A fun, dark, and atmospheric horror game that can give you a good jump scare once in awhile, despite the cute yellow raincoat-wearing protagonist. To experience this game at it's creepiest, I highly recommend playing at night with all of the lights off.

A level in this game typically has you navigate through creepy, dark areas while solving a bunch of puzzles to get to the end. To see where you are going, you will need to illuminate the way with your trusty flashlight. But beware, there are all sorts of giant creatures that will attack if they hear or see you. If you are looking for an extra challenge and/or are a trophy hunter, there are also a number of hidden items and secrets you can try to uncover, increasing this game's replay value.

While I enjoyed playing through this game and the horror of being spotted by one of the giant creatures (even though I swore I was being careful enough!), it does have it's flaws, mainly the controls. The game sometimes has you navigate over thin platforms and it can be difficult to tell what plain you are on, causing you to constantly fall off and having to try again. There is also a segment on the last chapter of the DLC where you have to use the right joystick to shine your flashlight on enemies. Since pushing the right joystick also turns the flashlight on and off, using the same joystick to control the direction of the flashlight becomes really frustrating when you are constantly turning it off by accident, causing you to redo the entire section. There were parts where I just wanted the level to be over with because of this kind of unfair frustration.

Overall, if you are looking for a short and simple game to play and are into atmospheric horror and puzzle games, this game is probably right up your alley.

Since the story of the first Last of Us was so well crafted and had an ending that just left me wanting to know what will happen next to Joel and Ellie, this sequel was one of my most anticipated PS4 games for years. Well, I have finally gotten around to playing it, and I must say that while it is an improvement over the first game in a lot of ways, the story was a huge disappointment, which is unforgivable for me since the story is what made the first game stand out as much as it has.

The first impression that I got when starting this game was how much more ambitious it seems compared to The Last of Us Remastered. The environments are much larger and are rendered with much more detail. There is even a semi open world segment fairly early on. The animations are also much improved. I was specifically impressed by how much more satisfying it is to dispatch enemies by sneaking up on them since you can now hear their neck snap or hear when the knife you hold up to their throat punctures their jugular vein so that you can feel exact point that the enemy is killed.

Regarding the story, there were a few parts of it that I really liked, specifically Ellie's flashback scenes. But the overall story is not as well thought out as the first game's story. In the first game, every chapter and interaction brings more development and depth to the two main characters. In this one, this seems to rarely be the case. I just felt like nothing happened to make me care about any of the newly introduced characters, but at the same time, it is important to care for them in the context of the story they are trying to tell. Because of this, the ending fell kind of flat for me and I was left a little disappointed.

In summary, If you liked the first one for the gameplay, I think playing this is a no brainer since Naughty Dog has done a good job building on it. If you like the first one for the story, then I would suggest giving this one a try; you might not feel the same way about it as I have. If you didn't like the first one, then why the hell are you reading this?

This game pretty much deserves five stars for the story alone. When I first played this game, I was rapidly losing interest in new video games and was primarily interested in retro games and pinball. The only reason why I even played this game is because it was packaged in with the brand new PS4 I got in 2015. (I must have been crazy throwing all of that money on a shiny new PS4 if I was primarily interested in retro gaming.) Anyway, I didn't really know anything about this game going in, but I played it because it was free and I like free stuff. And by the time I got about 3/4 of the way through on Normal difficulty, I was hooked and immersed in the characters, story, and gameplay. When I finished the game, and witnessed the emotional ending, I realized that this game is art and that video games could be a very powerful form of art when done well. One could say that reading a novel is more intimate than watching a movie because the novel gives you a glimpse into the character's thoughts and the reader gets to know them in a way that just can't be replicated through a screenplay. But video games have the whole interactive element where you get to actually be the characters and guide them through their journey, effectively binding yourself to their story in a way no other form of media or art can.

I won't go into details about the story, because if you haven't played it by now, the less you know, the better it will be. However, I will mention that I just finished a second playthrough on hard difficulty to refresh my memory for the sequel. During this playthrough, I realized how well thought out the structure of the story and character development was. For example, throughout their journey, the two main characters meet up with all sorts of people that they end up aligning themselves with. Each of these alliances slowly force both of the main characters to reveal how they were before and after the apocalypse and ultimately reveal who they are at their core in a way that seems completely natural.

I also wanted to talk about the gameplay a little bit because it also is pretty good. It plays similar to the Uncharted series, where each area is limited to where you can go (which I think is a good thing as I am not really a fan of open worlds), you have the option of stealthily taking out enemies or shooting them (depending on how much ammo you conserved), and you must solve a few puzzles to move on (but not as many or as complicated as the ones in the Uncharted games). What sets this apart from the Uncharted series is the dark apocalyptic setting and supernatural enemies. If you don't sneak around quietly enough, a clicker zombie can see you and kill you as soon as it reaches you, adding further to the game's scary and foreboding atmosphere.

