Review:- Bug Village (Mobile)
Game: Bug Village
Format: Windows Phone 7, iOS, Android
Developer: Glu Mobile
Publisher: Glu Mobile
I’m not one to waste my time on rubbish games. Why would I? I don’t get paid for this, I do it for the love… and there are many great games around, so why give any time at all to poor ones? For this reason I rarely have the misfortune to stumble upon a real abomination. Rarely yes, but not never. And here, friends, is just such a blot on the gaming landscape.
Impressed as I have been of late with Windows 7 Phone’s gaming options, including excellent free games like Breeze, Shuffle Party and even Sudoku, I must say that I am struggling to find anything positive to say about Bug Village.
Presented under the “Xbox LIVE” brand on Windows Phone 7 handsets I’m expecting to see something possibly console worthy, and whilst the graphic approach is reasonably ambitious for a phone I am at a loss for how to describe the game-play. I was quite honestly stunned by how limited, basic and contrived it is. Now don’t get me wrong, with a name like “Bug Village” I’m hardly expecting Battlefield 3, but come on! The game-play is plodding, the interface unintuitive, the goal vague to the point of vanishing, the sound annoying and the experience so frustrating as to make me want to strap my handset to my hand so it goes nowhere when I try and throw it out of the window.
Oh! Don't worry! I'll tell you exactly what bugs me about this village...
This game is completely without merit as far as I can see and borders on the exploitative with it’s micro-transaction based premise. So poor an experience that I am not so much disappointed, that I’m very obviously being pushed down a “pay-to-play” path to get almost any enjoyment from the game, as I am astonished at how little such a model would deliver me anyway!
I am going to draw this to a close, you don’t want to read about rubbish, and I don’t want to spend any more time with it.
Shame. Shame on Microsoft for allowing such a patently greedy game onto their platform, shame on the developers for trying it on in the first place, shame on me for even considering giving them any of my money for one of their micro transaction rip-offs…
Don’t even consider playing this, grab Breeze or Shuffle Party, both also free, neither featuring micro transactions, and both far, FAR better games.
Review Round Up
Gameplay: 1/5 – And I’m being generous folks! Unsmileyface.
Graphics: 2.5/5 – But only because they’ve done a reasonable job on the “3D” bit.
Sound: 1/5 – Shudder…
Longevity: 2/5 – There is some fun to be had here, if you want to spend 3 confused minutes total on the game or have the riches of a Russian oligarc.
Overall: 1 Bug to bug your village out of 5
No, just don’t. As I said, “free” should NEVER be an excuse for “rubbish”. Grab any of the other excellent free games for you platform.
- Richard “Rax” Burley
