Sega Nerds

Retro Review: Bug! (Saturn)

by Graham on November 7th, 2006

Bug was one of the first games to use 3D graphics and try and make use of the new dimension in a platform game. There, of course, had been 3D games out for a while before Bug was released- like Sega Rally (Arcade version), Virtua Racing, and Virtua Fighter. And there were a couple of platform games to use 3D graphics and some 3D effects –Pandemonium, Clockwork Knight.

But Bug was possibly the first platform game to use 3D graphics and allow the player to use the ‘Z- Dimension’ – where games like Pandemonium gave the illusion that the player was using the Z- dimension, but in fact the player could not move in and out of the screen on their own accord- it was the camera that span around the player and level to give the impression of it being 3D.

It wasn’t a true 3D platform game – like Croc or Spyro the Dragon, where the player can run around on a 3D map (world) wherever and whenever they wanted – but it had set routes going across the screen (like old 2D platform games) and some routes moving the player along the Z-dimension.

To tell you the truth I’m not entirely sure on the real story line of the game. But you seem to be ‘Bug’ the movie star and whilst filming one day your friends (or family) are captured by a big evil Spider woman- type thing- and its up to you to get your friends back.

Now either it is actually meant to be that your friends are really captured- or that it is just part of the movie that Bug is filming at the time, because at the end of each world Bug walks across to another set and the new world begins. Plus at the end of each area you get ‘points’ earned on how good the ‘film’ is in the form of US$ (like a total movie gross figure). You see it doesn’t really explain properly in the opening cut scene - as there isn’t any talking or anything. Oh well.

For one of the first 3D games of the generation, these are pretty good. The levels themselves are made out of 3D polygons, but the characters (Bug and the little baddies) are made up of 2D sprites (or bitmap images) – but they are done in a way to make them look 3D.

The areas that you walk along are like narrow walkways floating in mid-air, but you cannot fall off (well some areas you can) by walking towards the camera. If you do try to walk towards the camera or away from it, when you are not really meant to, bug will look at the camera or turn his back on it- but you will not be able to actually fall off.

This is what I was talking about, when I said the 2D images are made to look 3D- because Bug and the enemies can rotate to show all of their sides- like the baddies in ‘Doom’ –they are not made up of 3D polygons, they are 2D.

Bug is very well animated- he looks very smooth and is well detailed. The same goes for the enemies- though their actions seem to be more limited to that of our Hero’s. And the bosses that appear at the end of each world- are very well detailed and look better than Bug himself in some instances, for example there is one boss that is a giant snail and the way it moves is very cool – I was very impressed when I first came to it and in some ways I still am.

The actual detail on the levels is good- its not incredibly impressive, as the individual levels in each world look the same and you can’t really tell them apart, until you go to the next world- where they have a ‘different theme’. And each background in the game looks pretty good, it won’t make your jaw drop, but they do make the worlds look and feel more complete- without them it would just be a coloured set of platforms and walkways floating around in space- the backgrounds help to emphasise the overall character of the world.

One other effect I thought was quite funny, is if you do happen to fall off the level, you will fall for ages- noticing the background a little more clearly until you splat on the ground- like a…well like a bug! In a cartoon-y style ‘squelch’ –a bit like a droplet of water impacting on a hard ground.

You may have got the general idea of how the game operates from what I have said so far or any screen shots you may have seen, but Ill try to highlight it a bit more for you.

In essence Bug is more like a 2D platform game, rather than a true 3D game- despite some of the stuff I mentioned earlier. But that isn’t to say that you should ignore what I have said, as the game is one of the first to make real use of a 3D ‘environment’, even though the game play is more like that of a 2D one.

Each time you start a new level/world the camera starts off as it would in a 2D platform game- the character facing forward (to the right) and the camera showing a side view of the level, then as you move along, you will see clearly in the background other platforms and baddies walking around. And after a few steps you will find a split in the walkway, either going away from the camera or towards it. So from there it is up to you on which path to take- you can either carry on as ‘normal’ going forward (right) or you can take the new ‘Z-dimension’ and go away from the camera.

Now in games like Pandemonium if you were to turn away from the camera down another path, the camera would spin around to the traditional side view. This is not so in Bug, which is why it feels more like a 3D game. The paths you take are still narrow, and you cannot just walk off the side of them and you still need to jump over things, like gaps or enemies, but you are seeing it from a slightly different view. Make sense? – I hope it does.

