The Bug Butcher review
:: SUPER BUGSTER BROSPrice: $3.99
Version: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPad Air 2
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The Bug Butcher is a fast-paced 2-D shooter that resembles a mix of Alien Hominid and Super Buster Bros. Between its fantastic animations, crazy challenge, and variety, The Bug Butcher offers up a lot to like.
The upshot
The Bug Butcher is unlike your typical side-scrolling shooter because you can only shoot in one direction, which is directly upward. If you've played Super Pang or Super Buster Bros. this style of gameplay should be pretty familiar.
Most enemies bounce around the screen in some form of an arcing pattern, and you need to position yourself under them to shoot them while making sure you aren't underneath you when they land. Many enemies also tend to split into smaller enemies when you shoot them as well, which can make it a lot harder to continue dodging around the screen. Luckily, there's a dash button and a bevy of power ups to help make sure you can keep up with your bug foes.
Split in two
Much like the bug enemies in the game, The Bug Butcher is split into two primary modes: Arcade and Panic. These aren't the most accurately named modes, though.
The Arcade Mode plays kind of like a single-player campaign, where you play out pre-designed levels and earn coins to progress along a linear path, and the Panic Mode is more of an endless set of waves that you can purchase upgrades in the middle of until you meet your inevitable death. Both of these modes sport leaderboards, which let you compare your performance against that of your friends and other players.
No technical bugs
The best thing about The Bug Butcher is how solidly built it feels. The game runs really smoothly, everything animates beautifully, and the gunplay--especially the power up weapons--feels really satisfying.
In terms of drawbacks, I kind of wish you could use the game's dash button while holding the fire button, especially since tooltips are quick to tell you to just hold down the fire button all the time. That said, this technical aspect to the controls raises The Bug Butcher's skill ceiling, forcing you to practice your movements in over and over again if you want to master every level, which isn't a bad thing.
The bottom line
The Bug Butcher is a super fun and refreshing 2-D shooter. It provides a great amount of variety and challenge which somehow makes playing new levels and replaying old ones equally exciting. If you want to feel great about killing bugs, definitely play The Bug Butcher.