Bugsnax: Review
Bugsnax even on the day of the announcement she became the butt of jokes. At the debut showcase of PlayStation 5 games, viewers were inundated with trailers with cool graphics, starting with Spider-Man: Miles Morales and ending Horizon Forbidden West. But there was also room for a strange game with a running strawberry with glued eyes and a walrus-like character. This is not the first time that the developers have attracted such attention to their game – about their Octodad at the beginning of the last generation they also joked tirelessly. The main thing is that Bugsnax in the end it was a success. But you shouldn’t play it on PS4.
Beautiful is far away
Main character Bugsnax – a journalist who writes articles about mysterious incidents and unknown anomalies. He received a video message from Lizbert Megafruit (the same walrus from the trailer – here this race is called hrumbs) – with her associates, she began to build a settlement on Yummy Island in order to better study the bugs. Half bugs, half food – no one has ever seen anything like it, and the best person to tell the world about it will be the journalist who comes to interview Lisbert.
Upon arrival on the island, the hero meets Filbo, a good-natured simpleton who at first does not want to tell the unpleasant news – while the journalist was getting to the godforsaken island, Lisbert disappeared without a trace. After this, the rest of the Khrumbs also left the settlement. We need to unite this team again, make friends with everyone and try to find the missing researcher.
Catch everyone, even if they don’t give in
What did it end up being? Bugsnax? It can be described as a mixture Pokemon and recent Journey to the Savage Planet. Instead of a Pokédex, there is a journal in which scanned individuals are entered, and a check mark is placed next to the creatures caught in the trap. However, if in “Pokemon” it is often enough to weaken the opponent and, in extreme cases, put him to sleep or paralyze him, then here there are a little more conditions for catching. Well, with JttSP The game is related by a large location for exploration, divided into regions, and the gradual acquisition of useful tools.
From the first minutes the player receives a yumscope – a scanner that allows you to study the surroundings and learn more about bugs. These creatures are truly strange, but charming. Who do you think an Eskimo is?? That’s right, a flying insect that looks like ice cream. And the glaze is a snail with a shell made of glaze. Well, you can imagine a hot worm without looking at the screenshots. There are dozens of such creatures, and throughout the game you will have to catch insects, kebabs, lollipops and pizza moths (the latter is a moth with pizzas instead of wings). The translators are great, they perfectly adapted the names of the creatures, dialogues and everything else.
Using a yamscope, you can read www.casino-moana.uk a short description of each bug, which may contain a hint – for example, fire creatures will be offered to be extinguished first. It is also important that the device shows the creature’s favorite sauces, which the player shoots with a slingshot. Someone is ready to land for the sake of ketchup, someone will run in the right direction if you pour cheese or hot sauce on the ground – there is no need to guess and experiment, which saves a lot of time.
Putting bugs in a backpack, using only the trap provided, is only possible at first – you scan the creature with a yummy scope, it shows the path it takes, set a trap, move away (otherwise you will scare off the target), press the button and run after the prey. Then it will become a little more difficult: bug holes will begin to appear, destroying your tools (they are restored after a couple of seconds), some will not fall into the trap, some must be stunned. It happens that different creatures have to be set against each other.
Bugsnax it becomes more and more like a puzzle with simple riddles – you see a new creature, look at it, read the description, look around the surroundings and think about how to catch it. Later, more and more features are unlocked, including a remote-controlled bug ball and a suction shot that shoots something like a plunger, with which hunting becomes easier. The target is difficult to catch up with? Let her trip and pass out for a while. Someone freezes the player when approaching? You should find the fire and do something with it.
New acquaintances
You need to catch bugs for a reason, but to complete tasks. As I already mentioned, the world is Bugsnax divided into several regions – you will visit both a snow-capped mountain peak and a hot desert with a pyramid and sand-covered ruins. Everywhere live not only unique creatures (which are still sometimes repeated, only changing color), but also Khrumbs who left the settlement. We talk with them and receive tasks from them, after completing which they still agree to join the team.
Khrumbas are completely different: there is a singer who turns every phrase into a song, there is a jock basketball player, there is a farmer who is passionate about his garden, trying to figure out how bugs reproduce and whether they can be grown by planting them in the ground. There is also a supporter of conspiracy theories – he does not leave the house, and in his room there are diagrams by which he tries to understand the purpose of the discovered creatures. There are a lot of dialogues here, thanks to which you begin to become attached to the hrumbs, especially when you pass by in the camp and they stop to say hello. Everything is voiced by excellent actors – including the voices of Peter Parker from Marvel’s Spider-Man and Soldier-76 from Overwatch.
In addition, those who arrive in the settlement have their own problems and unfinished business. Gossip Beffika wants to know what her neighbors do at night, Triffany studies excavations and ancient buildings, and bore Flufty tries to understand the nature of bug holes and asks to replace all her limbs with food – in this universe, when you eat a bug pit, you change in appearance. If you wish, you can modify the bodies of all the inhabitants of the camp, bringing the necessary creatures and choosing which parts of their body to turn into something else. Side quests are optional, but they are no worse than the main ones.
The plot in Bugsnax paid more attention than one might imagine. Unhappy Filbo, whom Lisbert for some reason appointed in charge before leaving, tries to rally his comrades – he throws parties and helps them get settled, but he doesn’t succeed. The characters quarrel and make up, and we interview each of them, watch the development of their relationships, look at their reactions when old friends appear, and at the same time study old tapes with Lisbert, learning more about her activities before her disappearance.
I completed the game in seven hours, completing almost all the side quests, so for those who want to just run through the story, five or six will be enough – and the ending is really worth seeing. Although the game warns of a point of no return near the end, after the credits you can go back in time and complete unfinished business. And there will be a lot of them, especially for those who want to knock out all the trophies: collect a hundred bugs, and change the appearance of all the heroes, and find all the legendary creatures.
The game turned out great, but the PS4 version is very poorly optimized. The frame rate regularly jumps in the range from 15 to 60 – at the top of the mountain I began to remember Fallout 76, which worked about the same. Most likely, the situation will be much better on PC and PS5, and on PS4 the game may still receive updates that improve stability. But I think they won’t change the downloads on the old console – moving from one region to another takes 10 or even 15 seconds, which is a little annoying due to the lack of fast travel. If the SSD works as they promise, there will be no downloads at all in a game like this.
Otherwise Bugsnax – a wonderful gift for PlayStation Plus subscribers at the release of the new console. Creators Octodad They didn’t reinvent the wheel and come up with another game with awkward controls and funny physics. This is a fun adventure for a couple of evenings that can be stretched out if you enjoy catching adorable creatures. It’s only a shame about the version for PS4 – it’s unlikely that it was poorly optimized specifically so that you would run to the store for a PS5, but the reasons for such unstable operation are completely incomprehensible.
Pros: various bugs, to catch which you need to be smart; several unique regions differing in appearance and fauna; cute characters that you quickly become attached to as you carry out their instructions and listen to their dialogues; dozens of secondary tasks allow you to enjoy spending more time in the game; excellent voiced characters and pleasant music.