Band Of Bugs

Rating ESRB: Everyone Genre strategy Publisher NinjaBee External Links Ninja Bee

When we think of bugs, an overwhelming minority thinks of all of the benefits they provide us with. Not many of us happen to think of how they help feed animals and generally help with the environment. Instead, we think of what colossal nuisances they are. We think of how they splatter on our windshields and ruin our picnics. When you look at Xbox 360’s Live Arcade game, Band of Bugs, you primarily think of the latter image of our insect friends.

Band of Bugs is a turn-based strategy game (yes, they still make those) focusing on main character Maal. Maal is a little ant-like bug who enlists in the royal army. When summoned on to protect the Queen and her kingdom, Maal must battle bugs, big and small using all of his strength and relying on a few of his buggish friends.

What Band of Bugs excels in is its light-hearted, humorous approach. Never do you get the feeling that the creators were taking themselves too seriously. The dialogue that appears in cut scenes is amusing, with quick and snarky comments dictating the stagnant text boxes.

The controls for Band of Bugs are simple and to the point. The A-button and the left joystick control the majority of your actions throughout the game. Rarely, if ever, do you find yourself in a position where you need to do more than move your bug to a square and press the “Attack” command, prompting your bug to unleash a furious blow to their opponent.

The gameplay in Band of Bugs is tedious, to say the least. You will find yourself waiting for the computer to make its move more times than you will find some serious action. The one thing that players should realize before they decide to plop down their hard earned dollars on this game in the Xbox Live Arcade is that the game is strategy based. There is no real surplus of action, here. The game more focuses on making smart moves that will, in time, doom your opponent, leaving them at your mercy. But even with this knowledge, the game is still a bit on the dull side.

Selecting where a character should move and then waiting for them to move there gets to be arduous. While plotting the ultimate move against your opponent does seem to provide a mu boost to one’s intellectual self-esteem, by the time you are done with the game, you realize there isn’t a whole lot to be proud of. Finishing the single-player campaign can take only a matter of hours. With only 20 single player full levels, Band of Bugs’ basic mode can be completed rather quickly.

The game features a nice custom level/scenario editor that allows players to design the ultimate level to trump their smug, “too-cool-for-school” friends. Also a multiplayer campaign adds a little longevity to a game that, by all accounts, feels almost too short. While Band of Bugs has some nice features and is a simple game to start playing right away, its lack of depth and overall brevity can’t be overlooked. They are two shortcomings that really “bug” me.