Whiska

This is what a puzzle game should be. A polished, challenging thinking game that gives you a proper sense of pride and accomplishment, without hand-holding, grinding, currencies or an overabundance of cutscenes. It also has a lovely aesthetic and charm in its designs and humour. While some patience is required to fully enjoy it, I would highly recommend this to anybody.

Don't let the first few levels of Bubsy: Paws on Fire deter you! As the difficulty ramps up, so does the fun of the game. The colourful and smart presentation is a positive step up from previous Bubsy games, the self-aware loading screen text and character quotes adding a charm that had me smiling through most of my playthroughs. There are also a couple of cutscenes featuring spoken dialogue, and bosses to fight. The music is very catchy, and a joy to listen to. It syncs with the level designs too. Each playable character has a unique moveset, and can have their appearance customised via an ingame shop that is free of microtransactions. Bubsy can use his signature glide in mid-air, and pounce through enemies. Virgil can double jump and slide, familiar to anyone that has played the Bit.Trip Runner games. Woolie can shoot enemies and fly freely in her spaceship. Arnold rolls around an axis in forward-scrolling underground tube levels. Following minimal requirements to progress through the game will detract from the fun. There is a layer of depth when it comes to collecting everything and achieving as high a score as possible. Generating points increases a Bonus meter, which not only grants a multiplier to the points you receive, but also changes the appearance of your character over time. For example, Bubsy goes on fire, then transforms into a spooky but dazzling cosmic entity. Touches like this make gaining points feel more rewarding. Now, some criticism. The horizontal scrolling of each course is a bit jittery, which isn't easy on the eyes when following things that come towards you. Flashing particles that appear when collecting items can be a bit off-putting too. Overall, the game feels good to play, and gets really, really challenging, something I value highly in this age of gaming. Anyone that is familiar with Bubsy's world through games, television and comics will feel a warm, fuzzy hug of nostalgia.