So, can Bubsy 4D relieve itching or stop hairballs? Let's play it to find out
Blog Andrew Joseph 10 Oct , 2025 0
Let's get one thing out of the way first: I hate Babsy. no What I'm actually previewing here is Bubsy 4D, a fun, energetic game, rather than Bubsy himself, a dirty, sadistic feline who is a toxic product of an era of cynical mascot marketing. Born in a dark moment when just about every video game company was tying its fate to clones of Sonic's companions, Babsy has a well-deserved reputation as a D-grade cash-in character that's best forgotten.
Fortunately, I have more positive things to say about what I saw of Bubsy 4D, a fresh recreation of the furball's tainted legacy that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement on Bubsy's questionable past in almost every way. In just over an hour of Bubsy's Steam demo, I found a lot to explore… and some not-so-encouraging signs.
It's true: there's a lot to like about Bubsy 4D. It's a colorful game, with some lovely creative gear scattered around the themed world, such as the knitted tablecloth highway in the thread-and-needle themed opening stage. The voice work is solid (even if the script is a bit uneven), and my preview build was largely glitch-free. The movement mechanics are pretty solid, except for the camera being a bit frustrated when jumping long distances to some small targets.
The tutorial area is clean and functional, a rare combination in gaming that teaches valuable skills with minimal instruction. Busey's jumping mechanics are logical, but take a little getting used to – the various comboable jumps are tied to the face button and two triggers – and it's nice to be able to practice moving around with minimal risk or consequences before jumping into the main campaign. Not that death is a big deal… the checkpoints (represented by dumpsters) are pretty generous, and even when he dies, Babsy rarely respawns that far from where he last fell.
This annoying kitten gets along great. Busey's main advantage is his aerial mobility. He can jump, double jump, jump forward and descend gently like a parachute, and swoop forward to cover long horizontal distances…or all at the same time. Babsy can also inflate himself into a ball and roll it along hills and halfpipes, building up momentum to perform longer jumps. He can swoop onto certain steep surfaces and climb them, or grapple special spots to gain an aerial distance boost. He's so capable of moving around that he can occasionally walk in front of the camera as he swoops onto the end of a combo.
This raid also serves as Bubsy's primary attack, despite the fact that I found very few threats in Bubsy worth attacking. The demo stage was filled with plenty of steep jumps and acrobatic challenges, but there were very, very few enemies hanging around, and those that were present were brain-dead and easily dispatched. Platformers with few enemies aren't unheard of (Portal, Super Meat Boy, and Thomas Alone come to mind), but it's still a bit strange that a colorful platformer environment can feel very empty without the usual Goombas, Koopas, or swarms of giant enemy crabs. While Bubsy's level layouts are clean and functional, none approach the more subtle complexity of the classic platformers listed above.
This is my biggest question, where will the full version of Bubsy 4D end up. The demo phase struggled a bit with basic level design, not in terms of aesthetic production, but in terms of the layout itself. The worlds, while adequately themed, aren't particularly well laid out. Most are obvious main roads with clearly visible spokes and islands. Scattered around the spokes are the most valuable collectibles, while along the main path there are countless balls of yarn swirling in space. The result is mid-sized, explorable levels that should encourage curiosity and discovery… but often fail to do so.
The problem is not the overall approach but its apparent lack of refinement. In a sense, this is a throwback to the PlayStation 1-era world design of many mascot platformers, or more accurately, the kitchen-sink, casual style popularized by many C64 and Amiga platformers, including classics like the Turrican series. Wherever the inspiration comes from, it doesn't quite work here yet. The objectives in each small section of the level feel repetitive, the layout is either too obvious, or the objectives lack challenge. You can tell where to go next, which is a good thing, but it's often so obvious that the sense of discovery really suffers. There are tons of collectibles to find, but they're rarely hidden in interesting ways or hampered by compelling challenges. And the lack of enemies greatly reduces layered threats that might otherwise heighten nuance and challenge.
Jumping between towers and collecting gadgets is as old as video games, but the difference between mediocre and classic is the refinement that goes into putting these rote mechanics into practice. Having played both Astrobot and Donkey Kong Bananza over the past year, I can say that Bubsy 4D's level design feels unfinished by comparison. While the play area is visually interesting, its dynamic interactions are crude. Jumping between obstacles and avoiding spikes feels clean, fair, and capable, but rarely exciting. The world is open enough that it's obviously going to require a lot of testing and refinement on the part of the developers as they design obstacles that can be approached from multiple available angles and heights, but it's painfully obvious that this testing process isn't even close to a final product yet. It's not bad at all, just not as good as you might think. Within minutes of getting into Bubsy 4D, you'll realize that you've done most of it before, but much better… and that's not how you want a video game to make you feel.
Fortunately, these problems can be solved with developer time and effort. This is a preview of work in progress rather than a review of a finished product, and there's plenty of room for improvement before release next year. The potential is definitely there… Bubsy's massive horizontal movement ability is a lot of fun to play with in practice, and if the meta continues to tighten up to match the Cat's core abilities, Fabraz's team could be on to something really interesting.
I do have one specific complaint about a less than effective design choice: the demo's only mandatory timed challenge, a racing game over some steep blind hills and a bridge that almost required memorization to complete successfully. I had hoped that, in the year of our Lord 2025, we might be beyond the golden path of cramming unskippable, rather unintuitive, timed obstacle courses into levels, but here we have Bubsy 4D. These weren't fun in the PlayStation 1 era, but 30 years later they're unforgivable sins.
Elsewhere, Babsy purchases extra powers from the central hub store run by his annoying niece and nephew, trading collectibles for energy. My favorite of them all is the Wile E. Coyote-inspired power that allows me to levitate over empty space for a second like a Looney Tunes cartoon character just running off a cliff, which is a delicious and genuinely useful inclusion. It's appropriately themed and cute.
Finally, when it comes to audio, the Bubsy 4D's sample scores range from mediocre to buzzy. The theme music for the first three stages has little impact at first, but becomes jarring after being played a few times. I can only define the sound as elevator music, run through an N64 nostalgia filter and digitizer, and what's coming out on the other end adds little to the platforming experience. Maybe it's just me and others might like it more.
On the other hand, the voice work is solid, and the script has a lot of nods to the mascot platformer era. Babsy maintains a high degree of self-awareness throughout her new journey. He is openly unenthusiastic about his recent pursuit of the Golden Fleece. He's old, tired, a little tired of it all, and the comments that reflect the tiredness of being in your 40s are mostly valid. The occasional sarcastic quip and poop joke seemed like a sure nod to the era in which Babsy was born, but nothing I heard was hilarious. I'm not a fan of Bubsy's family and companions, they feel like worse replicas of Sonic's scary friends or DK's annoyingly expanded character catalog.
Overall, Bubsy 4D is a bright, fun 3D platformer template so far. It's difficult to predict whether it will reach its full potential before release. It's to 4D's benefit that the developers have treated the characters with obvious caution and given them some reflection and even a hint of dignity. Hopefully the final product can capitalize on the strong start evident in this demo.
Jared Petty loves writing about the awesomeness and silliness of video games. You can find him at Bluesky@small comma and thread@small comma.