Bubsy 4D

It took 30 years, busby has endure for thirty years but fianlly, somehow, there is a good, no, great bubsy game. The game is short, really well made, funny, visually pleasing, contorls well, the cotumes range form meh to a few AMAZING amd it's got very very reasnaoble time trails on its levels. Fun game.

The bottom line is that Bubsy 4D controls excellently and is fun to move around in. It also has great, lovable characters and genuinely good and funny writing. However, it is very short, and the world design is a weird abstract that doesn't feel worth exploring and doesn't evoke much outside its basic theming. Lovers of 3D platforming mechanics will be happy, but most people will be wondering where the rest is. I genuinely don't think Claws Encounter is a bad game and I'm baffled at the consensus. Uh yeah, it's funny when you try to jump on the car the first time and it kidnaps you. You can glide infinitely; ofc you might want to add fall damage to limit it a little. As a time-rich kid, these are things you learn about and enjoy knowing. And a machine-gun quick quip of "Hey whatever blows your hair back" after every annoying death is funny and memorable. Maybe he's not the most unique personality among the B-list mascots, but I think Bubsy's great, and his character has never been better than in 4D. For starters, he's actually cat-like, excellent. He's also got a real uncle vibe now, where he's kinda surrounded by friends who think the quips are a little cringe, and that interplay lets the writing be both genuinely goofy and self-aware in whatever mix it wants. I think it works great, with real laugh-out-loud bits. Every one of the other character designs are great too. Another Bubsy component that's seen big improvement is the platforming itself. I mean. This one's a bit of a no brainer, given the starting point, but I think 4D has a real stand out movement system, which is a huge component of any platformer. Running around is fast and responsive, with a few different modes you can switch between based on situation or preference (I liked running around like a cat, ofc). Demon Tides has a bit of an aerial feel to it, where your jumps are big and floaty, you stay in the air a lot, and you have several options to jump or redirect while you're up there, and Fabraz have carried over this philosophy for Bubsy. You get a double jump, cat dive, and the ol' glide. They seem like they're pretty similar, but I feel this lets them fit together quite well, and while there's a bit of a feeling of just triggering every ability every time, I did enjoy stringing them together. Now unfortunately, I feel like the great movement is let down by average platforming, as in, the actual platforms. Bubsy 4D has 3 different planets - where one is paper-craft themed for example - with a bunch of 10-minute, mostly-linear levels. But all of these levels are abstract, outside-of-space, senseless compilations of blocks. To be clear, the gameplay on these levels is great, and they're fun to navigate. But besides a cute diorama here or there, there's not much to look at and enjoy. I never feel like I am anywhere, and there's no point wondering how life would be here. That sounds a little silly, but I think all the great 3d platformers depended on this. Mario 64 had a battlefield or watery cove, Banjo-Tooie has Mayan temples, Sonic has an orca chase on the docks, and Pseudoregalia has a foreboding castle. They're called platformers, but I think a huge element is moving through the interesting space. Bubsy 4d gives a lot more of the dreamy void-realm of Lunistice, but with less aesthetic (and on the aesthetic, I haven't found Fabraz's games to be much to look at. Bubsy's characters look fantastic, as are Demon Tides's, but the atmosphere and textures just look weird). And with the low number of levels - 15 in total - Bubsy 4D turns out as a great platformer let down by its platforms. I would absolutely love to get this exact Bubsy in a bigger adventure, with bigger, open levels with some actual setting. A Cat in Time. Bubzo-Kazooie. With this gameplay and 25 years of experience, Bubsy in 3d really could go toe to claw with Mario 64, at last. I love this game; it's fun to control, and the characters are characterful. But I think most people will want more from elements besides the controls. The Black Hole update is a neat addition, but again it's good for challenge seeking platforming lovers, but it's pretty devoid of life. Like yeah, don't misunderstand me, the old games are pretty frustrating. The weird locked momentum when jumping is weird. Maybe don't put a guy throwing eggs at me slightly off screen, thx.