I finished this game over a year ago including all the DLC but I haven't done a review on it until now because the game left me with a sour taste in my mouth from the DLC. I think enough time has past that I an objectively look at the game and give it my honest assessment of what I think. I will be adding a new section to review the DLC separately and if I play any games with DLC in the future I'll be doing thing that way from now one.
Game: Band of Bugs
Genre: Tactical RPG/Tactical Battle Map (see below)
System: Xbox 360 Live Arcade
Developer: NinjaBee
Story:
It's been so long that I don't remember much of the story. There's something about bugs being born in goo but you're a special bug because you weren't (or something like that). There's a rival bug clan that wants to take over the area which includes breeding grounds or something. The main game is broken up into 20 levels that don't really have much of a continuing story. They give you the basics of why you're fighting in this area but the connections between battles is barely there. That being said, for this type of game (tactical RPG) I really don't need story. I just want to fight things and level up and get to the next battle. Story in these types of games is secondary to me. The only Tactical RPG game that had a story I was interested in was Final Fantasy Tactical Advance on GBA. But for this game story wasn't very important to me so I didn't pay too much attention to the what and why of what was going on. That's not to say that it didn't have a story, I just didn't feel like it was necessary to pay attention to the story in order to enjoy the game.
Story Score:
Characters:
On of the interesting things about this game is that you can use your Avatar in place of the main character. This means it looks a little weird to see yourself fighting alongside some large bugs but also helps to make you feel more involved in the game. Each character type is the same class of character. So a grasshopper is going to be an archer whether they are on your team or the enemy's team. A butterfly is a magic user and a beetle is a tank. That's very useful in helping to instantly identify which enemies you need to stay away from or out of range and which ones you need to attack and try to get rid of as soon as possible. Since you know who/what everyone on the enemy side is and what they are capable it helps to focus your attack on the enemies that you think we'll do the most damage to your team to try and eliminate them first. Knowing all of this by just looking at the enemy makes the battles easier when they are just "kill the other team" but require a little more strategy when the game type is something else. I liked knowing my enemy and being able to plan accordingly without having to wait until they attack me to see what type of character there were.
Character Score:
Game Mechanics:
The Game Mechanics of a Tactical RPG are pretty basic and simple. The battlefield is a grid and your character can move so many squares around that gird and different squares might be at different heights. If your character is a good jumper they can move from one lower square to one that is 2-3 higher next to it. If not, then you have to take the long way around and climb up gradually. One of the strategies of moving is to try and get around behind the enemy because you will do more damage if you hit them from behind than you would if you hit them head on. Also, there's bonuses if you are flanking the enemy with one of your teammates and combo moves available as well. In addition to decided where you're going to move you then can choose from a menu of actions. Those could be attacking, using magic, using a item or changing your weapon. Once you've moved and taken your action your turn is over.
Everybody on both sides as the ability to go once in a round. But instead of having a set order of which character is going to go next, on your turn you can select which person you want to move, attack or heal. But once they have done their action they will not be allowed to move again until everyone else on both teams have moved and a new round has started. So plan wisely.
The turn order is also not one for one. You take a turn and then your enemy takes a turn, wash, rinse, repeat. You'll have an indicator up in the top right that shows you what the turn order is. Your color is blue, the enemy red. So there could be 3 red squares in a row before you get to a blue square. That means 3 enemies will take their turn before you will get one. Always keep on eye on that or you could find yourself in trouble. As characters die you'll lose one of those blocks per turn which means if you still have 5 characters left but the enemy is down to 2 players, you'll get to attack 5 times in a round but they will only attack twice. Makes battle cleanup pretty easy . . . except on maps when enemies will continuously spawn in.
I've played several tactical RPGs and while I love this genre there was one thing that I didn't like about how it played. You had to move first and then attack. Other games will let you attack and then move. This would allow you to attack and then run away to safety. In this game you could only move first and then attack. So if you have a melee character you need to get right up on someone but since you can't move again until the next round starts there's a good possibility that your character could get surrounded and be in trouble and there's nothing you can do about it. I would love the ability to attack and then run away. Not that I'm a coward, I just want to get to safety. Definitely not a coward.
Game Mechanics score:
Art Design:
I like how this game looked. Very bright and colorful and easy on the eyes. Once a character has taken their turn in a round they turn a grayish
color so you know you can't use them again until the next round. There were some character models that were a lighter color, or next to a lighter environment, that made it a little difficult to see whether they had turned gray because you already used them in that round. And this could be very importation since some maps need you complete an object before the end of a particular round. The art was cartoony and fun and very enjoyable. When speech boxes came up a little portrait of the character would be displayed with a facial expression matching what they were saying. Because the graphical style was more cartoony than realistic (and I don't want to be looking at realistic bugs) I think the game will age well and you could play it 10 years from now and still enjoy how it looks.
