Bubsy 4D GBAtemp review
PlayStation 5
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): May 22, 2026
- Release Date (EU): May 22, 2026
- Publisher: Atari Inc
- Developer: Fabraz
- Genres: Action
- ESRB Rating: Everyone 10 and up
- PEGI Rating: Seven years and older
- Also For: Computer, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
Bubsy has never been top of my list. None of the games I grew up with in the 90s featured the titular bobcat, and that's probably with good reason, because critically all of those games sucked. The game play, the flagrant disregard for latency and the questionable humor all missed the mark, so once I had played it at a friends house, I never wanted to play it again.
Fast forward 30 years and Bubsy is back with his 8th outing, and some how it's probably the best one yet, but not for the story, or any fore-front art-styles, or technological wizardry it's built on, oh no, there is only a singular reason; movement, because chaining together his outrageous moves can afford you some extremely interesting traversal techniques which spurs on competitive play to thrash each others times.
Typical Bubsy Fodder With Modern Moves
The story goes that the Woolies have stolen Earth's sheep, the sheep have overthrown them and become cybernetically enhanced BaaBots who are hell bent on stealing Bubsy's coveted golden fleece. The story is so weak, and the characters you meet add next to no personality or anything. It's definitely not winning any awards for scale, imagination or grandeur, so don't worry about it, honestly.
Controlling Bubsy is, quite frankly, nerve wrecking. The move set has apparently been devised with newcomers and speed runners in mind, but the learning curve is, in my opinion, quite steep for beginners. Using the left stick to move, the Cross button to jump and the R2 trigger to interact or pounce, I already feel that the controls are quite scatty. The L1 button lets you temporarily glide, the L2 button balls you up ready for hair-balling (or high speed rolling), the Triangle button interacts for talking to people, and the Square button interacts with switches. It feels too much. You only need one button to interact, talk, or pounce, surely.
At first, I could not control the damned animal. Even simply stopping at the top of a tree to gauge my next direction was tricky to perform. The need to compensate for even the most basic of moves was frustrating. Jumping and double jumping is fine, fluttering and gliding is also fine, but rolling, jumping, un-balling, gliding, pouncing and then changing directions is a combination you need to practice more than a few times to get right.
I routinely got the glide and unroll button wrong, and it saw me fall off and dying more times than I care to share. Thankfully there are litter box checkpoints and 3 attempts per life. Though you can upgrade your skills and moves at the main hub before you chose your level, which can grant you more attempts and expands your moves list with some odd things like the ability to hang on to walls rather than slide down, or the "Ol Coyote" move (Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote reference), where you can run on air for a number of paces before plummeting to your death.
This game does not feel polished like a typical 3D Mario game. It's not even 3D Sonic-like, even with its high-speed and target-based aiming. It's something in between that wants to meld the two together but doesn't quite hit the controller tightness or navigational exactness of the big boys. This game is a free spirit with absolutely no hand holding or minuscule levels of assist to help you make that jump, or nudge you into the right line to take. It's up to you to figure it all out in the sandbox levels, and make of them what you will.
Eventually, I managed to regain some semblance of control, using the pounce move to end my Mirrors Edge-like parkour style movement flow. It's clever, it's extremely tricky to master, but it's definitely usable in a freer, more erratic style of gamboling around the levels.
Visually Nice, Yet Over The Top
Every level is a self contained objective, and as far as the eye can see, you can travel to it. I like that aspect, because it means you can look around and take stock of the direction you wish to travel in, and each level is quite large and contains platforming, time-based challenges and collectables.
Each level has a check list of things to obtain, which is engaging, though none of the levels ever present any particular direction for you to go in. Each 5th level presents a boss fight which breaks up the traversal and exploration in favor of a little much needed combat, but it's not too tricky and I found that some were easier to overcome than some of the early wall-bouncing traversal.
Collecting purple balls of wool act like coins, and you can exchange them for outfits in the main menus. Collecting blueprints unlocks new moves which expands your already dozen-strong skill set into almost double that number. The outfits have humorous nods to other games and platforms, such as a classic low-poly PS1 look, the hedgehog, which references Sonic's below the waist nudity with a blur effect, and the puppet, which is certainly giving Sack Boy vibes albeit a little more creepy.
Graphically the game has a bit of a Little Big Planet or Yoshi's Woolly World craft-inspired look, thanks to the oversized materials, cardboard, felt, wool, pins and buttons used in the environments that engulf your vision. The colour-play used throughout has a jarring retina burning quality to them, where some areas are so overly vibrant and blown out it leaves your visual cortex beyond over stimulated and begging for a break.
While everything is relatively clear and concise in motion, I did notice a few camera issues whereby the camera didn't keep up with the action, or got stuck behind an object or under the geometry until it was recentered. Nine times out of ten when this happened, I died, which was made extra frustrating by the 90s Gex-like repetitive quotes like "I'm drowning in responsibilities" every damned time you fall in water.
Built Different, Cheap & Cheerful
Bubsy 4D has undeniably been built with one thing in mind, competitiveness. The leader boards cement this by displaying the current fastest times people across the globe have completed the levels. Some of these times look obscenely quick, others appear distinctly achievable.
The way this game allows you to get from point A to point B by any means is quite unique. You can quite literally fling yourself across areas, disregard the recommended way to cross over dangerous terrain, and just go for the most outlandish method to hurl Bubsy's fluffy ass over to where it needs to be.
I don't quite agree that this was ever really built with newcomers in mind, at all, but I can definitely see how this is built to be flexible in its objectives and allows the player to figure out insane time saving shortcuts and crazy gravity-bending paths throughout the levels.
I have already seen people complete the first level in under 17 seconds!
This title will set you back just £15.99 or £14.39 on PS Plus, which I think is actually a brilliant price point given the massive replay value if you get into it, or the completionist collect-a-thon if you're interested in a platforming jaunt that can prove taxing in more than some places. It's not going to set the world on fire, but it is definitely worth a look in my opinion, if you can look past the naff story and cringe inducing and hideously repetitious "comedy" throughout.
Verdict
- Engaging platforming mechanics.
- Plenty of collectables and 17 trophies.
- Sand-box levels are ideal for speed running.
- Steep learning curve.
- Absolute cringe "comedy", story and characters throughout.
