Bubsy 4D is a purposefully retro 3D platformer, for good and for ill. Debuting in 1993 as a counterpart to Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog during their initial heyday, Bubsy earned a fair share of fans before the poor reception to 1996’s Bubsy 3D derailed the franchise for years. The character has had multiple attempted revivals, but Atari and Fabraz’s newest effort might be the most successful.
Designed from top to bottom as a modern-day love letter to the 3D platformers of old that Bubsy 3D was trying to replicate 30 years ago, Bubsy 4D benefits from some clever gameplay mechanics that make the central mechanics a lot of fun. It’s too bad that in recreating the vibes of earlier platformers, the game ended up suffering from many of the same drawbacks that the genre always struggled with. Good for a hit of nostalgia or for those curious about older generations of gaming, Bubsy 4D is far from perfect — but it makes a good case for Bubsy to get more attention from Atari going forward.
Review Score: 3/5
Bubsy 4D is the first 3D entry in the Bubsy series since 1996, taking lessons from more recent games even as it makes some old mistakes of the genre. After being dragged into space on a mission to recover the Golden Fleece from the “Baabot” sheep faction that has stolen it, Bubsy heads off into large 3D platformer stages on a mission to recover the fleece. The underlying gameplay is rooted in the 3D platformers of previous generations, for good and ill. The actual act of moving from platform to platform can feel rewarding, especially when the stages introduce some creative challenges for the player to figure out. The actual movement and platforming is the real trick to the game, with Bubsy’s ability to double-jump, pounce, float, and roll into a ball providing players plenty of ways to leap from objective to objective.
Once the player gets the hang of the movement and controls, stringing the abilities together to clear entire mazes in a single chain of moves can feel very satisfying. Especially as you explore the handful of levels, making the leap from one side of the map and finding a way to reach the other without hitting the ground provides a naturally engaging challenge for the player. Conversely, the underlying drawbacks of the 3D platformer as a whole hold back the game. An occasionally wonky camera, tricky spatial awareness, and the occasional glitch can trip up the action, ruining the flow in ways that break the immersion. Bubsy 4D is very much a game that, when it’s working well, has a delightful sense of natural challenge and pacing. However, those hang-ups can break up that joy and make gameplay trickier than it should be.
A big part of the appeal of Bubsy 4D is seeing how modern developers and tech approach the kind of platformer that fell out of fashion in older generations of games. The game includes three distinct planets, each one containing multiple stages for the player to explore in search of blueprints, golden fleece, and the sake of adventure. The actual maps are colorful and bright but feel fairly open in a way that can gradually become repetitive. There are some enemies around the map, but the actual challenge of combat is negated by liberal checkpoints littering the map.
Honestly, the danger of misjudging a jump because of the cameras is more likely than getting overwhelmed by an enemy, speaking to the straightforward gameplay and manageable difficulty of the game. While ugrads unlock new abilities, nothing really changes the game on a fundamental enough level to really be of note. More than anything, the blueprints give players an excuse to revisit maps to scratch that completionist itch. While the depth of the platformer may lack the layers of other 3D platformers like Super Mario Sunshine or the versatility of gameplay tricks found in franchises like Ratchet & Clank, the brightly colored worlds and snarky attitude of Bubsy 4D do lends itself to a bit of a nostalgia high.
Bubsy 4D is very much riding a wave of nostalgia for an era of gaming that came and went long ago. The platformer was, at its best, able to give players a sense of kinetic movement and natural exploration in colorful settings. On the surface, Bubsy 4D does a good job of recreating that effect, even if the large settings often feel too empty to really come across as lived-in as some of the more notable examples of the genre. The gameplay has been amplified and streamlined in some clever ways, with the stronger moments of movement lending themselves to a natural sense of fun.
However, 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.
ComicBook.com was provided with a PS5 review code for Bubsy 4D for the purposes of this review.
