an 8 out of 10. The reason I don't give it a 9 or a 10 is the game tries to help you out. The game gives you weapons in this game like a Nerf Gun, a bomb, a snorkel, and even a shortcut warp zone. Those things help especially in your in a sticky situation. Still, this is a difficult game and you will die a lot. So 8 out of 10 seems about right. Overall 7.9 Bubsy Bobcat came out in 1994 I believe. It came out right about the same time as Sonic and Knuckles, Kirby's Adventure, Mega Man X2, Super Mario Bros All stars, and Street Fighter II the new challengers. Why do I mention those other games? I think Bubsy II was rushed and that Atari was trying to get this game out with the games I mentioned. I think that is why this game has a few more issues then the first game. I will explain my reasoning shortly. But before I get into the negatives I will get into the positives. Bubsy II is a good game and it was a fun game to play. Not as good as the first but its still a game that I would recommend playing. I liked how the game tried to introduce a new villain and how the game introduces Bubsy Bobcat as a new hero. In addition, I like how Bubsy retains his spunky personality. It just seems to fit him well. I also liked the stage graphics in this game for the most part and the sound was good. I also like how in this weapon you can use a Nerf gun as a weapon. To me that was creative. Getting to shoot enemies with Nerf gun was hilarious and shows creativity. Now for the negatives. I think Bubsy II problems was due to the game being rushed. I think the makers of this game intended to make the stages longer. There is evidence of that. A lot of the stages have arrows pointing the player in the right direction. In games that have arrows pointing the stages are usually longer. So I think Atari intended the stages to be longer. But with the other games I mentioned coming out around the same time. I think Atari felt like they needed to get this game out as quickly as possible. I also think the game could have had more soundtracks like the first game did. While introducing a new villain was nice I think that is rushed. The first game established that the alien Woolies where going to be Bubsy's main enemies. In fact, the first game hints that the Woolies would get revenge. I was shocked they where not in this game. It makes me think Atari saw that the other games where coming out so they just threw something together. The plot could have gone that the Woolies hired Onkier Hamm to do their bidding to get even with Bubsy. After Bubsy defeats Honkier the Woolies claim they would handle Bubsy later themselves. That would have been a very good plot and been a plot twist. Kind of like how Mega Man games are. I also think that is why the controls where not fixed. Overall I give Bubsy II a 7.9. Its a good and fun game to play. It is not as sharp as the first game. Still, this is a game that is for everybody from children to adults. Its fun for the entire family. I had fun playing this game. To some most of the issues this game has are minor. A lot of gamers would not even be bothered by the issues. Will I play this game again, Yes I will. Will I play it as much as the first game probably not. Would I recommend this game? Yes I would despite the games problems its a fun family game. If you want a game that offers something new this is the one. However, I will recommend that you play the first game first. Anyway, I hope you check out this game and enjoy it. Don't let the game's issues turn you away from giving this game a chance. I just think players should play the first game first. Blessings in Christ and happy gaming
Graphics 7 Sound 8 Addictive 6 Story 6 Depth 7 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 01-29-17
Review Replies: 0
4
An ill-fated Sonic ripoff NovemberJoy
Bubsy is known for multiple things, the most notable of which being his blatant copying of Sonic. But what he's not known for a quality video games. This game is no exception.
The graphics and sound are good, and they serve their purpose well. The only problem with the graphics is that, occasionally, an enemy will be hidden by foreground, so you will hit it without even knowing that it's there.
Enough talk, how does the game itself handle? Well, let's see...
The controls will become readily apparent as one of the game's biggest flaws. If you try to run, while you will scroll to the back of the screen, you still won't have enough time to react to the crazy things that you'll see in this game. At least the developers seemed to know how terrible the controls were, so the levels don't have any real precise jumping required, for the most part. While you can look in four directions, you obviously can't look while you're running, so you have to come to a complete stop to look in any direction. You'll want to do this, because otherwise you won't have a clue what you're going to jump into, because the draw distance is really short...
