Man, here I was thinking Bugsnax, November's free PS+ title would be an easy quick platinum in a few hours. I'd roll my eyes through overbaked dialogue and cutesy stuff, mashing through. Mainly, I wanted to see a PS5 title in action. Turns out, Bugsnax is like Where the Wild Things Are meets Pokemon, where you're putting together a community of separated individuals by helping them do things. For example, one of the characters (Grumpuses) you meet, Beffica (rolled my eyes) is in a cave outside the village, and immediately becomes your friend. You're a journalist in Bugsnax and she wants all the latest gossip, so you're natural friends. Throughout the game, she gives you quests to dig dirt on one of the other characters that you're trying to bring together. Another Grumpus is an adventurer, and they're always the one to take you to a new part of your map. The game is really user-friendly in that these segments are handed out to you and take maybe 10 minutes to do, and usually involve catching Bugsnax, which sure as heck isn't your main character's name.
Bugsnax are the Pokemon part of this, as you use various tools to catch these "insects" made of various foods. So, what looks like an ant's head is a cherry, it's body a piece of pineapple, and it's back part is a mushroom. Shishkabug! Your controller speaker even says it out when you capture it. I got rocked cause it was 2 in the morning when I caught a kiwi...with a...spoon attached (rolls eyes again) and my controller shouts out KWEEBLE! Then, it was me fumbling with the new PS5 menus that trying to lower the volume on the controller. The thing that breaks the corniness meter is that when it's time to feed the characters you help the Bugsnax they requested, you can change their body parts into foods.
But here I am, 15 hours in and still playing. Even if this game is largely considered for young kids, it's the most sophisticated thing I've seen. The graphics aren't targeting real world stuff, but there's a very solid art design and everything is at a smooth frame rate. The characters have their own relationships and motivations, and within those are partners trying to prove themselves to one another while failing to recognize how the other accepts them. Occasionally, a character says something that one player might laugh at while another player might consider incredibly sad. Even the music reminds me of (at least the trailer of Spike Jonze's) Where the Wild Things Are, as it's laid back synth and buzzy downtempo soundtrack. The final sequence of the game has a handful of great tracks, one after another.
All in all, I think that timing guided me to a game I'd likely never have played if the PS5 hadn't just launched and I wasn't grasping for free titles. Now, should you buy it? If you read this and think it might be appealing to play a slow-paced game that's super corny, w the sale price of $10, which is even better. If you have young kids and a PS4/5, absolutely go for it!
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