Space bugs are the worst bugs. Big, fat and bouncy, they infest every nook and cranny of whatever industrial facility they happen to have made home and you can't even swat one without splitting in two. Cleaning out an infestation is the kind of task best left to the professionals. The Bug Butcher is the right exterminator for the job and if his Old Reliable side-arm can't cut through the insect swarms, there are plenty of other special weapons available to put the odds more in his favor.
The Bug Butcher is a game based on Pang/Super Buster Bros. except the balloons have been replaced with round cartoonish insect-like aliens. Instead of a world tour you make your way into the heart of a base on an alien planet, with the 30 levels divided up between five areas that have varying restrictions on movement. The opening area is nice and clear, letting both you and the bugs move around freely, but area 2 introduces force walls that are easily opened by walking over a pressure plate, area 3 has destructible platforms, etc. While these are fairly simple obstacles, they cut down on movement, interrupt your firepower, and make the bugs bounce in unexpected ways. It doesn't take much before a small number of enemies have split into a multitude of critters all ricocheting off the walls to their own pattern, while you try to shoot down a platform to give yourself a clean line of fire as the bouncing aliens close in.
Thankfully, it takes a bit before the bugs turn into a proper swarm. Initially they just bounce around, up and down like a ball for the ones without teeny little cartoon wings, ricocheting off the walls and ceilings in straight lines for the bugs that fly. The medium bugs split into two smaller ones that are easily dispatched, while the big guys split into medium ones first. Most bugs divide in half but it's not a guaranteed thing that a giant bouncing green blob won't split directly into eight small critters, just to make life difficult. There are a good number of space-bugs to deal with, from ones with predictable patterns to others that shoot electric beams, or vomit lava, or even give a one-hit face-hugging kill if you're don't handle them carefully. It's all a bit of an insectoid mess, but there are a large number of upgrade-able guns, stats and perks to tame the bouncing swarm.
While the Bug Butcher fights alone he isn't without backup in the form of a scientist who helps with the weapons supply. Guns come in two types- enhancements to the Old Reliable standard weapon that activate on pickup, turning it into a multi-rocket launcher, mini-gun, or a blaster firing an electric ball with a nice area of effect on impact. The other type is an ability that fills up as you mow down enemies, awarding a random single-use effect like an ice-grenade that freezes everything on screen, or brief extra-fast movement and shooting coupled with invulnerability. Everything is designed to be used almost as quickly as it appears, and the only thing trying to hoard power-ups for an unspecified "later" gets is a lower score.
The Bug Butcher is as much about scoring as it is survival, with levels giving out a star rating based on points and the combo counter. The combo meter counts +1 per bug destroyed and resets to zero either after a few seconds or on taking a hit. This means ranking well means shooting fast and playing clean, which is always rewarding when you can pull it off. Admitted, when you've got a giant thumping hammer pounding down in the middle of the screen, dividing the level in two and keeping the bugs on the other side momentarily safe before you can sneak past, it can be a little maddening trying to keep the combo alive, but it's nothing a little care in exploiting the timer can't take care of. Each shot bug also drops a coin, and these not only add to the score but are used to buy permanent weapon upgrades for the story mode. The single- or two-player arcade mode has the coins as well, but it uses them to power up the Bug Butcher from zero skills each game. Scoring is much easier once you've maxed out the base gun and spent an exorbitant amount on the perk that extends the combo timer by a couple of seconds.
Closing Comments:
All these elements come together to make an arcade-style game that easily lives up to its Pang/Buster Bros. inspiration. The gameplay is all about applying vertical force across a horizontal play-field against enemies bouncing at predictable (but sometimes very tricky) angles. The high-resolution art looks great, almost cartoon quality, and there's a lot of personality in the animation of the various insects and people running around. The menus are a bit of a mess, over-complicated albeit functional once you understand how they're supposed to fit together, and it would be nice if they didn't forget about the gamepad on a semi-regular basis, but the game works smoothly once you're in. Using the right powerup at the proper time as several different types of bugs moving in different patterns do their level best to flatten or fry you into a smear on the facility floor is always good fun. The Bug Butcher is a good-humored throwback to an almost-forgotten series, updating the gameplay while preserving the heart of what made it great in the first place.