Band of Bugs

Fun little games -- frustrating at times --- but fun.

I absolutely love turn-based strategy games. Now while Band Of Bugs certainly doesn't break any new ground, it's a fun game nonetheless. There is no leveling up characters, RPG-style. There is no huge storyline to follow, although the one here is decent. There are no epic sized battles that will have you using a bunch of magic attacks and hoping your lvl. 45 Dark Mage doesn't die because of all this time you have built him up. You see, Band Of Bugs gives you units and a battlefield to use those units on and that's about it.

Now while this may turn some people off, that lack of depth didn't really bother me. It could be because I wasn't expecting any more since this is an Xbox Live Arcade game, but I could see how it could be a problem for some people. And I must admit, during my first play though I actually quit a few times due to the game having a bland feeling that I just couldn't put my finger on. Thankfully I came back to it and it's quirky charm and fun gameplay sucked me in.

Band Of Bugs is certainly full of Ninja Bee's trademark quirky style. The visuals, dialogue, and just the fact you are using bugs fits right in line with Ninja Bee's other two Live Arcade releases in terms of style. And like their other games, they are not trying to re-invent the wheel here. They just want to give you a fun game that is worth the money and I think this certainly qualifies. If you liked their other two games, you owe it to yourself to at least check out the trial version.

I found it to be just another generic turn based strategy game that makes me glad that I own a DS and a copy of Final Fantast Tactics

One of the few turn based games on Live is also a very entertaining game. I was only going to download the demo but I had enough fun to buy the full version. It is a solid game with some depth to the magic and skills but nothing that is overwhelming. Throw in a neat level editor and you have a fun Saturday afternoon.

There's not too many arcarde titles that are turned-based strategy but this one is definitely a gem. Fun and challenging to play and a cute little story too.

The tutorial is a bit slow to go through, but once you're through the tutorial the gameplay speed picks up as you get into the main story line. In addition to the main story there is also a scenario and multiplayer modes. The scenario modes are stand alone levels that give you a specific objective. Multiplayer is what you'd mostly expect where you can fight against 3 other players in elimination and king of the hill type battles. The multiplayer modes also include some mission mode and an 'Escape' mode that is fairly unique. In 'Escape" you have to get your army to a certain point on the map and keep the enemy armies from getting there. In addition to these modes there is a "Spider Hunt" mode that allows for 8 player at once.

One of the best features on Band of Bugs is the included map editor. The editor can be used for single player skirmish games or over Xbox Live. I'm really excited to make some interesting maps and see how they fair over Live.

I realize this is a quick little rating, but really I don't have anything bad to say. The game is fun to play and provides some great strategic challenges without making it hard to get into. If you're into strategy games this is one worth checking out. Even at $10 I think this game is a good value because with the map editor there is tons of replay value.

Additionally there are two great DLC packs that have been released to expand the campaign and multiplayer maps.