Bug Academy review for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One

I?m having a hard time making up my mind about Bug Academy. It?s a physics-based puzzler where the controls are kind of iffy, which makes it a little frustrating. However, the point of it is that you?re controlling bugs, and asking them to do things like lift cows and paint pictures, so a) it?s not like realistic physics are the point here, and b) a little frustration is probably intentionally baked into the game.

Because of that latter point, I think I fall on the side of enjoying Bug Academy. No matter how frustrating it can occasionally be, I?d be lying if I said I didn?t love launching cows through easily-shattered castles, or delivering furniture to apartments in outer space.

That?s the gist of the game, in case that?s not clear. You take control of four different bugs — house flies, fireflies, mosquitos, and bumblebees — and you run them through a series of tasks, whether it?s picking up and tossing cows over long distances, or sucking up paint and trying to replicate a picture, or finding your way through a maze to try and steal a diamond. It?s absurd, but when it all works right, it?s great, goofy fun.

The problem is that it doesn?t always work just right. As I said up top, the controls aren?t exactly precise, which means you?ll regularly have to fiddle around with how your bugs are moving around in order to get them just right. Most of the time it?s not an issue, but when you get into levels where you need to drop items in just the right spot in order to advance, or where your score (out of three stars, naturally) is dependent on your time, you can see why you don?t want to be moving your flies a fraction of an inch at a time, trying to get them just so.

For the most part, though, that?s not a huge concern. A couple of annoying moments here and there can?t detract from an overall fun experience, so as long as you go into Bug Academy with that mindset, you should be able to enjoy it.

Ultimate Games provided us with a Bug Academy Switch code for review purposes.