Also, this game is unique, in that it has several different play modes! You can even choose how much of the game you want to play...as if that's really a useful feature. Also, you can't really get a game over - if you run out of lives, the game just ends, and you'll see how well you did. You can also play for points or for time, though playing for time seems like a stupid idea - refer to previous and later statements to see why.
Another problem is that the game's levels are
awful. No, seriously, they're
really awful. I'll explain in detail.
I decided to go to the west wing, for no particular reason, and played through all of the levels there, including the bossfight. I just decided to give up on the game after that.
All of the levels have some kind of punny name, like Hamalot, or Star Wreck. It's not exactly clever or funny, but at least it gave the developers some level names. Imagine what they would come up with if they didn't just use the punny names - their main character is a Sonic ripoff, for crying out loud!
All of the levels look and feel like they were made by a drunk 6th grader, mainly due to the fact that their design is so terrible and directionless that they have to put arrows EVERYWHERE just so that the player doesn't get lost. I fondly remember getting lost in one of the levels, and running out of time. This doesn't sound bad, but the time limit is fifteen minutes. The level was so poorly designed that I wandered around for 15 minutes without finding my way through. That's bad level design.
As for items, there's marbles, which act like Sonic's rings, except they provide no protection whatsoever. They provide points at the end of levels, which, well, you'll probably want that, because you'll probably be playing for points. There's holes which allow you to escape from levels, there's a Nerf gun that isn't very useful, a bomb that destroys all enemies on the screen, and a suit which doesn't seem to do much besides slow you down, and there's band-aids that replenish Bubsy's life bar, since he can now take three hits as opposed to one in the original game, along with checkpoints, along with extra life pickups that add either 1 or two lives to your total. There's also a shop that is accessed after every completed level, where you can buy items with what appear to be coupons with a Bubsy silhouette on them. This shop completely breaks the game, because you can just sell the Nerf gun ammunition, since you get 15 shots per pickup, and each of them sells for one coupon each, and buy things that are useful, such as extra lives. Of course, there's no continues, and you can't buy continues either.
I'll give an overview of a few of the levels, as well, to show you exactly what I thought of them and their design.
Star Wreck is a pretty fitting name, because it was easily the worst level in the 1st floor west wing. The gravity is very weak, so it's next to impossible to die from falling, but you can't make a low jump - it's always about two or three times your height, even if you just tap the button. Did I mention that there's 1-hit death spikes and anchors littered around the level? I did manage to beat this level, but it was with several lives lost and I barely got any marbles at all.
The Hindenburger is a biplane level, and it's probably the best level in the 1st floor west wing. It's also the easiest, considering that there's health restoration band-aids and extra lives everywhere, though that's probably to compensate for the fact that touching anything hurts you, and it's difficult to tell what you can and cannot touch at first glance.
Bach in Time is a level where you jump around on drums, pipes, and horns, and it's also a pretty good level. It's not especially difficult, and items are in abundance, as well. The only annoying thing about it is that the horns constantly bounce you around, and it's easy to die from falling if you somehow forget how to glide or just don't do so(which I did, one time).
Then there's the boss level, which is just five normal enemies that pop out from behind glass panels and shoot at you. The only reason it's difficult is because there's so little room to dodge said projectiles and still hit the enemies. Also, for some odd reason, all of your weapons are disabled, despite the fact that they don't have much use in the actual levels themselves...
These levels, along with King of De-Nile, showcase one of the problems with the game - despite the fact that Bubsy no longer dies in one hit, a good number of the hazards are still instant death. This problem is magnified by only starting the game with four lives. While the shop completely breaks whatever difficulty the game has, it's still irritating.
Pros:
+Good graphics and sound
+Health bar(the last game really needed one)
+Better controls than the last game
Cons:
-The controls still suck!
-A lot of hazards are still instant death
-Horrific level design
-A shop system that completely breaks the game's difficulty
-Lazily-designed bosses
-The speed actually hinders the gameplay
-Short draw distance
-Enemies hidden by foreground elements
Overall Rating:D+(It's better than the first Bubsy game, but it still fails to be good)
Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 6 Story 5 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.8/5
Submitted: 09-26-12
Review Replies: 3
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