Bugdom by Michael Eilers Pangea Software’s Bugdom has its success practically guaranteed before it even hits the shelves; a bundling deal on future iBooks (and perhaps iMacs as well) guarantees that everyone who purchases one will get a copy of Bugdom. This is an ideal situation for both Brian Greenstone (head of Pangea) and Bugdom itself, because it delivers a great game directly into the hands of an ideal audience for it - first-time computer users, kids, kids at heart, and those new to gaming in general. And it is a Mac-only game to boot. Apple gets its money’s worth out of this win/win deal themselves; Bugdom is such a polished and intriguing game, it may very well sell iMacs and iBooks on the strength of its graphics and gameplay alone. Prospective buyers may look at this game and figure, hey, if it plays this game well, it must play lots of other games just as well - and they would be right to conclude so. But bundling deal aside, is Bugdom a success on its own? Does this relatively simple game transcend the limitations of Nanosaur (too hard, repetitive gameplay, stiff animation, high hardware requirements) and become a commercial release in its own right? This Bug Ain’t Dumb! Bugdom is one of those games that reviewers love to call 'deceptively simple: easy to pick up and learn, tough to master.' With its cartoonish graphics, lack of bloodshed, happy color scheme and funny sounds, it is obviously not aimed at the serious gamer. In fact, as I noted earlier, its ideal player may be (in my experience with introducing friends and relatives to the game) people who have never played computer games - beyond solitaire or minesweeper - before. The intuitive controls often delight such first-time users, simply because of the novel sensation of being in control of a cute little bug walking on a 3D landscape. Most of my personal complaints about the game - awkward camera behavior in spots, lack of resolutions beyond 640x480, no 32-bit color support, monotonous sound effects - went totally unnoticed by my less-game-savvy test subjects. They were just plain delighted. I think Pangea’s (and Brian Greenstone’s) decision to make a bloodless, playful game that could appeal to this sort of crowd was brilliant. By eschewing all the trappings of hardcore gaming (violence and bloodshed, multiplayer, arcane preferences settings, .ini file hacking) and concentrating on look and feel, he made a game anyone could grasp in a minute. The fact that serious gamers such as myself can enjoy it too is just a bonus. For The Last Time, It’s Not ‘A Bug’s Life!’ In Bugdom you assume the, err... ‘persona’ of Rollie McFly, a pillbug on a quest to free the Bugdom from the tyrant Ant King, who has imprisoned all the ladybugs (female versions of Rollie? This isn’t clear) and assume the throne. Along the way you’ll encounter many forms of bug and animal life, some hostile, others indifferent but dangerous nonetheless. Although comparisons are inevitable, Brian Greenstone insists that his game’s superficial similarity to the rainbow-hued world of Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life” is nothing but “a happy accident,” and I have to agree. Gameplay is simple, at first. Crack open walnuts for points, power-ups and health bonuses. Kick enemies into submission, or roll into a ball and take ‘em out tenpins style. You must find color-coded keys to open doors of the matching color, and you can discover hidden rooms and power-ups if you are both observant and lucky. As the game progresses, the puzzles get much more complex, and you have to exert finer and gentler control of Rollie’s movements. Bumping ants is one thing; swinging on vines over lava or jumping from one moving honeycomb to another atop a honey river is another. By the time you get to the Toxic Gas Roaches and Fireflies, you’ll be a bug acrobat or die trying. Both the plot and the game are strictly linear; there isn’t much in the way of random encounters or multiple paths to an objective. But there is enough flexibility of gameplay that players can develop an individual style - my fiancee prefers ‘run from everything fast and use ball mode a lot’ to my ‘kick everything into oblivion and find all the specials’ strategy. Enemy AI is quite predictable, but it really should be; this isn’t a deathmatch game. Many of the enemies are very aware of your presence, a nice change from other games; the Fish in particular seem to watch you intently and wait expectantly for you to stumble into the water. Sights and Sounds As a few minutes playing the demo will tell you, this is a very polished and attractive game. On a Rage 128 card/Blue G3 combo it is absolutely gorgeous, and just keeps getting better the farther you get into the game. The animation, while ‘cartoony’ in keeping with the game’s excellent 3D model work, is very fluid, and the textures are excellent. Brian’s 3D engine supports many cool features, such as scrolling transparent textures, morphing and ‘fluid’ objects, walls of fire and lens flares. The Slugs and Caterpillars hug the landscape so realistically it boggles the mind. Other animations are just as good, from the jumps of the bug-eating fish in level three to the fire-breathing Fire Ants of the later levels. The overall ‘look’ of the characters is consistent and consistently funny. The sounds aren’t quite as satisfying; while the background music is very solid overall and of high quality (I really love the soundtrack to level 3) it does tend to drone on when you’re deep into the later levels. Individual sound effects, such as jumps, bumps and picking up powerups are good, but get quite repetitive after a while. Perhaps they could use some randomization or changes in volume and pitch. Camera movement is quite intelligent but fares poorly in small rooms, particularly in the Queen Bee and Beehive levels. There are controls for changing the camera angle and zoom, but no ‘default’ key for snapping the camera back to its usual place. My Life as a Ball As Brian revealed