There is also a multiplayer mode, which I have never played. I assume it is something like Uncharted 4’s multiplayer which was pretty fun.

If you haven't experienced this game yet, it is an absolute must for Playstation console owners. The story really rewards you and gets better as you progress, so if you lose interest in the beginning, you should really try to stick with it, even if you need to set the difficulty to easy.

I really wanted to like this game more than I did because the amount of care and fan service that went into this, despite being part of a franchise that doesn't seem to have any fans, is astounding. This game is chocked full of references and characters from everything that made this franchise so... well, hated. Of course, they brought back the Woolies from Bubsy I and The Woolies Strike Back, but they also brought back some more obscure characters. For instance, Oinker, the main vilian from Bubsy II is back, as well as Arnold the Armadillo and Terry and Terri. They even brought in Virgil as a playable character, whose only appearance was in the animated pilot. I should also mention that Virgil's collectibles have a strong resemblance to the collectibles in Bubsy 3-D.

So why did I not like this game as much as the other Bubsy games I have played? This game is not a platformer, but a runner. While there have been some runners that I have really enjoyed such as Jetpack Joyride and Flash Gordon, I just felt like each level in this game didn't offer enough variety to make it consistently interesting. There are 30 levels for each of the three characters (Bubsy, Woolie, and Virgil) and an additional 30 bonus levels for Arnold the Armadillo that are unlocked by collecting all three pieces of the Arnold Medallion with all three characters within a specific level. Each level plays significantly different depending on which character you select. Bubsy relies more on floating and pouncing, Virgil relies on double jumps and ducking, and the Woolie just turns the level into a scrolling shooter. The Arnold bonus levels are kind of like the special stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but with poor controls that take some getting use to. If you hit right, he sometimes stops halfway up the side and you have to hit left to continue going up, causing you to miss precious crystals. I didn't figure out until I got to the final world that you should be moving him by sliding your finger around the D-Pad. It is also of note that all four characters have collectibles that can be collected to purchase alternate costumes.

If you are playing to increase your score on the leaderboard, you can rack up the points by staying airborne and not dying. This not only increases your score, but will increase a meter that will set Bubsy on fire (which is a good thing) and make Virgil and Woolie glow. You can also increase your score by defeating enemies and collecting yarn balls.

Like in Woolies Strike Back, the music is pleasant, but not very memorable. The boss fights are fun, but not as challenging as the previous game (except for maybe the second boss). It certainly isn't a bad game, but I just felt the entire time that I’d rather be playing a Bubsy platformer.


I have never played Bubsy 3-D, but I would be open to it if I stumbled upon it for cheap, nor Fractured Fairy Tales because who the hell has an Atari Jaguar?

When the announcement trailer for this game was released, many people couldn't believe that any company would resurrect Bubsy with him becoming the poster child for poorly designed games over the last 20 years. Yet this negative attention was the very thing that made UFO Interactive Games consider that Bubsy could possibly now be a somewhat financially viable property. Watching the original teaser trailer got me really pumped up for the fact that he was actually brought back after 20 years and I just had to buy this game.

And the game is pretty good. It address pretty much all of the issues that people had with the original Bubsy platformers. Bubsy takes up a much smaller portion of the screen, so there are no obstacles popping out of nowhere to kill you. The shirts offer you an extra hit point the first time you collect one and an extra life after that (unless you take a hit, in which case the shirts will become extra hit shirts again). Most importantly, there is now an option to toggle how often Bubsy talks. Naturally I put it on the highest setting. I can't get enough of Bubsy's whacky but repetitive quips.

Unfortunately there are a few major issues with this game. The biggest is that it is way too easy compared to the classic Bubsy games. There are some moderately difficult parts, such as the last two bosses (which are extremely well done and fun to fight), but even this is negated by the fact that if you lose your nine lives, you can just continue where you left off with no penalty. The levels look polished and well done, but are kind of generic and not as memorable compared to the levels in Bubsy I and II. The same is true with the game's music.

If you simply want to play through this, you can race through it without collecting anything within an hour or so, but this game is most enjoyable when you try to complete the optional tasks the game lists. These tasks include collecting all of the t-shirts, all of the keys to the Woolie vaults, and beating a level without dying. If you want to get even more out of the game, you can try to increase your score by collecting all of the yarn balls as quickly as possible to earn a high place up on the online leaderboard.

Overall it is a pretty fun game with some pretty cool boss battles. I think it is currently free (as of this writing) to PS Now subscribers, so definitely give it a try and have an open mind.

