by Kayla Merritt
Bubsy 4D is the cat’s meow and a nearly purr-fect reintroduction for the unfairly maligned orange bobcat. The game takes what’s worked about Bubsy as a character, like his sense of humor and the world he lives in, and puts him in a stellar 3D platformer that deserves to be talked about in the same conversation as other classics in the genre. While the game is short and suffers from occasional camera issues, Bubsy 4D does what the developers set out to do wonderfully.
In Bubsy 4D, Bubsy has to defeat his enemies, the Woolies, who have stolen Earth’s sheep. The sheep then turned themselves into Baabots and stole the Golden Fleece. It’s a 3D platformer with gameplay similar to its predecessor, Bubsy 3D, but more refined. For instance, Bubsy can turn into an orange ball with his new Hairball Mode, and you can combine that with Bubsy’s jumping and gliding to make long jumps.
The gameplay here is as fantastic as any classic 3D platformer. Bubsy’s movements are fluid, and he handles very well. I had some problems with the camera getting in the way, but many 3D platformers have the same issue, and it was never game-breaking here. There’s a good amount of challenge here, too, especially if you go through and collect all the treasures in each level. There’s also a time trial, leaderboards, and ghosts you can play against. For an extra challenge, there’s a “Nine Lives Mode” which wipes your save file if you get hit more than nine times in the entire game.
Bubsy 4D is on the short side, and you can get through the game in a few hours–and honestly, at the game’s price point, it isn’t a big deal. There are collectibles and balls of yarn to collect throughout the stages that you can use as currency to buy new outfits and abilities for Bubsy, including an outfit that turns Bubsy into the polygonal monstrosity that was on the PlayStation (my personal favorite).
There’s a lot of charm here. Bubsy himself is constantly self-referential and breaking the fourth wall with his humor and puns. I found him hilarious and charming as an out-of-touch D-list celebrity. The back-and-forth, often deadpanned conversations and scenes with his friends, niece, and nephew throughout the adventure are cringey in a charming way. It all just feels like a fun, sarcastic, and classic Saturday morning cartoon.
I don’t really have any serious complaints about Bubsy 4D, aside from its length. With only three worlds, and five stages in each world, fans (and we’ll lose that term loosely) might find that disappointing. But if the issue is that the game is so fantastic, I want it to be longer, then that’s not really a problem. Everyone involved in this game wanted to make a respectable Bubsy game, and if you’ve read my review of Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection, then you know I love these games and don’t care for Bubsy being treated as meme fodder. Much respect to the team at Fabraz for making a game where my biggest complaint is I want more!
I hope this is the beginning of a long and happy future for Bubsy, and other developers take a look at what worked here for the genre as a whole. This game should serve as a message to the gaming industry that we need more colorful, cartoony platformers. It’s proof that we can bring back other characters from the 90s and give them new life.
All in all, Bubsy 4D is a great 3D platformer that’s a little on the short side but still gives a lot of respect to a character who deserved more love than he ever got. It’s charming, funny, challenging, and shows that it’s paw-sible to make a wonderful Bubsy game.
