[b]edit:[/b] [i]the price got halved soon after my review was posted and the developer deleted the feedback thread on the forum (again), proving my points below. I edited parts about the price, but the game is still not recommended, as it is the same as before.[/i]
[b]beetlequest[/b] was a buggy, broken mess on release, then got some patches based on feedback, but it's still not something to recommend. as it is often the case, it would work as a short, non-interactive storybook or cartoon, but as a game it's seriously lacking, especially for something that initially cost 10 bucks (lowered to 5 not long after this review got posted) and is supposed to resemble the classics.
the story starts with a mole taking a marble from the beetle kids and he wants a present, otherwise they can't have it back. as usual, during your quest you end up helping the entire forest and its surroundings with their problems. I understand ants not being able to move a big tree, but some folks can't even be bothered to stand up and pick up a book from a shelf right next to them. there's a variety of colorful locations with multiple, often annoying characters to talk to, and the writing is far from good. on the whole, it's a forgettable experience and it drops you straight to desktop after the ending. not that you'd want to play it again, so fair enough.
you can choose between english and dutch and there's a limited amount of voiceovers, namely the intro, outro and the announcement of a new chapter. [b]graphics are what they are, some will like them, others won't, but they fit a fairytale-like story and easily the best part of the game.[/b] there's a hint system, 3 pieces of advice per screen, but it's not a challenging adventure, you can easily finish it without ever asking for help.
even with its mediocrity it wouldn't necessarily get a thumbs down if it weren't for the [b]numerous technical issues that can't be ignored[/b]. mouse wheel to open/close the inventory got patched in, but inventory space is limited. not an issue on its own, only when it's not mentioned anywhere but the hints screen one might not even visit once, and when it's paired with the unfathomable decision to make it work the way it does. [b]if you pick up more than 6 items, the surplus simply disappears, only to re-appear after one of the available ones is used, but even this doesn't always work properly and you can't drop items, but can receive unwanted ones.[/b] it almost immediately led to a game-breaking bug, but that at least got fixed fast.
there's no hotspot indicator to see what's interactable and nothing changes as you move items around, except [b]moving the cursor over something interactable puts the currently held item back into the inventory[/b]. it's one thing to force people to pixel hunt and click mindlessly, but this makes it even worse. [b]even arrows indicating a location change had to be patched in after requesting them.[/b] how do you miss something like this when making an adventure game?
but wait, there's more! the game is supposed to help with reading comprehension, yet [b]there's no way to examine things more than once and the text is riddled with grammatical mistakes[/b]. saving is possible anytime, 4 save slots with a screenshot, but no name, date or time, nor overwrite confirmation. an exit button had to be patched in, which is as ridiculous as it is common these days, unfortunately, but there's no confirmation here either, nor a warning to save first. should be a given, but this game is aimed at kids and people get used to certain quality of life things anyway.
and some more! [b]in 2020 they released a game in 4:3[/b], looks wonderful on widescreen monitors everybody and their grandmother uses these days. and they said audio settings are coming, because why would a game ship with them if it only has 3 kinds of audio to balance, but they decided not to bother. that's the spirit!
at least the menu animation can be skipped now to get to the menu itself immediately, but even that took a few attempts to pull off. initially, there was an unskippable logo (still there), then a slow panning animation going over a huge picture basically spoiling the entire game, until the camera finally landed in one corner, and only then did the menu buttons appear. and it happened every. single. time. your priorities are way off if you spend time on this but not basic functionality and making sure the game is not literally broken on release.
I think [b]mentioning classics on the store page is always a cheap trick[/b]. everything's inspired by everything and people should know better by now than to believe anything developers and publishers say, be it playtime, mechanics, features or whatever, but when you mention [b]kyrandia[/b] and [b]king's quest[/b], it creates certain expectations you most likely won't be able to meet. sure, these are all fantasy point & clicks, but [b]beetlequest[/b] from 2020 is a much worse product even after all the patching than those from decades ago.
it might be unfair to compare a big-budget game from the heyday of adventure games to something thrown together by a few people, even if technology has advanced a lot since then and resources are more plentiful, but they started the name-dropping. and if they're such huge point & click fans, they must've played at least the ones cited on the store page, so [b]why did they have to be reminded to add every basic adventure game feature ever?[/b]
if you're looking for the next great fantasy point & click, or just something to play, potentially with (or for) the kids, look elsewhere. at best, this is [b]like an amateur student project that should be free on a flash site[/b], definitely not something worth paying for in the state it's in, not even the 5 bucks they're asking for after lowering it from the original 10. [b]won't take more than 1.5 hours[/b], but plenty of great point & clicks around, [b]don't waste your time and money on this[/b].
