PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews

Bubsy 4D is a far better revival for the boisterous bobcat than I think anyone could have anticipated he’d ever receive. Fabraz nailed it out of the park here, turning a series that was essentially the internet’s platforming laughingstock into a brilliant and extremely enjoyable 3D platformer that I couldn’t stop playing. The camera can be a bit unwieldy on occasion, but that’s nowhere near enough to stop Bubsy 4D from being a top-notch game.

Bubsy 4D is a short and sweet platformer that miraculously breathes life into one of gaming’s most forgettable heroes.

I had a lot of fun with Bubsy 4D. The platforming is frantic and flailing, but somehow still precise and forgiving. The writing is corny yet charming. And the visuals feel nostalgic for a world that existed for a handful of Saturday mornings. At the same time, this game can be pretty frustrating. Not nearly as much as I was expecting, but still! A significant reserve of patience and persistence is essential for getting to the end credits. If your memories of Bubsy are either bad or blissfully absent, you may be shocked at what you find here. Although the bar is comically low, this game absolutely clears it. Bubsy 4D is easily the best game in the franchise.

Well... I guess persistence pays off. While Bubsy 4D may be over too soon, it's still an overall very fun platformer and Bubsy is finally a likeable protagonist. If this is what the future holds for the bobcat, What could possibly go wrong?

Summing up Bubsy 4D is a much more enjoyable task than I'd ever dared to hope for. Sure, the short playtime, the occasionally barren environments, and the visual compromises made for the sake of frame rate prevent the title from reaching the very highest echelons of platforming. But once the controls are where they should be and you're whizzing across the screen with a smile on your face, the graphical shortcomings fade into insignificance. Fabraz has achieved the seemingly impossible: they've removed the old source of embarrassment and made the red-haired Bubsy relevant again. It may not be a ground-breaking and flawless masterpiece, but it is a genuinely strong, challenging, and incredibly entertaining platforming gem that far exceeds expectations.

If the only problem that you have with a game is that you just want more of it, though, that’s a very good thing. Bubsy 4D may be short, but it’s also one of the tightest controlling and most satisfying platformers out there. It’s a hell of a redemption story for one of gaming’s most infamous figures, and I’m praying that it’s just the start of Bubsy’s grand comeback.

Bubsy 4D has the makings of a modern classic, helmed by a team that has a clear ambition and design philosophy. It’s issues are more fundamental, and in the fabric of Bubsy himself. I can take self-deprecation, but there comes a point where it stops being funny and becomes borderline pathetic. A mismatched level approach to level design means that both feel weak in spots, and I think you could have done more to bring those together. This is the best Bubsy game, but I can’t say it isn’t without fault.

Bubsy 4D is a good platform game with interesting mechanics. However, the levels are too simple and it's a rather short game, with a very low overall challenge. What will make you return to the levels are the collectibles and the challenging Time Trials.

Bubsy 4D is a loosey-goosey 3D platformer with plenty of silliness on display and it offers oodles of entertaining challenges that make its messy gameplay really shine. I'd even go so far to say that it's the cat's pajamas.

Bubsy 4D does one thing, and it does it well, but there’s nothing here for someone looking for anything more in-depth.