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Bug Too! - Sega
by John A Cairns ([email protected])
Lowdown:
I was a big fan of Bug! I played it all the way through and thought it was fun, entertaining, surprising and challenging. I would definitely recommend Bug! for a child. My is on semi-permanent loan to my little sister who adores the game, and can't stop playing. (unless your child is a teenage boy, in which case I would STRONGLY urge you to buy him something from AM2 R&D like Virtua Cop II :) Anyway, I couldn't wait for the release of Bug Too! I bought it as soon as it came out, and couldn't wait to get it home. Here's what I thought about it:
Bug Too is essentially the same as Bug! There are six levels based on loose associations to movie production/industry. Bug Too includes two new characters, Superfly, and Maggot Dog, who are both cute and fun to play. They are an advantage for the game. Also, Bug Too has a great new two player mode, which allows me and my sister to take turns (not at the same time) without having to fight over the controls (if you have two kids, or you want to play too, you might make a note of that).
The bottom line is Bug Too is Bug! with a few enhancements. Namely, more forgiving level saves, two player mode, the ability to run, and two new characters that don't effect game play at all. There are some fun and challenging areas. The difficulty of this game picks up where Bug! left off, so it requires some advanced platform skills. On the other hand there are some glitches and places that are hard to see, making for a few challenges that should NOT be present in the game.
The graphics are usually acceptable, however there are some areas that are downright painful to look at, due to poor contrast, and pixelization. I was surprised at Bug Too considering most sequels improve graphic quality. It appears to me that the Saturn is running in a higher resolution mode than Bug! did, but that they did not rebuild the sprite images for Bug and his pals. They only increased their size. All the characters and foregrounds look pixelated. The backgrounds still look pretty good, but the foregrounds are hard to look at. Sometimes its even difficult for my eyes to resolve character placement in the 'platform'. There is also some flicker, it can lead to a headache if you have already had a hard day at the office.
The background music is ok, nothing fantastic, but nothing to complain about either, it blends in nicely with the environments. The voices in Bug! were very good compared to Bug Too. Where Bug was clear before, now he sounds like he's calling from Japan on the Telephone, actually its probably worse than that. I wonder why they did all the sound recording in a tunnel? I guess only Realtime can answer that one.
Bug! was easier to control. With the graphics of Bug Too, I have a lot of trouble discerning where I am in the "3D" plane. It causes me to jump and miss certain objects repeatedly as I try to decipher where I am in space. Realtime must have spent so much time on the development of a PC version of this game that they didn't have time to do any human factors engineering. Oftentimes you literally don't know where you are in this game.
The addition of level saves makes Bug Too easier to complete than Bug! was. And if you did complete Bug! you will have no trouble whatsoever, in completing Bug Too. On average the levels are tougher to solve than most of Bug! (except the bubbles in Splot :) and that offers a good challenge, and a time consuming game. There are no surprises in Bug Too, and if you completed Bug! you have seen all the challenges that Bug Too will offer.
The levels are cute, but not always engrossing. I would like to see some new challenges, like the mazes at the end of Bug! I guess this is typical of platform games, but a little creativity never hurt anyone.
Should you buy? If you loved bug and NEED more, yes. IF you have never played Bug before? I'd look at some of the other Saturn titles or Bug! before Bug Too.
Graphics: 6
Sound/Music: 5.5
Gameplay/Control: 4
Lasting Power: 7.5
Overall: 6
-John
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