BZZZT review

When choosing a new game to play, it can be a hell of an overwhelming experience. With subscription services, backlogs and freebies meaning we have more to play than ever, the choice paralysis is often very real. In these situations I often find myself straying away from the denser games that will require a significant time investment, and go back to my platforming roots. Very few games provide the level of instant fun that BZZZT does, with crisp platforming and just the right level of challenge for genre veterans.

The story of BZZZT is simple, not at all intrusive, and rather charming. Professor Norbert and Doctor Emily are two scientific geniuses with a tricky mission, to create a tiny robot with a helpful AI personality. The end result of this mission is the ZX8000, who you’ll be playing as. When an evil scientist called *ahem* Badbert decides to use the knowledge of the good guys for evil a platforming quest begins, and the only one who can save the day is the little robot with a big simulated heart.

Your first few levels controlling ZX8000 will be remarkably simple, requiring a few jumps around spikes and lasers to complete and nothing more. Even in these early stages though you’ll notice that the controls in BZZZT are extremely tight, with a level of precision that will be needed to weave your way past later obstacles.

Our robot protagonist starts the game with very little in the way of movement abilities, just the ability to jump and move through stages. There are a couple of upgrades you’ll collect on your adventure though, which will significantly improve your basic skill set. A double jump and air dash might not sound like the most novel and exciting ways to spice up the game, but in practice they feel amazing to use and make racing to the goal much more enjoyable.

The variety of obstacles and baddies that litter the stages of BZZZT is one of the most impressive aspects of the game. Spinning blades, bullet spewing baddies and buttons that fire lasers at them are all packed into the bite size stages, with each world ending in an exciting boss fight. Every single one of these has an interesting hook and these different ideas (while not necessarily things you haven’t seen before) ensure the game stays fresh to the end.

Getting through each stage of BZZZT will be fairly manageable for platformer fans even towards the end of the game, but to complete a level perfectly you’ll need to do better than that. Every single stage is packed full of golden bolts to collect, and only by grabbing all of them AND reaching the goal within a strict time limit will you be able to say you’ve truly mastered it. Pretty much every time limit is set at around twenty or thirty seconds, which makes playing them over and over again much more palatable as you’re not having to waste much time doing so. Getting enough perfect clears will unlock bonus stages too, which are well worth playing.

One aspect of BZZZT that really surprised me is the soundtrack, which is absolutely sensational. This little platformer features one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard all year, with banging chip tunes and a few tracks with robotic vocals that really hit the mark. I can assure you that I’ll be continuing to listen to these tunes for a long time to come.

BZZZT is a seriously lovely platformer, but a couple of things hold it back from being an all timer. The length of the game overall is just a bit too short, and I found myself wanting more after completing every single level and bonus level. The game also doesn’t really do anything you haven’t seen before in other 2d platformers, and while it’s still a blast to play (and is an incredibly impressive feat from a solo developer) it just feels very familiar.

For a gaming palette cleanser there are few games I’d recommend more than BZZZT. This 2D platformer is fast paced, has perfect crisp controls, and more than enough variety to keep you glued to it until you see the credits roll. It doesn’t necessarily do anything particularly ground-breaking, but it’s a bloody good time that I’d happily play through again in a heartbeat.