LogFAQs > #978099281

Game #26 Complete! Bub-O Collect

Throw This Quote On The Back Of The Box: "The Second Best Bub-O Game You'll Ever Play!"

Final Thoughts:
Oof. I feel like if you're playing a game and half of your play time is spent wrestling the thing to try and fight your way through the glitches, it's a bad sign. "Hey can I play you," I asked. "GRTHGH RGGGGGGGGGH hrk" it replied which I think roughly translates to "call a doctor, please". I hate that I spent an hour on the second to last level when it took me a minute to play because I had to keep quitting out and restarting and hoping that would fix the exit door that refused to open up. I also hate that I knew that would work eventually because the same glitch happened on three other levels. I don't know if anyone else's grandparents had one of those crazy old CRT tvs that got like three channels and would be static most of the time and they'd go "hey just hit the top enough and it'll work again." This is the video game equivalent of that.

That wasn't even the only glitch I ran into! There are like eight different flavors of broken here. This is the Ben & Jerry's of video game brokeness. You go into the store and you're like "aw fuck did they really release another flavor - how do these guys find the time!?" I think my favorite was the one that convinced me I was losing my mind. The first time I ran into a level where the paddles got misaligned, that was truly a mind fuck the level of which Chris Angel can only dream of. I beat it, accidentally popped my bubble, and then it restarted with one of the two paddles turned 90 degrees for absolutely no reason. I had a minute long argument with my brain about whether or not I was misremembering things.

"Wasn't this paddle a different direction before?"
"No, no way man. That wouldn't make sense. How could a game even break that way. Think about it. The paddle was always in this direction."
"But now I can't beat it. Are you sure brain."
"Fuck you man. I haven't worked right since HANA. You're really asking for my help remembering stuff now?"

This was the first game that's ever gaslighted me. That's got to be worth something. I've played plenty of games but very few have made me question my sanity like this one. There's that part in MGS1 where Psycho Mantis reads your memory card, there's that bit in Doki Doki Literature Club where you're not sure what the hell is going on, and then there's Bub-O Collect. The developer here achieved what horror game developers could only hope to accomplish on their best day, and they did it by accident.

Beyond that though, this game is just bad. Indie puzzle games are a dime a dozen, and you have to do better than this. I hate when I'm playing a puzzle game and the puzzles just sort of solve themselves because options are so limited you have no other choice but the right solution. There are puzzles games that make you feel smart, puzzle games that make you feel dumb, and puzzle games that make you feel real dumb because you wasted $4 on it and it in what is starting to feel like something the consumer protection agency should be made aware of. Bub-O sits in that later category, bleeding profusely from the ears and asking what the hell an exit door is supposed to be anyway.

Don't play this game. I know none of you have Playdates, but don't do it anyway. Tell your friends. I doubt any of them have Playdates either, but you can never be too safe.

Should You Play It? No. No way. You want to get stuck in an hour long hell of playing the same level in the hopes the game would recover from its stroke like I did?

Final Score: 2. A boring nothing puzzle game is bad enough, but add brokeness on top and there's a whole lot of not fun to be had here. Ranking this below The Lushes Land, which in case you don't remember is a Zelda game where they forgot to add the game. This at least ranks above Hidey Spot on account that it felt like it was trying with some of its puzzles at times.

Games Completed: 26/142.

Game Rankings:
26) HANA Spacetime Fantasy
25) Boogie Loops
24) Hidey Spot
23) Bub-O Collect
22) The Lushes Land
21) Nightingale
20) A Joke That's Worth 0.99 Cents
19) Whitewater Wipeout
18) Snak
17) DYG
16) Lost Your Marbles
15) Grand Tour Legends
14) Demon Quest '85
13) The Fall of Elena Temple
12) Flipper Lifter
11) Questy Chess
10) The Keyper
9) Echoic Memory
8) SKEW
7) Omaze
6) Sasquatchers
5) Castle Tintagel
4) Casual Birder
3) Zipper
2) Pick Pack Pup
1) Crankin's Time Travel Adventure