Bugdom

"One of the greatest adventures... in a tiny world."

Introduction

Bugdom is an adventure 3D game aimed at kids, but enjoyable by everyone. In it, you´re a bug called Rollie McFly and the last hope for saving the Bugdom kingdom from evil King Thorax and his minions. Rollie will have a tough time exploring the land, fighting enemy bugs, avoiding hazards and rescuing lady bugs Thorax has captured. But if he succeeds, peace will return to the kingdom and he will become the new ruler of it. Nice reward.

As you could figure out above, Bugdom doesn´t involve a complex story full of betrayal and complots and stuff. Because it is a game aimed at the general audience, it is likely to be a simple and comprehensible one. For this reason, Bugdom´s story isn´t lame. It is perfect.

Pangea Soft Inc. is the father of this game. Among its best known creations are Power Pete (An excellent 2D shoot´em up game with an arcade feel) and the agressively underrated Nanosaur (Similar to Power Pete, but in a 3D world full of dinosaurs). If you have played these games, then you know what to expect from this one. No violence, no bloodgore, no sex, great visuals and great gameplay.

If this game shipped with your iMac, then you know how grateful you should be. If it didn´t, then this review will give out the reasons why you should get it, or at least play it.

Gameplay – 10/10

Bugdom´s unique and innovative gameplay is sure to keep you away from uninspired games for a while. If you have a pair of hands, then it is likely that you´ll learn to take control of Rollie in no time. The game offers multiple ways of control, from keyboard to mouse to input devices. You can even combine any of these for the perfect control, and they´re all fully customizable.

Really, the only thing you need to do in each level is to find the exit and advance to the next one. But if you have a little respect for the game (Or at least want to get some points), you should search for and rescue the ladybugs found on each level. They´re all trapped inside web cages that you can smash open with ease. The only problem with these cages is that they are often guarded by enemy bugs. Fortunately, Rollie has many ways to fight them, and he must pick the best option for each enemy. Most of Rollie´s enemies can be kicked to death. He can also hunt them down using buddy bugs (Which act like heat-seeking missiles). Finally (And this is the game´s “trademark” attack), Rollie can roll into his ball form and run over them. This attack is quick and effective, but lasts for a limited time, only.

All items are contained inside nuts, which are scattered around the level. To get those items you need to kick or slam into the nut, just like you do with the web cages, and then you must walk over whichever item comes out. You can get clovers (Which award you points when you finish the level), health berries (For health restoring), Mushrooms (For ball time restoring), keys, buddy bugs, invincibility shells and extra lives.

The enemies are varied and come in different shapes and sizes, and each one has a different attack pattern. Fire ants, slugs, boxer flies, bees, spiders: Anything you could feel scurrying inside your pants.
Enemies are not the only threat for our hero, as the game is filled with multiple hazards that will unconsiously try to sabotage his quest. Consider in this category stomping feet, thorns, sticky honey and walls of fire.

Most of the time Rollie will have his little feet on the ground during his journey, but he´ll get to do other cool things, such as riding a dragonfly and shoot at other bugs, and swing from root to root (Like ropes in Donkey Kong Country) on later levels. All adding to the dynamism of the game.
The levels can get hard at times, but for this reason the players can tag checkpoints, which are sparse but useful. To do so, they must touch the hanging droplet of a striped straw. This way, if Rollie is killed, he can continue the level from the last checkpoint he touched, instead of starting from scratch. The game also has a save feature, but can only be used after finishing a level.

Graphics – 10/10

Good enough to say they depict the Bugdom world perfectly. The game´s interface is neat and self-explanatory. At the top of the screen is the status bar (Showing health, number of lives remaining, items carrying etc.), while at the bottom a progress bar indicates the amount of damage inflicted during boss battles.

The characters are detailed, colorful and well animated, and each one has a personality of their own. But there are some details that just make them look so cool. For example, Rollie wears these nifty little snickers, the boxer flies wear boxing gloves and have mean-looking eyes, and the cockroaches wear gas masks because of their toxic surroundings.

The environments in the game are nothing less than charming. It´s worth mentioning that there are no sprites in the game (Save for interface and menu items), which means that everything is fully rendered and textured. The textures in the game make a perfect balance between photo-realism and imagination, and they never get repetitive. The levels are large and encourage the player to explore the terrain.

The visual effects are varied and well done. These include sun flares, shading, pixie-dust explosions and water splashing, to name a few. All this bringing the Bugdom world closer to life.

Organization – 06/10

It could´ve been perfect! Being a linear game, these problems could have easily been overlooked, yet they are not.

There´s nothing wrong with the difficulty, if not considering the boss difficulty. Say, there are three bosses in the entire game. Let´s rate their challenge out of 3. I expected: 1st boss - 1; 2nd boss - 2; 3rd boss - 3. I got: 1st boss - 1; 2nd boss - 3; 3rd boss - 1. Got it?

Next is something that, to my perception, kills the integrity of some levels. The boss environments are too small to be considered levels (Within the Bugdom context). I mean, they could have easily been part of their previous (Large) levels. If you think I´ve gone nuts with these explanations, fine. I´d wish I didn´t care.

Audio – 10/10

The sound FX are perfect and the music is brilliant. Everything sounds as it should. Take time to listen to water splashing, bee humming, fire cracking, anything. There are plenty of sounds in the game, and they´re all played in high quality.

Same goes for the music. It really sets up the pace of the game. A relaxing music is played during the menu screen, but it speeds up as you start the game. Forget about soulless techno music. The game´s soundtracks really get you into it. It feels as if the very own environment of a level is playing its music. It is very difficult for me to describe the music: You´ve got to listen to it by yourself.

Life – 06/10

It could´ve been worse, so I´m happy to say it is fair. The game isn´t short, but once you beat it there isn´t much else to do. You could play it a second time, with a better knowledge of the terrain and hoping to get every clover, lady bug and extra life found in the game, but that is it. No multiplayer option.
You´ll come back to this game every once in a while, but that happens with every fun, yet non-replayable game.

Final Score

Gameplay - 10/10
Graphics - 10/10
Organization - 06/10
Audio - 10/10
Life - 06/10

Average - 08/10

Critical Points

+) Great graphics
+) Amazing audio
+) Intuitive controls
+) Fun, dynamic gameplay

-) Disorganized progress
-) Low replay value

So...

Bugdom is a very fun game to play and an unique experience. If you like adventure games, then you´ll enjoy this one. If your little child or brother is a hardcore gamer, then this is a good birthday present for him. If you can´t stand kiddy games, then avoid it at all costs. If you´re a Quake, Mortal Kombat or Unreal fan, then make a guess.

I´ll never force someone to buy a game that they doesn´t like, or that is unaffordable. It is unlikely that you´ll be able to rent the game. I strongly recommend that you play the game first. You can download a playable demo from Pangea Soft´s web site (www.pangeasoft.net).

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/23/04