This Bubsy sequel addresses a lot of complaints that people have with the first game. Instead of one hit deaths, Bubsy now has a hit bar face thing (It's not a bar, it's a picture of Bubsy's face whose expression changes to show you how much damaged he's taken), band-aids to regain hit points, and weapons! The weapons come in the form of a nerf gun and a smart bomb (which is a bomb with a graduation cap on it). It also has non-weapon items that can be of help if used correctly, including a black hole thing that takes you out of the level and back to the level select floor (which is only useful in the Timed mode - I'll get to that later) and a diving suit that takes you into a minigame when you fall into water (instead of instantly dying). To add a little variety, they also added airplane levels and sections of the outer space level where you can drive a spaceship.

Also included in this game are characters from the animated pilot that I assume no one saw until the advent of youtube. (When I saw the advertisement for the cartoon special inside the box of the first game back in 1993, I really wanted to see it, but I couldn't find it in the TV guide, so I missed it. :( I never quite forgave myself until I saw it on youtube two weeks ago. :) ) The characters from the animated pilot include Arnold the Armadillo, who is controlled in the truck minigame and Terry and Terri, who you can control in the new two player mode, which I never tried because I have no friends.

Instead of playing all of the levels in order, the game lets you pick any floor (two sets of three floors, the higher ones are more difficult) and any level within the floor. As a kid, I beat the first floor on the east side and was like "yay, I can beat Bubsy II," and every time that I played it thereafter, I played the levels I knew that I can beat so I can see the ending and feel good about myself. For a bigger challenge, you can select Grand Tour, which will require you to play all three floors of difficulty on either the East side or West side.

The levels can get annoying when you are trying to figure out where to go to find the exit. But once you figure out where to go, you can challenge yourself even further and play timed mode! If you select the Grand Tour on timed mode, the times in many of the levels are quite tight, which will force you to speed run each level. Doing this is where this game shines the most since it doesn't have the one hit deaths of the first game, which would be a nightmare. With three hit deaths, healing items, and the black hole thing that can take you out of a level if you realized that you are taking too long, it is actually quite fun and rewarding to finally beat that time by a second or two.

So, now that I built this game up so much, you might ask why I only gave it the same star rating as the first Bubsy game. Well, there are a few things that could have been done better. Figuring out where to go can often be frustrating. There is only one boss in the entire game and the ending is the same whether you beat the game on the easiest floor or Grand Tour mode. You would have thought they would have added something to reward you for beating the more difficult levels, but nope. The music is good and catchy, but it does a weird thing where it changes depending on what part of the level you are in. Sometimes it changes three times in quick succession, which just seems like bad programming.

Overall, this game is definitely worth a try, especially if you enjoyed the first game.

The original Bubsy game has a lot going for it. Good graphics, an awesome soundtrack, a lot of animations and voice clips for a console game of its era, and a fun challenge that feels rewarding whenever you beat that next level that you are stuck on.

Someone picking this up for the first time nowadays might give up after encountering some of the cheap obstacles and fall damage, but if you give this game a chance and figure out some of the mechanics, there is tons of fun to be had. For instance, it is much easier to land your jumps on enemies or narrow landings by gliding whenever you are in the air. It also helps when you are in a new area you aren't yet familiar with to always look ahead of you to see what obstacle could be coming your way by holding the C button and the direction you are going.

One of the most appealing parts of this game is the soundtrack, which is significantly under rated. You will be humming these songs in the shower or when you get out of your car to buy groceries, only to realize that there are people looking at you, so you get nervous and shut your mouth.

I got this game around the time that it came out, when I was about eight. I have never played a platformer like this where you can actually die from falling too high (okay I played the Genesis version of Jurassic Park that has this feature, but you don't comically splat in that game like you do in this game and it just felt different.) Anyway, I must have died so many times because I couldn't even beat the first level, even though the game starts you off with nine lives (which I always thought was amusing). It was such a rush back then when I did beat the first level, and again when I beat the chapter 3 boss some time after that, and when I solved the chapter 6 funhouse puzzle and beat that boss. And guess what? It was still a big rush when I finished chapter 9 twenty-five years later

(granted, I didn't play the game much over this 25 year period).

The game gets a lot harder starting from chapter nine, but if you master your landing skills and look ahead often, you will still continue to progress quickly. The final level was perhaps the best level of the game, I think because it was the most linear (and has some pretty awesome music). All of the other levels have multiple pathways, much like the Genesis Sonic games, which I think make the levels seem like there were just cobbled up by the level designer, at least in the case of Bubsy. I think that maybe this game would be more appreciated today if the levels were more linear like the final one. But I know nothing about video game design, so I am probably just talking out of my ass.

Bottom Line: Give this game a chance and decide for yourself if you like it