Bubsy 3DSYSTEM: Sony
Playstation
DEVELOPER: Accolade
PRODUCER: Accolade
PRICE: Usually in a bargin bin for $29.95
RATED: Kids to Adults
The 16 bit Genesis Bubsy was one of my favorite games at the time. It had a cute character, tons of animation, and was generally fun to play. On many ocassions I played till past daybreak. Needless to say, it was one of the best games of it's time.
For no apparent reason, I hadn't played any of the following Bubsy releases so I was eagerly awaiting the arival of Bubsy 3D. Me and my son purchased our copy right after we beat Mario 64, so we were really looking forward to more 3D fun.
To our surprise, we were totally let down. Believe me, Bubsy 3D is no Mario 64. Matter of fact, it's not even as good as the 16 bit Bubsy. For a game that showed as much promise as Bubsy 3D, we were really dissapointed.
The problem lies in it's control rather than anything else. It was almost impossible to control your character. When you jump, the view changes to a top-down perspective which makes it extremely difficult to tell where your going to land. I'm sure the developers intention in using this was to increase ability to land on enemies, but sadly it didn't work. Another problem was in just moving Bubsy. Rather then you controlling Bubsy, you control the screen around Bubsy. To say it is disorentating is an understatement. Matter of fact the control is so bad that it almost makes the game unplayable.
What did Bubsy 3D do right? Well, many things. The game is large with many levels, it has a cute highly animated character, there are many objects and enemies (Woolies ect..) to interact with, and there are platforms galore. The graphics were a little crude, but all in all, if it wasn't for the poor control the game would've been great and could've even became a classic.
As it is, the game is not worth going into much more. My time is better spent reviewing games that you are likely to buy. Hopefully in the next installment of Bubsy 3D the control will be refined. If I hear it is, you can bet I'll be first in line to buy the game.
RATINGS
GRAPHICS 70%
SOUND 70%
GAMEPLAY 55%
ORIGINALITY 80%
REPLAY VALUE 75%
OVERALL 70%
