Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back

Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back is a platform game made by Black Forest Games. It was released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 on October 31, 2017. This is the fifth game in the Bubsy series, and the first new game in 21 years.

 Gameplay 
The game goes back to the 2D side-scrolling style of the earlier Bubsy games, like Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, Bubsy 2, and Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales. However, it now uses 3D character models, the first time for a side-scrolling Bubsy game.

 Story 
The game was first announced on June 8, 2017, as a brand-new Bubsy game. It was the first new game in the series since Bubsy 3D in 1996. It was also announced as part of a plan to bring back old game franchises owned by Accolade (now managed by a Hong Kong company called Billionsoft). Other possible revivals include HardBall!, Slave Zero, Deadlock: Planetary Conquest, Eradicator, and Redline. The game was published by UFO Interactive Games, which is part of Tommo, and developed by Black Forest Games. They also brought back the Giana Sisters series with Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. Like that game, Bubsy was made using the Havok physics engine. To make the gameplay better than older Bubsy games, the developers made Bubsy start and stop faster, giving players more control.

In August 2017, a special limited edition called the Purrfect Edition was announced for PlayStation 4. It included a physical copy of the game, a soundtrack CD, Bubsy’s official “business card,” and a “Mystery Bubsy Movie Poster Postcard.”

The announcement of the game did not go over well with video game journalists. Their reactions ranged from not caring to being annoyed. The company seemed to expect this and used a funny approach similar to how Sega promotes Sonic the Hedgehog on social media. They even made a Twitter account for Bubsy that made fun of the character and its past bad reputation.

 Reception 
The game received mostly negative reviews. Metacritic gave the PC version a score of 44 out of 100 and the PS4 version a 45 out of 100, meaning “generally unfavorable reviews.” Brian Shea from Game Informer called it “an unnecessary revival.” Patrick Hancock from Destructoid wondered why Bubsy was brought back, especially in a year when better platformers came out. 

Heidi Kemps from IGN called it “a very short and forgettable platformer based only on irony and nostalgia.” Christian Donlan from Eurogamer wrote, “Bubsy’s return is more than a little disappointing.” On the other hand, Hardcore Gamer gave the game 3.5 out of 5.

The game was a finalist for the “Worst Game (That We Played)” award at the 2017 Game of the Year awards by Giant Bomb.

 References 

Category:2017 video games
Category:Platform games
Category:Video games about cats
Category:Video games about animals
Category:PlayStation 4 games
Category:Windows games
Category:Single-player video games