Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back is a 2D platformer that emphasizes its collectibles at the expense of its other content. The game has great presentation, but is completely lacking in content, especially if one is not into collectathons.
Pros:
The presentation. Everything visual about this game just works incredibly well together. The graphics, the backgrounds in the levels, the design of the enemies, etc. All of these well-polished elements combined make this a very pleasing game to look at and move around in. Each area was themed well and with some decent level design to match. Additionally, Bubsy’s random comments while playing were a treat to listen to. Some of the lines may have been corny or just stupid, but that fits perfectly into the game’s overall presentation.
Great mix of difficulty. This game does not tip the scale towards one difficulty, some levels can be easy, but some can be rather challenging. It was a good mixture of the two. The only outlier being the boss fights, which are much more challenging than the actual levels. Even then, such a challenge is warranted when most of one’s time is spent casually collecting the balls of yarn scattered throughout each level.
Cons:
Complete lack of content. I managed to beat the game in just over an hour, and that is with the numerous deaths I suffered at the hands of the second and final boss. There is not a lot to this game, just 14 levels. Most of the emphasis is placed on collecting the balls of yarn found in each level, of which there are several hundred per level. However, the only gain from doing so is points and achievements, so there is not much to look forward to there. In fact, if one completely ignores that aspect of the game, it would probably take less than an hour to complete the game. There simply is not enough content for this game to be worth one’s time if the collectathon element is removed.
The pounce attack. The pounce attack is fun when it works, especially when landing those multi-pounces. Unfortunately, it has its downsides. The pounce cannot be canceled once activated. This lead to many deaths in which I felt cheated. Jumping into water that was previously off-screen or landing just in front of an enemy moving towards me being just a couple examples. It was frustrating at times and I ended up avoiding using it for movement and saved it just for enemies I know I will hit.
Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back is an average platformer overall. It does not particularly excel in any area outside of its presentation, but it is not an entirely bad game either, it just simply lacks in content. There are better options out there, especially those with more content, so I would only recommend this game if you are a fan of collectathons.
You can buy Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back on Steam here.
I was provided a free review copy of the game in order to write this review. Read more about how I do my game reviews here.
cublikefoot 