Game: Bouncy Bullets
Genre:Â Puzzle-Shooter / Platformer
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PS4, Vita & Xbox One)
Developer | Publisher:Â Ratalaika Games
Price: $4.99| £4.99| €4.99
Age Rating: EU 3+| USAÂ 10+
Release Date: 12th July 2019
Review code kindly provided by Ratalaika Games
Run, jump, bounce and shoot your way through a bunch of colourful stages in Bouncy Bullets. Hone your reflexes and puzzle solving as the game slowly ups the ante, evade enemy fire as you run to the goal, returning fire and avoiding harming allies.
Bouncy, Bouncy!
Each stage is often a compact set of platforms whereby you jump from place to place as you head towards the goal, a big, blue swirly portal. The first few levels run you through the controls and common stage hazards. Soon however you are then pitted against a variety of enemies who have to be defeated in a certain way.
You can fire two colours of bullets using the shoulder buttons. Enemies require being struck by their corresponding colour, but then soon you encounter those who alternate their colour requiring quick reflexes as you avoid return fire. There are also enemies who require a couple of shots and those who require a shot to ricochet before it can defeat them. Atop this there are neutral coloured allies you must avoid hitting lest you fail your attempt at the level.
The game is simple to get to grips with and provides a suitable challenge to balance out its brevity. The controls and physics were a little inconsistent in places however. In particular control in the air can be arduous and behaves not as you expect. As you move you build momentum, stopping however can be quite slow to respond leading to a lot of unnecessary deaths. I was ultimately able to adapt to these shortcomings but they were present nonetheless.
Bright & Vibrant
Those two words are exactly what describe the visuals in Bouncy Bullets. The setting is bright and colourful and provide a nice backdrop for the action taking place. The enemies are very inoffensive if not somewhat crudely designed but that ties in perfectly fine with the aesthetic.
There really isn’t much to criticise about the way the game looks or sounds. I did quite like the simplistic look and feel, including the random artefacts scattered around each stage.
A Brief Encounter
As previously suggested, the game is pretty short. There are only three chapters with a small selection of levels within. There are an additional three chapters that introduced additional challenges to existing stages. Each level awards up to 3 stars depending on how quickly you clear them. If you are a completionist, that should keep you busy enough. While I cleared all available stages, I certainly wasn’t up to scratch when it came to completing them fast enough to earn three stars on every single stage.
For a modest piece of software I think the amount of content is perfectly satisfactory. While I may have breezed through what was available, it would take significantly longer for me to fully complete the challenge available.
Conclusion
Bouncy Bullets is a bright, colourful and challenging experience. It’s a pity that the games physics occasionally let it down, which can be especially frustrating during the later stages, but there’s plenty to enjoy within this modest piece of software. Though there is nothing spectacular nor unique, any fan of quick footed action would find themselves perfectly content for a short while.
