So you are a bug extremists sent to a lab to get rid of all of the nasty space bugs that are running loose in the station. The Bug Butcher is a side scroller shooter that is aimed for you to get rid of the bugs.
General Gameplay
The general gameplay is very simple formula of moving left to right to get rid of all bugs in a level while collecting coins for power ups that you can purchase in the menus to power up your character. As the levels progress, so does the challenges to get a better score, and a kill multiplier and survive.
Audio
The audio is expected for a game like this, basic shooting sounds, muffled character chatter, space bugs sounds and some light background ambient music. For parents, there is not any type of audio or dialog that would be too offensive for any young children or any other family members. As this is more of a 2D style of game there is no 5.1 surround support but in honestly it is not needed.
Visuals
The Bug Butcher is a nicely drawn game with a great selection of colors, tones and also special effects. The game does a great job with its visuals as it is very easy to see the action, and colors on the screen. From the main character, space bugs, and other items in the game, they are done with a lot of fine detail. During our playtest we did not see any issues with the visuals and it made it easy for us to play the game. For gamers in your family that have color sight issues, the game is very friendly to the eyes and there is no color issues what so ever.
Controls
The controls for The Bug Butcher are very “pick up and play” friendly, with only three buttons used and going left to right it is designed to be able to play without trying to remember what button does what. During our playtest, we did not see any issues with the controls with our gaming family members. Also for parents, there is no need for any type of special controllers or set up outside of the defaults set by the game.
“The Bug Butcher is a great family friendly couch co-op shooter that can be fun for the whole entire family”
Delivery
As with all side scrollers the game is very fast paced but not in a way that would be to fast for everyone. The game is designed for shooting but in a way that is easy for people to get into the game. As the game only has a dash, special, and shoot button it is very easy for anyone to pick up and play the game. If you are in the market for a good side scroller shooter, then this will be a great addition to your library. Also the price for gamers on a budget is so cost friendly that this is a good game to have to break out of the norm or for a different change of pace.
Family Friendly
One of the thing that we saw with this game is that it is really a fun couch co-op game. During our play testing all members of our gaming family really enjoyed this game and the fact that it was very easy to pick up and play the game. The only thing that was a concern was that as the level progressed it did become a little bit harder for some of our family gaming members. This was a tad of a turn off from the game but as we adjusted the difficulty of the game they were able to enjoy it more. Also another thing was that the game was a little short to play via co-op, but I believe that this was the design of the game developers to encourage people to go back to levels and try to get the top score. This does help promote a healthy competition within the gaming family but we would have to see more DLC (Downloadable Content) available. Also as the game was given a T rating, we did not see anything that would not be appropriate for any younger games to see, or hear from the game
Closing
The Bug Butcher is a fun, family co-op game that is not violent and is very easy to pick up and play, just don’t get to squeamish around those nasty space bugs.
