Reviews for Butcherbugs

[WickedSid]

. . .

For a 3 day project this is pretty good. The vert flyer thing's been done to death with Raiden and the like but the concept of formations is something i haven't seen before. I -didn't- beat the game and i don't really wanna sit through the very slow moving process again.

This game gets a top score because of the formations. I used EVERY formation more than once. Not to try them out but because the formation was actually MUCH much better than the others for that situation. It was almost like it was orchestrated specifically to cater to constant formation changing. I'm not sure if that was deliberate or completely by accident, but it's something i just have never seen before. I have seen similar, yes, but not exactly like this. In my opinion most of the game is pretty slow paced and a little tedious. Some might say it's lacking in the constantly shifting upgrades that other vertical fliers have (such as powerups) But those games are "orchestrated" to use the powerups given out for a specific part of the level. This game doesn't require powerups specifically because of the formations. The strategy of changing powerups in a vertical flier is replaced in this with the strategy of changing formation, which i feel is actually much better. I think this would be a great game if a little more time was spent on it, a few things changed around here and there. Although i understand the music was supposed to be significantly distorted to give a feel of electricity, neurons and perhaps even a sense of insanity (as it is regarding the destruction of the brain) i found it distracting. Often in the midst of an intense battle the explosions would either distract me from an incoming projectile or other enemies (sometimes even camouflaging them completely) which made it difficult to not lose some of my bugs. Although that's not a major flaw or anything it is pretty annoying.

Even if you didn't change a thing it'd still be a great game but I must say, that formation impliment has so many possibilities as far as this game, a sequel or even a new game is concerned. I've never played a vertical flier with formations and multiple fliers in the formation before, and i think its a pretty sweet idea. Perhaps consider it like playing a vertical flier where you're commanding a small squadron, and strategically giving commands to better deal with a situation. well you don't have to cause it's all right here, even though the theme you got was a little whacked out. I've played a few of your games now, and i like your creativity. 5/5 for that. 10/10 for the formations.

[Murudai]

Great job

For all you reviewers who like multi-unit shooters like this, check out Shoot 1UP on XBLIG. It's a great game released a while ago with very similar gameplay to this game.

What I really like about this game is the control over formations and how that integrates into gameplay. However, I have one gripe. The system where as you change formation it pauses to show you info about it... that's unnecessary because you can already see what the formation is like when you do it! And since this is a twitchy shooter, having that pause is teeth-grindingly annoying when I want to quickly switch around to take something behind me or on the sides. The little icon can still pop up showing formation information, just maybe off to the side instead so as to not obscure view of the formation and let the formation itself come up instantly on your units.

Fix that one flow breaking 'pause' and the game mechanics will be perfect.

Glaiel-Gamer responds:

the pause is necessary for the mouse wheel control so you can select which formation you want, trust me when it was instant it was a lot worse as ladybugs would spread out when you were cycling through the formations and hit stuff without you wanting it.

[SolidGabriel]

Best game of the Game Jam.

Did people read the part where it says this game was made in 3 days, for the NG Game Jam? I know it has some flaws but, damn! For a game that was made in 3 days, we can forgive them.

Anyway, this was the best entry of this Game Jam. I really liked the way the game turned out.

Glaiel-Gamer responds:

if people are nitpicking it means there wasn't anything blatantly wrong with the game so i take it as a compliment

[cordproducer]

It's ok

This was a well animated, well programmed game that could use a bit of work in the playability department

I really enjoyed the premise of the game, voyaging into the human body (as opposed to traversing untold parsecs fighting nameless alien drones) was kind of a unique, albeit a bit contrived twist. That area could have been fleshed out, in story and mechanics, to add to the game world.

The animation and control was, as far as I saw, flawless. There was a bit of an issue switching to full screen and back again where I lost control for a minute, but that's only a minor thing and really didn't detract from the gameplay - probably going to be technical issues there regardless of the skill of the programmer.

One major flaw I found was the inability to switch formations. From the reviews that I read (just a few) it would seem that this was a major innovation for the game. However, I was unable to switch at all. I hit all the number keys multiple times, while firing and while still, keyboard and numberpad, and yet I still remained in the single tight circling formation. This sounds like a great concept if executed correctly, but alas I must chalk this up to a game bug or programming flaw (maybe compatibility with firefox, possibly?).

Upgrades would have been great, as it does get a bit monotonous just firing the same thing and moving around fighting brain cells or whatnot. The possibilities here are vast, for sure. Neural toxins, electrical shocks, parasites/bacteria carried by the ladybug to name a few - the possibilities are vast, and many mechanics from basic shooters could be incorporated into this environment with relative ease.

As fantasy dragon pointed out, a Pause option would be great. Also, the game does tend to drag on a bit, but powerups or a bit more variety in the enemies/object to fight would have livened this up significantly. That being said, I found your comments on FD's review pretty ironic. I hope you find this review actually constructive and critical, as I enjoyed it for a while, but didn't find alot of replay value.

With a few tweaks this could be a great game. As it stands, however, I believe that it's destined for obscurity. In any case, please give us more. Give us some innovation and originality while maintaining your quality of art and gameplay.

Thanks.

Glaiel-Gamer responds:

Were you using the numpad or the number keys to try and switch formation?

I dont think the numpad works

[LordJag]

not bad

It got old quickly, but it was lots of fun for about 5 minutes.

I found the firepower maxed out way too early. I didn't seem to be able to get more than 5 bugs.

Also, I don't have a scroll button on my mouse and the number keys were rather unresponsive. I could push down 4 and hold it for a second or two before it would register the change. It seemed to be playing fast enough, but it wouldnt change when I wanted it to.

After I killed the second big boss thing at the top I just got neurons and shooters endlessly until I got bored.