I step into the world of A Bug's Life
Developer: Traveller's Tales
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: Playstation
Genre(s): Platform
Release Date: October 31, 1998
"A Bug's Life is one of my favorite Pixar movies of all time. It easily ranks up there with other greats such as the Toy Story franchise, Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles. And when my younger self saw the video game adaptation of this wonderful movie on the store shelf for the Playstation, my first thoughts were Gimme, gimme, gimme!
Now in the game you obviously play as the best Ant to ever be put on the big screen, Flik. Flik's main weapon against his enemies which ranges from various insects, arachnids, and the deadly bird are berries. Flik throws his berries at his enemies, and can find more powerful berries hidden around the 15 levels. Some enemies are immune to the lesser berries and can only be defeated by the more powerful ones. This would be just fine if Flik didn't throw like a spastic monkey. The aiming in this game is so poor it's downright laughable, whereas the camera is just a painful mess. If I had a nickle for everytime I died due to a camera issue, I wouldn't be doing this I guarantee you that!
The environments in the game however are better, they are beautifully (at the time) rendered in 3D and does have a really good amount of detail. The levels are a really good size and are just asking to be explored which I was very willing and eager to do.
The voice acting in this game for what there is, isn't too terrible but I have heard many others say that it grated on their nerves and damn near drove them insane while trying to play this.
The cutscenes in the game are told through scenes of the movie, we've seen several other movie-licensed games do this and I hate it every single time. It just seems lazy to me, instead of developing actual cutscenes you just stick scenes from the movie here, I know movie based games are basically glorified advertisements but do they have to be so obvious about it?
The audio in this game was very pleasing to me, I found myself humming along with the tune of the music as I played and even when I wasn't. Years later to now, one of the things I remember most about this game was how much I loved the music.
I played this when I was a kid like 8 or something like that, so it might have to do with my age and I didn't get better with video games until I got older. But I found this game to pretty difficult as well, now that I'm older however I feel I could breeze through it.
In conclusion the gameplay was annoying, the camera jumpy, voice acting irritating. Everything else fell into place pretty decently. A Bug's Life is nowhere near a gem or even the best movie licensed game, but it was a rather pleasing experience for me. If you like anything mentioned here or are a fan of the movie definitely try this game. Others should probably stick to that purple dragon."
+Visually pleasing environments
+15 Levels
+Great Audio
-Bad Berry throwing
-Irritating Voice Acting
-Lazy Cutscenes
-Frustrating Camera
7.0/10
Bronze Seal of Acceptance