The Bug Butcher Reviews
The Bug Butcher is a great release that pays homage to the arcade-style games of ages past. It controls perfectly, offers a ton of great weapons, and lots of replayablitly. The game is perfect for both short burst of gaming as well as for longer sessions, making it a must-have for your PlayStation 4.
You know a game is fun when you're done writing a review for it, and you still end up going back to play some more. The Bug Butcher is an excellent arcade-style action game that is a must-have for PlayStation 4 owners. The bite-sized nature of each level makes the whole package highly addictive. You'll keep playing to get all three stars and to meet the combo requirement in a level… only to then aim at beating your high score, or beating the high score of your friends.
The Bug Butcher feels like Earthworm Jim and Alien Hominid met in an arcade to play Space Invaders and the residual DNA collected from their shared joystick and button usage was used to genetically engineer The Bug Butcher. Its frenetic pace and creative arsenal create a humorously fun experience full of equal parts mirth and mayhem. If you enjoy arcade-style side scrolling shooter, The Bug Butcher needs to be in your go-to rotation.
The Bug Butcher is a tremendously robust shooting arcade, with high production values and a simple but very careful gameplay. With a caricatured and colourful visual aspect, it is a totally valid proposal in a relatively abandoned genre.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Overall, if there’s any piece of you that has a love for a rock-solid arcade shooting experience The Bug Butcher is a wonderful surprise with an extremely fair price. If you’re an old-school gamer like me you’ll likely appreciate the nods to Pang’s iconic style but if you’re not familiar with that title it will probably just feel like a shooter with bouncing enemies that you’ll need to carefully destroy to get maximum results. Throw in global leaderboards, an ability to slowly enhance your skills, and a pretty surprising variety of weirdo bugs to deal with and it’s a very good time. While I don’t expect my high scores to last for long, it was a lot of fun getting them.
Gorgeous graphics, combined with explosive—and addictive—gameplay make The Bug Butcher the perfect addition to your Nintendo Switch library.
The Bug Butcher is a spiritual successor that is very much possessed by its muse. This isn't a subtle nod, it is soaked in Pang and it's great because of it. The ability to play the game endlessly to beat your own score will keep you coming back. The fact that you can do it with a friend is just an even bigger incentive. The Bug Butcher isn't reinventing anything, but it is a damn fine version of a classic game.
Overall, I feel The Bug Butcher is a success. Fans of classic games are sure to enjoy it, as are those who love vying for the top spots on leaderboards. For $7.99, you get a respectable amount of game here. I probably spent a couple hours playing through Arcade mode, and easily that long playing around with Panic mode. It’s not a huge game, but it also didn’t feel too short. Most of the replay value is found in trying for better scores to earn stars and additional coins in stages. Really, the only thing I wanted from the game that I didn’t get was a bestiary showcasing details about the creepy bugs, as well as a couple actual boss fights. But that’s just cause I’m an old school gamer, and I always want epic boss fights. If you want a fun and challenging game with old school charm, I would highly recommend The Bug Butcher. 2Awesome Studio has published a great game, and I’m eager to see what else Awfully Nice Studios has brewing next for the future.
The music is also surprisingly catchy. The Bug Butcher is a fun Pang-style romp that works in bursts or in longer play sessions—I found it a good game to play while catching up on TV shows. If you like this arcade game style, The Bug Butcher should definitely be on your radar.
The Bug Butcher builds on the classic 1980s and 1990s 2D arcade shooters to bring a fun and addictive experience, riddled with humour, fluid animations and wide amounts of contents. An experience that is certain to please to all kinds of players and which is especially recommended to fans of the genre.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
As stated at the beginning of the review, The Bug Butcher is an absolutely solid homage to classic arcade shooters. It nails the shooting mechanic and provides a gradual level of difficulty that doesn't veer too much into impossible territory. Though it's a short game, there's enough to keep people interested for more than an afternoon, and it's a good fit on the Switch thanks to the short levels and co-op gameplay for endless mode. This is another indie port to Nintendo's console that's worth checking out.