Bubsy 4D

The tutorial level was genuinely the best part of the game, almost everything else falls short the moment you put it under the microscope. I honestly wish the game was either way worse or given another year in the oven, as the only memorable part of this experience was how often it felt like the mechanics, animation, writing, level design, and art style would show brief glimpses of something far greater. This is without a doubt the best Bubsy game, but once that novelty wears off you're left with a mostly mindless and easily forgettable time waster.

If this had been a $60 game I'd have complained that it was too short, but as it is, it's pretty decently sized for its price tag, especially if you get it on a sale. The controls aren't quite as tight as some other 3D platformers, but the price for failure is largely minimal, with relatively generous checkpoints, so it was rare that I was frustrated by it(the exception being the first level of the third world, where some platforms had land rather than instakill planes under them, meaning a bungled jump meant actual progress lost). Once you get a hang of the hairball mechanics, the high-speed segments can also be pretty fun(though something about the jumps kept throwing me off), and I honestly wished for more parts of the game to take advantage of it. An "open world" level where you could just slam around at high speed with few/no instakill hits would put Sonic games to shame considering some of the speeds you can get up to. The soundtrack is excellent and really contributes to it being a fun, casual game to play. There isn't a lot of writing, but some of the jokes were pretty good. The big surprise was probably that the boss battles were universally pretty solid. There are only three of them, but I had fun with all of them and they actually felt fitting for a platformer unlike some platformers that have really bad "fighting" mechanics that you're forced to use during boss fight segments. Here the boss fights felt like a natural extension of the platforming. If you like speedrunning and challenging yourself like that, I think you might really like this game, because even as someone who prefers a more casual approach, I could absolutely see some places you could cut corners(and I even managed some of them myself!), and the more... loose physics probably means that you'll get motion sick watching a pro speedrun this thing. All in all? Thumbs up. They did good with this one.

im so big and round

I can’t believe I played a good Bubsy game. It is short, fun, and much better than I expected. It takes a lot of inspiration from Super Mario Odyssey. Of course, it is nowhere near Mario’s level, but it is still a surprisingly good collectathon platformer. If you only play through the story, you might think the game is just okay. The real fun starts after beating it. I highly recommend going for all of the time trial medals. This is where the game really shines. You will learn how to use every ability, chain your moves together, and find the fastest and shortest routes through each level. Mastering the movement is satisfying, and mixing all of the abilities together makes the time trials fun and rewarding.

I've only completed a fifth of the game so far so I'll amend this review if I need to, but wow! I'm a huge fan of platformers, and this one really stands out. Unlike the previous Bubsy games which were hard because they were...bad, this one is genuinely challenging in a way that feels rewarding. The movement is something that will take me a long time to master, but I can't even imagine what you can do once you get the hang of it! Aside from the engaging gameplay and fun, vibrant art style, this game's soundtrack is unbelievable. If you like jazz, you'll be absolutely blown away by this. Not to disparage the creators or anything, but I can't believe a BUBSY game has such incredible music. I genuinely might get the soundtrack just to listen to it in the car. Great game if you like unique, challenging platformers!

I regret not giving this my undivided attention and doing something in parallel. That way I would have refunded it before the refund window was out of range. I have no history with prior Bubsy games, nor a significant history with platformers, especially 3d ones. So keep that in mind, my opinions may lack neccesary insight. From a presentation point of view I found this quite pleasant. Visuals are nice and colourful, music is cheerful. The story is fairly simple, alien cyborg sheep are taking over and Bubsy needs to stop them. The main appeal is supposed to be from the characters interactions. And I was quite dissapointed in the them. Bubsy seems like a loveable goof, but the crux of the writing relies on everyone disrespecting/looking down/taking him for granted. He is not treated seriously. I, for one, have come to view this kind of writing and humour as toxic. This is supposed to be a positive hero character who youre supposed to root for. Why turn it into a humiliation ritual? The gameplay is just as dissapointing. The camera isnt good and it makes navigating and maneuvering troublesome. Navigating overall feels very janky. Weird physics/collisions, moving in wrong direction (presumably because of bad camera angle), confusing moves reset (sometimes I felt I touched the ground enough to get double jump back, but no), clumsy homing system for certain objects, lack of maneuverability in ball form. You have enemies you can defeat by pouncing them, but they add vitrually nothing. Level design uses both collecthathon and speedrunning principles. While not bad, I dont think any particular one excels. Some sections seem too tight, while other have plenty of progression room. Despite noticing relatively early that its not that great, I wanted to finish it, considering it isnt that long. Looking back at it I question whether it was worth it as I seldom actually had fun. 4.5/10

For my whole life, I was bombarded with memes and reviews that Bubsy is a failed franchise. While it is true, this time the generational laughing stock has been shattered for a bit. Bubsy 4D is a decent platformer, created by Fabraz, which is also responsible for great platformers like Demon Turf and Demon Tide, and I already felt their DNA all over this game. Platforming is really expressive, fast, and precise. You can also buy a new moveset to jump around the map even faster. While I do not think Bubsy 4D is something that will impress anybody, taking into consideration how cheap it is for a completely new game, I think this is a great start for this messy series. My main complaint is the homing attack, which is needed for platforming. Sometimes when I am doing such a move and running at high speed at the same time, the character just slowly jumps on the object and then falls. Had to restart multiple speed run challenges many times because of this weird move. And I would tone down the self-deprecating humor a little bit. It was funny at the beginning, but hearing it all the time got a little bit tiring. We get it, Bubsy is a failure, no need to rub it in our faces over and over. Let´s have a small triumph that this bobcat finally got something decent to show after many, many years.

I enjoyed the platforming and the bosses were fine. If there was one thing that could be changed I would hope there would be more worlds cus the game is short (I beat it in 2.8 hours)

If Bubsy has a million fans, then I am one of them. If Bubsy has ten fans, then I am one of them. If Bubsy has only one fan then that is me. If Bubsy has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against Bubsy, then I am against the world.

actually best bubsy game