Art Design score:
Overall Impressions:
I love this game type and really enjoyed playing the game on the initial play through. Trying to perfect the game was a different matter entirely. There were a variety of battle types. You have just kill the other team before they kill you, escort missions, get to a specific point on the map before the end of a specific round, kill the leader (where you don't have to kill all their henchmen), and defend a section from incoming enemies. This provided a good variety of what you needed to do so no one particular battle mission was boring or repetitive. The environments were all different too. It could be lush and green on one map and a snowy ice field on another and another could be filled with poison traps. You can use the environment to your advantage in battle too. If you can get a couple of enemies to bunch up on some ice blocks and then have your butterfly use a fire spell he can melt the ice and all those enemies will fill into the water and die. If you can take out 3-4 enemies in one action that just might be enough to turn the tide of battle.
While I enjoyed the regular play through I wanted to perfect the achievements; and they all seem reasonable to get. One of the achievements was to get a gold rating in all of the main story levels. There are 20 of them and some where so easy you would bumble your way through the level and get that gold. Others, where much tougher. The medal are bronze, silver, gold or platinum and who you do in the battle determines what medal you get. Depending on the object for that level depends on what stats are most important. You could lose several members of your team but if you killed the enemy boss early you could get enough point to get a gold (you get negative point for each member of your team that dies).
There was one level in particular on an icy map that even though I meet the objective before the end of the required round and had all my players still alive, I wasn't getting enough points for doing enough damage that I couldn't get the gold. I had to play that map over and over again before I finally figured out what I needed to do to get the gold (and I just barely got it). And that was something I didn't like. There were a couple of maps that seemed to have a very set order of what you needed to do to get the gold ranking. If you deviated from that set order of things, even if you completed everything beautifully, you wouldn't get the gold. Those maps became a trial and error trying to figure out what the game wanted you to do to get gold instead of letting you play it out how you wanted to.
One thing with RPGs is that if you are having problems with a particular enemy or area you can go somewhere else and grind a little bit to level up and go back to fight them when you're stronger and have better items or equipment. That's not the case in this game. If you go back to play a previous level, because you're trying to get a gold ranking, you don't take your levels or current items with you. Whatever level you were and whatever items you had on that level are what you've got to work with, no matter when you go back to play that level. There's no easy cake walks through previous levels to get a better ranking. Maybe because of that I shouldn't call this a Tactical RPG but instead a Tactical Battle Map game. Progression is not backwards compatible.
Overall I liked the base game and I'm glad I played it.
Overall Impression score:
DLC:
There were several DLC expansions to this game. They were Ninja Sticks of Fury, Red Kingdom and Tales of Kaloki. Ninja Sticks of Red Kingdom were very much in the same vein as the base game. Same characters, same battle system, etc. I did like the humor in the Ninja Sticks of Fury and a new character that was introduced. Unfortunately you really didn't get to play with that new character very much so that was disappointing. But now we've got to talk about Tales of Kaloki.
That DLC was set in space. Yep, space. It's the bugs sitting around a campfire telling stories and you play out one of those stories. You're main character is a rooster who happens to be space pilot and you relive his heroics in space. This DLC felt very jarring even though you know it's the original bugs telling a story. You're thrown in with a whole new bunch of ships without any training or help to figure out what anyone does. Because of that you've got to click on each ship to see how they move and then see how they attack before you can decide what to do. And it's not just 2-3 different ships. You've get much more than that. I think in one mission there was probably about 6-7 different ships you had on your team that you've got to figure out how they move and what they do.
The map was difficult to navigate at first as well. Since you are in space there's no up and down you have to worry about but there are a lot of obstacles in your way along with bombs and flowing rivers that will move one square in their direction each turn . . . which usually ends in bad spot or on a bomb. The general game play was still the same as the main game but everything else had changed and it was too jarring and left a sour taste in my mouth once I had finished it. The achievements for the DLC wasn't anything exciting either.
DLC score:
Ninja Sticks of Fury and Red Kingdom
Tales of Kaloki
I hated that this DLC was affecting my overall feelings about the game.
That's why I didn't want to write a review when I finished because I
figured my impressions would be tainted by this last impression I had.
Now time has passed and I feel comfortable giving this game my honest
review without being tainted by that final DLC. If you want to play this game I would recommend it and the Ninja Sticks and Red Kingdom DLC but I would stay away from the Tales of Kaloki DLC . . . or at least know what you're getting into before playing. If you want to see my play through of the game and all the DLC check out my
Band of Bugs YouTube playlist.
