Bugs Must Die

Review

Prepare yourself . . . insects are taking over the galaxy. You are being sent in deep behind enemy lines. It could be a suicide mission; the forces you are up against are strong and well-armed. You also are heavily armed, with your armored vehicle, a broad array of weapons, perks, and support items to bring your own hell to this place. Choose your vehicle carefully; there are 3 to choose from at the start (with 2 more unlockable), their stats are all very different and not upgradable. You will start with basic armaments, upgrading as you go with money you collect from fallen enemies. You can upgrade your weapons and sub-weapons as you unlock them, along with unlocking additional melee, drone, and air support items. Don't forget to invest in yourself as well. Health upgrades and additional drone support can mean the difference between beating a level or getting annihilated.



Released & self-published on Apr 5, 2019, by the developer DG Games Workshop, this is their first release on Steam. It is a Difficult, Top-Down, Pixel Graphic, Bullet Hell with an old school flavor reminiscent of the 80s & 90s arcade games. It does feature partial controller support. I tested my Xbox 360 controller without issue. You can also customize your binding as needed. It contains 15 levels of ever-changing, intense battles against an insect army. Each level has its own deadly boss to fight to advance to the next level. Once you beat it on normal difficulty, there are 2 additional hardcore modes to lay waste to your will to game. There are not a lot of settings; music and sound volumes, resolution, fullscreen or windowed, camera height (this zooms out the map more), there is also joystick auto-aiming and language selector. With tons of weapons and power-ups to aid you, it will still be the fight of your life. They even added the ability to skip a few of the levels using some of your gold coins should you get stuck. This will allow you to keep playing and gaining more money to upgrade and return to the stage later when you may be more powerful.

Quite an impressive title for their first release. It has a lively pixel art style with energetic gameplay. A nice old-school score and sound effects; both are well done and fit the game perfectly.  With massive numbers of bullets, missiles and bombs flying at you and being fired by you, it holds true to being a Bullet Hell from start to finish. It is very challenging, and I would not rate it as casual. I am rating it as difficult; it does have hard-core gameplay also after you beat the normal mode. There was a Demo available, but it was removed as the developer as they felt it was out of date with the Steam release. I would recommend they reinstate a demo to allow people a chance to see if the game fits their play styles, as it is a very good game, but very difficult. There are no save points during the stages - get defeated and its restart the level! I would have liked to see at least a midway save point, as the bosses are really tough sometimes, and the levels are not really all that short. You do get to grind for more cash this way, though, to get more upgrades. I have done a fair amount of grinding to get upgrades myself, to be a lean mean bug-killing machine! Personally, I feel the bosses could be balanced out a little more; the main game itself is a lot of fun and challenging getting through, but the bosses are very challenging. More often than not, you make a mistake and it’s get wrecked, then start the stage over. I can only imagine what it will be like in the 2 hardcore modes.

We start out our gameplay in a tutorial level to teach us the basic mechanics of the game. There are three levels in total that will lead you through to the advanced mechanics prior to starting the first level. Each level is not only different in style and layout, but enemies, bosses, and the necessary actions to complete it changes with every stage. As you progress through the stages you will want to purchase additional slots and power-ups for your vehicle and yourself. Getting the right combination to fight a particular area can be fun and challenging to figure out which combinations work best. With a large arsenal at your disposal, there is plenty of pain to rain down on your enemy. I really liked the fact that they included an additional view with the high camera view. It allows you to see most of the map compared the small area you see if you do not use it. The ultimate power you have is pretty epic too. I didn't realize I had it at first, I mistook its indicator for something else. Lucky for me, my son noticed, and we figured out I had additional firepower to kick some insect booty with. The mechanics in general were a riot, and I enjoyed discovering them as I played and discovered that they constantly changed, keeping every stage fresh and interesting. As usual, I will leave these for you to discover on your own. I didn't discover any bugs, besides the ones I was predestined to slay during my gameplay.

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!


Positives

+ Fun Challenging Gameplay
+ Nice Old School Feel
+ Fair Price Line
+ Achievements

Negatives

- No Trading Cards
- Could use some Balancing

Review Summary

Bug Must Die: You Must Repel the Insect Invasion at all Cost. You are Our Last Hope!

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Zeepond Rating: 8/10

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