A Bug's Life

Review

by Brad Cook

Disney/Pixar: A Bug's Life is a game that unfortunately suffers from mediocre gameplay despite the care that was obviously put into its other elements.

First, the good: The graphics are nice and detailed despite the Game Boy Color's tiny screen. The characters also look pretty much the way they do in the movie, although someone decided to make Flik purple instead of blue (yes, neither color is appropriate for an ant, but we won't worry about that). The levels closely follow the film's plot, which was refreshing; so many video games created from movies deviate wildly from the storyline for whatever reason.

Now, the bad: Part of the first level is next to impossible to traverse, and not because there is a really tough enemy guarding it. You'll eventually come to a twig lying on the ground near a plant with a few evenly spaced leaves running up along it and a large mushroom. The obvious path is to jump on the twig, continue onto the lowest leaf of the plant, and then onto the mushroom, right? Wrong.

For some strange reason I kept hitting the leaf right above the mushroom and couldn't land on it, even though I was close (usually in platform games like this the program will give you the benefit of the doubt and put you where you need to be, even if you weren't quite there). I kept trying this over and over again to no avail.

Unfortunately, I couldn't jump onto that leaf above the mushroom; it was too far from the bottom leaf, and there were no leaves in between. While it's possible to press the "B" button and run fast in this game, it doesn't help you the way it does in a game like Super Mario Bros.. You don't jump any higher if you run first, and, since that's the same button you use to throw berries at the bad guys, you often find yourself throwing away precious ammunition if you don't let go of the button fast enough after running.

There were also a few dandelions nearby, which I hoped maybe I could grab and sail into the air like Flik did in the film, but they're just part of the scenery. I also hoped I could simply climb the plant, since the last time I checked, ants are able to climb just about anything. That didn't work either. So I wound up trying to run fast and then jump, which only wasted my berries and got me nowhere.

I soon discovered that even collecting those berries could be a trying experience. Early in the first level they fall from a bush overhead and bounce toward you. If they're too high in the air, though, they cause damage when they hit you, so you have to make sure they're almost done bouncing when you grab them. If you wait too long, they'll disappear. Any game that makes collecting ammo this tricky can become extremely frustrating within minutes. Add in a section that is next to impossible to get past for no apparent reason, and you have a title that just isn't worth the purchase price.