The game requires you to use the accelerometer for movement, and apparently understanding that this isn’t a brilliant idea, places a “re-orient the device” button in the bottom left corner so that you can constantly try and adjust the controls to the angle you’re playing from. Once again, however, poor controls drag down what otherwise might be a fun experience. Clearly, the iPhone OS is capable of handling games comparable to the awesome Super Mario 64 in scope. Even if some of the characters, including yours, are on the ugly side-a fairly consistent issue with Pangea’s games, despite their strong 3-D engines-the sense of scale and the smoothness of the graphics here are great there’s also a real soundtrack, which is a little grating but gets points for ambitiousness. Small butterflies are accompanied by huge, roughly screen-height gnomes and woodland creatures, placing your character in perspective as an insect, and definitely differentiating Bugdom 2 from typical 3-D platform titles. You’ll feel like the levels are massive-perhaps a bit too massive and not landmarked enough, as it’s often hard to know where to go next-but the real surprise is in seeing differences in ground elevation, such as hills, valleys, walls and buildings, as well as variable character sizes. The sheer scope of Bugdom 2 is impressive by iPhone game standards. This could have been an ideal game for kids. Explore an area enough, for instance, and you’ll realize that you need a key to open a gate to move along to get the key, you’ll need to fetch a shell for a snail or something of the sort. He can jump, hover in the air with his wings, and pick up items, which he’s often called upon to do by creatures he meets in the levels-quests to keep the game progressing. Your character, a grasshopper, wanders throughout massive natural landscapes filled with plants, castle walls, and moving enemies.

By comparison, Pangea Software’s new Bugdom 2 is a stunning example of what the iPhone OS hardware can offer aesthetically to 3-D action-platforming developers, and an equally disappointing example of how the device’s controls can utterly wreck an otherwise pleasant 3-D gaming experience.

Bugdom 2 pc