Bubsy 4D

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

Bubsy 4D is definitely an acquired taste. Growing accustomed to the control scheme's feel takes quite some time and effort (ironic, in a short game). Yet, once settled in, the discerning platform player will find lots of potential for speedrunning, parkour tricks and other advanced challenges.

Bubsy 4D isn't the best 3D platformer out this year, and probably doesn't even rank in the top ten, but it is a solid return for the character, if you can stomach the various issues.

Bubsy 4D appears to get the joke. The never-a-mascot bobcat has been around for decades, scraping for relevance. And after 30 years, this game isn’t going to move the needle much. It is absolutely a competent platformer but is that truly enough? Everyone around Bubsy seems apathetic if not outright dismissive to his existence, so it shouldn’t be a surprise I feel the same way. And hey, maybe that’s the point?

As with many platformers from the era of the original Bubsy games, mechanical issues with the camera and controls can disrupt the smoother moment-to-moment gameplay. The snarky sense of comedy is likewise hit or miss, scratching a nostalgia itch while never fully escaping the drawbacks of this style of game. Bubsy 4D is a flawed but fun retro title that, at its best, makes a good case for 3D platforming’s modern applicability. The stronger moments of the game’s refined platforming deliver some solid fun and make a good case for Bubsy’s modern revival. If you like older platformers, this is a short, sweet, and imperfect example of that genre. Hopefully, the team behind the game gets another opportunity to continue sharpening the gameplay and addressing the drawbacks of the genre so that Bubsy can truly step out of the past and into a brighter future.

Bubsy 4D is a fun and clever platformer that despite being a bit too short, rises above the average thanks to its ambitious mechanics and mostly great level design. It’s just a shame that Fabraz – well known for developing highly regarded indie platformers – stumbles slightly when it comes to the technical side and certain gameplay aspects. Even so, the bobcat’s commendable comeback shouldn’t be dismissed with a mere eye-roll.

Bubsy 4D is definitely an improvement over the last 3D outing for the wise-cracking bobcat, but there's still lots of room for improvement. Both the camera and controls will feel like your biggest enemy here at times, and unless you're into speedrunning the experience may feel rather brief.

In some ways, Bubsy 4D is the best the series has ever been; the bobcat's wide range of abilities affords him a huge amount of freedom to move through levels with style. However, a fairly narrow focus on movement means other aspects suffer; enemies may as well not be there, and stages are static and sparsely furnished. The result is a good 3D platforming character stuck in a pretty bland 3D platformer.

Bubsy 4D doesn't feel like a true revival of the character from the 90s. The lack of variety means that after a few minutes it feels like a soulless 3D platformer.

Bubsy 4D truly feels like a project born under the sign of superficiality, where the ambition of creating a functional game was sacrificed on the altar of marketing based on a now-deadly caricature. It’s difficult, really difficult, to find a truly positive starting point for the game.

Bubsy 4D isn’t the great mascot claw-back tale it could’ve been. The movement toolkit occasionally shines, the self-aware humour can zing, and there’s enough chaotic energy here to entertain OG diehards for an afternoon. Unfortunately, shaky camera work, pussyfoot combat, inconsistent platforming systems, and a tiny runtime stop the whole thing from properly landing.

A surprisingly likeable but messy, simple platformer, Bubsy 4D is held back by fiddly controls, basic visual design, and repetitive levels. Better than expected, but not purr-fect.

Bubsy may be a cursed franchise, as despite the developer’s previous work this is a frustrating and frequently cringe-worthy 3D platformer, with some truly clunky gameplay.