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Bee 52 review

Game: Bee 52
Platform: NES
Genre: Action
Developer: Codemasters

Reader review by strawhat

September 10, 2006

Some things in real life aren't made to be fun, but video games can mold them into something exhilarating, something worth wasting your free time to do. Video games can make you want to farm, or want to take the role of an old fat guy's life. They have transformed really boring aspects of life into something wild and breathtaking, and there are real gems out there. Bee 52 is not one of them.

As much as I wonder about what bees do all day, I can't really think of anything but going into flowers, getting honey, and bringing it back to their hive. This is exactly the point of Bee 52. You fly throughout 24 levels, collecting honey from flowers blooming in gardens, swamps, and peoples homes while dodging atrocious spiders, hungry ants, and malicious dragonflies. As you complete each level, the developers of Game Genie pitch more and more obstacles in your path. Combined with the fact that if you die after getting hit once, this game is pretty difficult.

Bee 52 really could have turned out to be one of those quirky games that seem pretty arid, but turn out to be great fun. Unfortunately, it suffers from quite a number of flaws that turns it into another monotonous game gathering dust in the back of your closet. One of the most annoying aspects of the game is the controls and movement of your character, the bee. Bee is unresponsive to the control pad and takes time for it to gain speed and fly so it moves at a faster pace than your 90 year old grandma. Also, when Bee hits an obstacle, it falls back further than a flop from Manu Ginobili, forcing you to restart its engines and accelerate to gain speed again, taking more time than it should. With enemies flying about, this is a really annoying aspect, especially when you bump into an obstacle and bounce back into an enemy.

Important factors in games like this are bright, vibrant colors and graphics, different, well structured levels, and catchy music to make your heart pump as you dodge and fly your way to the end of the game. Bee 52 is one for three. The first level will probably amaze you. There are bright colors and textures that fill in Bee's world. Little details like different kinds of flowers, time of day, and vegetation of a lake make the game fun to look at. However, you'll get bored of it pretty quickly when you find out that there are pretty much three different levels in the game, with everything else being the same. Damn. Thing. Flying through the same three levels over and over again with only slight differences really bring down the fun in this game. Not only that, but there's no music in the levels! This really disappointed me because the first two tracks on the title screen were great and catchy. It was really sad for it to not continue into the rest of the game. Well, no music is better than one terrible song played through the same level. But it's not something to boast about.

Overall, Bee 52 really could have been a fun game. It has the graphics and concept to go far in the world that it was in. However, lack of variety and unresponsive controls really bring down the fun factor, which is all that games are about. Playing through the first level is fun, but everything else is the same thing. It's like an old stick of gum. Great for the first minute or so, but the flavor quickly dissipates.

Rating: 5/10

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