Wait A Sec... That Giant Pink Face Thing Is Bad, Right?

The Birds And The Bees 2 is a game created by sceptile

Welcome to SKR, "Because we can".

Game: The Birds and the Bees

Maker: Sceptile

Type: Adventure

Prethoughts

I’m going to be blunt; I’m not a huge fan of sceptile’s games. They bumble around, copying pop culture icons and having no official point. He rips off other people’s graphics, giving the whole game an incoherent feeling. (Note- I haven’t played sceptile’s games for a long time and this is a generalization of his ~old~ games.) But every once in a while, he makes a really good one. Remember “The Birds and the Bees”? Not only was it featured but it also got a rave review. It’s the treasure trove for any reviewer to find a game undiscovered and feature worthy; a diamond in the rough, so to speak. This game gives me a nice tingly feeling inside that means it has the potential to be a great game. Is my inner tingly thing leading me in the right direction this time? It’s been known to be unpredictable. Perhaps this will be a good moment for Sceptile. Find out in my second review.

Gameplay

Design- This is weird for a sequel because that it uses the enemy from the old game as the hero. I find that odd, but I like it anyways. The design consists mostly of interesting corridors. Sceptile has a real gift for giving games an indescribable feeling, you feel like a boss playing this game. He also makes it look easy but be hard, so you hit that retry button several times. It uses several elements shied away from by other users like lighting effects, water, flying sequences, etc. One thing I love about this game is it isn’t the same level time after time. One time it’s the bee’s hive, then a grassy field with lots of trees and birds, then it’s flying in a helicopter… All of it artfully and beautifully executed.

Decoration/Block Placement- I could fill up a whole page on the Excellency of the art in this game. It has details that you may not think of adding, like having honey drip from the platforms, or having the helicopter fky off in the level after you fly it. You may not have thought, if you were making this game, to add honeycombs in the background, and you may not have thought to add a birdcage with birds flying out. Admittedly, if I made this game, it would have been splode. The block placement was also good. The game had a great feel to it and had great ‘designer touches’, like when the bird king’s eyes followed you. There where some parts that I didn’t like, like when he borrowed other graphics and used them in random places. You’d be minding your own business, flying your copter thing, and suddenly, OH NOES! THIS BIG PINK FACE THING EATED YOUS! It doesn’t make a lot of sense. It would have aced this category if the creator had decided to use all original graphics.

Enemy Placement- One thing that let me down is the enemy placement. The enemies where annoying. Each enemy had to be avoided 2-7 times, because you almost always had to go back through the passage and other times multiple passages crossed through the enemy’s path, making that part rather annoying. I really disliked the enemy placement. At the same time I loved it. This was the kind of game that made you lose for stupid reasons, so you tell yourself, “Oh, next time I can’t fly that high. I will do it next time…” and you try again. It’s a surprisingly hard format to reach in a game and it seems sceptile has mastered it.

Creativity- This was a pretty creative game. The idea that birds and bees are at a constant state of war, it really isn’t something I’ve seen before in a game. There are a couple problems with the originality. Number one it’s a sequel and number two it uses other’s graphics. Both of these are pretty minor and only really took of half a point between the two of them.

Fun/Challenge- This game, as mentioned before, is both really fun and also very hard, but not so hard that it makes you get frustrated. It’s also easy enough that you can quickly understand how the movement works and beat the first level after, at maximum, three refreshes.

Pros: Great design, easy to play, great details, multiple modes of play, good concept, fantastic art.

Cons: Stolen graphics, annoying enemies.

Conclusion

Overall: 20/25

My gut though was right. Never saw that coming. Although it isn’t quiet feature worthy, it is very fun and a good game. Keep up the good work, sceptile.

-SKR