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As a man with a lot of surface area, I despise bugs. Mainly because they could be on me right now and I wouldn't know, as proven during last weekend's multiple wasp sting car ride fiasco...which I will not explain any further. Suffice it to say that after having nearly driven off an embankment thanks to the little buzzing bastards, I was ready for some payback *insert movie voice*...but to get revenge I would have to become that I despise most. Enter Ninja Bee's Band of Bugs.
Band of Bugs is a turn-based strategy game that puts you in the shoes of a young insect named Maal who finds himself in the middle of a war between his land and an army of evil insect enemies. The gameplay is the standard grid-based map battler that takes height and positioning into account. Unlike many strategy games, however, BoB has been dumbed down and simplified for the casual market...and you can't dumb something down for one group without disappointing the other, and quite frankly I am a bit disappointed.
It's not that Band of Bugs is a bad game. Not in the least really. The graphics are nicely stylized, and for some reason I found the music incredibly catchy. It's just that when I got down into the meat of things I found that it was mostly exoskeleton with just tiny edible bits inside. Delicious, but not nearly as filling as I would like.
Kids...don't eat bugs.
My main problem is that I'm more of a strategy RPG fan, which takes your basic strategy game and adds in leveling units, in-depth weapon creation, experience point strategies and the like. Band of Bugs here goes the opposite direction. You have a predetermined amount of units and you must keep one or more alive until the goal is reached. That goal can be as simple as defeating all of you enemies or a little less mundane, like trying to collect eggs while defending your egg carrier unit. Sometimes the objectives are interesting, but when all your turn consists of is moving, attacking, and then trying to face the location you'd take the most damage from otherwise, it gets a little boring, and boredom leads to frustration, which leads to I'm not having fun with this Game anymore.
There is plenty to do in Band of Bugs, but if you're a real strategy game fan I would warn you from doing any of it. There's a level editor so you can share maps with folks online, as well as online modes which I tried to join but failed to find any sort of game playing...not really a good sign.
If you are interested in the strategy genre and want something light to start with, then Band of Bugs could very well be worth the 800 Microsoft Points. It does have a certain charm, and though the challenge can be a bit erratic at times it is a solidly built game. Just remember as you're playing that it's only the tip of the strategy iceberg and you'll be fine. Michael Fahey
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