First thing I have to say is that I really don't like writing a review like this. I know that a group of people somewhere worked hard to make this game, and so I don't like having to write a review that says “this game isn't fun”, but where Ant Bully is concerned, that is the only conclusion I can come to. And I come to it after spending hours just trying to get through the first mission. Yes, that really is how frustrating this game is. I've had the game for a long time now, and keep trying to get my kids to play it, and every time they rebel almost as much as they do when I ask them to do homework. After multiple hours spent trying to get through just the first mission, I can completely understand why, though I did finally prevail and start on the second mission, only to find myself wondering why I would be so cruel.Most of you have probably stopped reading now. My hope is that game developers, or those considering becoming ones, will give me a moment of their time to continue reading and allow me to explain why. Ant Bully is a game based on a movie. This means that the storyline is already developed for you. The artwork is already done for you as well, at least in some form. The cut scenes probably come right from the movie, in most cases anyway. The “look” of the game is determined by the movie. The catch phrases that make the movie are pre-written for you. So that leaves gameplay to really sell the game. The gamer wants to experience what it is like to be in the movie, to overcome the same challenges that the hero (or heroine) of the story had to overcome. And there have been many movies to come out for kids that as I watched them I thought “Wow, this would make a great video game”, and Ant Bully was one of them. I'm sad to say that a very bad control scheme and no tutorial what so ever made Ant Bully the game on the Gamecube fall far short of “great”.
The Gamecube has seven different “buttons” on the controller, in addition to the control stick and control pad that are usually used to move the character, and the “C” stick that is used to change your camera angle. And unfortunately the control scheme for Ant Bully doesn't take advantage of these various buttons well. For example, there is no “jump” button at all. So figuring out how to get up on a ledge is a challenge, and not in a good way. You have to place Lucas in just the exact right spot before he'll pull himself up on the ledge. And to be honest, even having done it a few times, I couldn't tell you what the spot was. Then there's the bane of my existence while playing this game, the “A” button. This button is, for some reason, both the “roll” and the “action” button. This is where the first mission fell apart, actually. In the first mission, you have to collect pupa and take it to a central processing area. The problem is that to pick them up, you have to use the action (A) button. But every time you hit the A button, you roll right on past the very object you were trying to pick up!! Not so much of a problem if the object is on the main floor, you just turn around and try again. Huge problem when it has taken you 5 minutes to get onto the ledge where the object is because, as I said before, there's no way to jump up there, and you roll off rather than picking up the object. I fully admit that after an hour spent failing this same mission over and over again, being able to only get one pupa, never all four, I gave up totally frustrated.
The cut scene that I saw at the very beginning made me want to play the game. I thought it might be cool to follow a kid who was obviously a spoiled brat that only cared about himself through a serious of lessons in compassion and learning to put others first. Great moral lesson for kids of all ages. I never got anywhere near that far. And neither did my kids, all because of what we feel is a very poorly designed control system. We've played games before where at different points in the game the keys do different things. I can't quite understand why the “A” button wasn't used for action, plain and simple. If you have an enemy targeted (something you can actually do using the “L” button), then the action button could be to fire whatever the primary weapon is. If you don't, then it is simply an action button (pick up nearest object, open a door, whatever). It would have made the game a WHOLE lot easier. Add in a the ability to jump up on to a ledge, and the game might very well be a winner. As it is, though, we've all got to say that this game isn't worth buying, and probably isn't even worth a rental. It's just too difficult for a kid's game, and not the right sort of story or challenge for an older gamer either.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