in an e-mail discussion a while back, the game actually started out as a pinball game with the player as the pinball. He had so much fun driving the ball around a 3-D landscape that he decided to expand the idea into a full-fledged game. Ball mode really is the biggest kick of this game. With the appropriate hardware to show off the game engine at high frame rates, you can really zip around the levels at amazing speed. Even better, the ‘ball’ physics are excellent, allowing you to leap into the air off the lip of a valley and rebound from objects pell-mell and willy-nilly. For some reason it is so satisfying to cruise through a pack of spear-toting Ants and scatter them around like tenpins - whether it is the sound, the physics or what else I’m not sure, but I love it. My one big complaint about ball mode: when you “die” and are reincarnated, you get a full health meter, but not a full ball meter. This doesn’t make much sense to me, and can be really dangerous on levels where you have a long distance between ball mode rechargers (shaped like giant mushrooms.) Not All Roses In the Garden I was an alpha and beta tester for this game, and I can attest to Brian’s willingness to tweak the gameplay to suit our suggestions and complaints. The game came a very long way in a short period of time, and almost all of my complaints were addressed. But after playing the game through to completion, I do see many areas for improvement. Perhaps the biggest problem is the game’s difficulty. While there is an ‘easy mode’ for beginning players, which turns down the amount of damage done by enemy critters in the game (with the exception of Mosquitos and the Fish) it doesn’t affect the numbers and frequency of those enemies or increase your number of lives. Beginning players who aren’t gamers, such as my fiancee, were totally intimidated by the second and third levels and just plain gave up on the fourth level. Even I was stumped for quite some time by a ‘puzzle’ at the end of the fourth level, and I can’t imagine a ‘newbie’ game player getting past that point without explicit help. I think the ‘Easy Mode’ should grant infinite lives, since score isn’t a major priority of the game anyway. I’d also like to see a ‘kids mode’ which lowers the number of attacking enemies and slows the overall pace of the game. While getting to the later levels in this way wouldn’t have the same sense of achievement as getting there the hard way, I think in its current state very few non-hardcore gamers would get to those levels at all - which would be a shame, considering how much fun they are. The ‘Boss’ levels, particularly the Queen Bee level, are also much too hard even for veteran players. The Queen Bee level isn’t just tough, it doesn’t make much sense and quickly ceases to be fun. The much more satisfying Night Attack is a great example of how to make a level challenging and fun as well. Powerups such as invulnerability and extra players are poorly placed and far too rare in general, as are the ‘water drop’ markers that allow you to reincarnate at further spots in a level. I also have some complaints about the engine itself: I realize that Pangea wanted to keep the settings simple for first-time gamers, but there should definitely be an option to switch to higher resolutions if you have the hardware to support it. The game would look gorgeous at 1024x768 on my Rage 128 card, and I’m sure the frame rate would be very good. I’d also like the option to switch to 32-bit color, to avoid the subtle (but still irritating) ‘dither’ effect that Rage 128 cards generate in 16-bit mode. I guess I just want the best of both worlds: a fun game for kids with the features of a serious game for adults. I don’t see any reason why a game like Bugdom can’t be both. Cute As a Bug Bugdom is certainly a great game; we don’t have many of its type to chose from on our platform, and it is good enough to rival many of the Nintendo 64 and Playstation titles that it is similar to. Its easy-to-grasp controls and interface are almost totally transparent, even to new users, and the “feel” of the game is just plush and polished - as is the look. My only complaint is that the game currently straddles the gap between ‘newbie’ gamers (iBook and iMac buyers) and ‘hardcore’ gamers; it is too easy in the beginning and too tough towards the end. If the player had more control over the difficulty level, the problem would be addressed immediately, but perhaps at the expense of the gameplay Pangea worked so hard to balance. Regardless, the game is a remarkable visual and gameplay experience. The first time I blasted across a foggy pond on the back of a Water Taxi, I had to pick my jaw up off the carpet. That five minutes alone was worth the purchase price, and I’m speaking sincerely. If you are in envy of the N64 games such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, then Bugdom is for you. If you want a Mac-only game to taunt your PC-using friends with, then Bugdom is for you. If every game you currently play has a deathmatch option, then Bugdom isn’t for you. Or perhaps you need to discover Bugdom and give all that mayhem and gore a rest for a while... Personally, I can’t wait to see what Brian and the Pangea team dream up next. Pros • Splendid, original graphics and music • Smooth, polished gameplay: ‘plush’ feel • Excellent 3D engine with huge levels and very nice textures • Lens flares, fire, water ripples, splashes, all manner of special effects • Brilliant ‘cartoony’ animation and caricatured enemies • A nice mix of obstacles and very different levels in look and strategy • Lots of humor and some surprises • Runs great on Rage Pro chips and iBook • Damn that bug is cute! Cons • Sound effects get repetitive • Too easy for serious gamers in the beginning; way too hard for casual gamers near the end • Not enough lives for younger players • Too far between checkpoints • Can only save at end of level • Camera is a bit flaky in small rooms • No 32-bit color or high resolutions