Now just walking along narrow platforms/walkways may sound pretty boring, and I suppose it would be- except that’s not all you do. Parts of the level become more like 2D platform games- you need to jump gaps, spikes come up through the floor, the walkways might slope up or down, or you may come to a point where you can either follow the current path down or jump onto a slightly higher floating platform and take a different route. There are also moving platforms- like a walkway that sways from side to side and you need to time your movements carefully, or there are platforms that move up and down or switch with other platforms and you need to jump onto them quickly to get across the gap.

And sometimes you might be walking along and notice the platform going into a ‘wall’- going vertically up- when I first came across this I thought that it was a dead-end, made sense having a wall instead of the platform just ending. But as I was walking back the way I came, I noticed a parallel platform in the background with various bonuses on it (extra health and points- you know the deal) and the platform seemed to start with a wall at one end and then nothing connecting it on the other. So I went back to the wall and was examining it and thinking that it might need to find a switch to ‘lower’ this wall or rotate the world or something- but as I was absentmindedly wandering along, I accidentally walked onto the wall, not into it –onto it.

I forgot that one thing that insects (or ‘bugs’) can do better than fat plumbers and blue hedgehogs is walk up and down vertical surfaces. The ‘wall’ went directly up then across and then down another ‘wall’ to the secret platform that I had seen.

Also the platforms are not always narrow, I might have been a bit misleading so far. They are most of the time, however, but you will find occasions where you come across a large ‘square’ of platform, giving the level a slightly more ‘open’ feel to it. But you cannot move across these squares as you would in games like Mario 64 or Spyro the dragon, they are split into invisible grids so you can only walk in straight lines – a bit like Sonic 3D on the Megadrive and Saturn, but this is actually using 3D dimensions (Sonic 3D is using 2D isometric levels). As I mentioned before, you can see other accessible platforms in the background, in fact you can see quite a lot of the level in the background and sometimes you can see a good way to get to the end of the level.

One thing that you tend to find these days is that platform games only really have one route to take, but Bug keeps more to the 2D Sonic style design of its levels (well it is made by Sega) where you can take multiple paths, and it also has some dead-ends (something that you rarely see these days).

From the moment you turn the game on, you will realise that comedy is one of its main elements. The ‘jokes’ may not be particularly brilliant and I doubt that you will be laughing your head off, but I can almost guarantee that this game will bring a smile to your face. Most of the humour is slapstick based (visual humour, walking into windows, getting hit on the head with a cow etc…) so if you detest that type of humour then you may not like the game too much. I however enjoy most types of comedy, slapstick being one of my favourite (good old Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton- and of course the almighty Jackie Chan -note his earlier films are best for this) so I really enjoyed the comical moments in the game.

The music in the game is very catchy, as are most cheesy platform games, and the sound effects are one of the best things in the game. There may not be any speaking in the few cut scenes that the game offers, but Bug himself does a lot of talking during the levels- like when he gets hit or dies, or gets lots of bonuses. And there is the ever so funny ‘Bug Juice’ sound. When you pick up bug juice a guy in a funny voice shouts/sings out “Bug Juice” – you won’t have the faintest idea as to what I am talking about here until you play the game, it certainly bought a smile to my face when I first heard it, and in fact it still does.

This is one of the games down points, there isn’t really a lot to come back to with this game, no bonuses for completing it or anything (at least none that I have heard of) and no multiplayer mode.

That said, the game is enjoyable enough for you to keep in your collection long after you have completed it- as it is great fun just to turn it on for a quick play, maybe even to complete it all over again. And there are certain cheats available that let you skip levels and stuff, so you can just go and redo a level you enjoyed or a boss that made you laugh (as a couple did with me).

This game is original enough to add to your Saturn collection, there are no other games anywhere that are like this one-apart from Bug Too! (The sequel- obviously).

But no other games company has made a platform game like this one, possibly because games like Mario 64 and Spyro are more impressive and indeed more fun overall, but this type of game is a must have as it is still very enjoyable and is also quite a lot more taxing than the true 3D games we have today. However you may want to consider buying Bug Too! As it has some extra features that make it slightly better.

One of the more unappreciated games of its time, it got great reviews when it first came out- but it never really made itself as a house-hold name, yet Crash Bandicoot did for some reason, when those games are abysmally boring. Strange world.

Score: 7/10

~G~

Tags: Saturn

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