I played a lot of Super Mario when I was a kid and when I see a game market itself as a retro platformer, I jump on that train. I played Bzzzt during Steam Nextfest and thought it was pretty good. This week I am going to talk more about a platformer that takes heavily of games from years past. This week is Bzzzt.

Bzzzt is a precision platformer from Ko.Dll and Cinemax/s.r.o. Bzzzt was released on November 13th on Steam for $12.

The year is 4096 and the tech revolution is at its zenith as two scientists, Professor Norbert and Doctor Emily, are working on creating a hyper-intelligent AI, ZX8000. While there are those looking to do good in the world, there are those who want to spread their dark influence over it. In this case, Dr. Badbert is looking to unleash his nefarious plans on the world while ZX8000 is being born. Dr. Badbert is just the tip of the iceberg as a rogue AI aims to erase all emotions and turn the world into 1s and 0s.

I won’t glorify the story, it gets the jobs done. There are good guys and some baddies that need to be dealt with. I am sure that most platformers have paper-thin storylines.

The demo allowed the player thirteen levels, but the full game has around fifty different platforming levels and, for the most part, every level is vastly different from the previous level. Bzzzt is still a precision platformer that is pretty lenient. It is more forgiving than games like Celeste and Super Meat Boy, but it does possess a small challenge. Bad guys that move on a predetermined path, laser floors, and random traps are littered throughout each area to test timing and jump abilities; Bzzzt has tight controls for tight mechanics. Double jumps and dashes are included and a fun mechanic is introduced towards the end.

The level design is pretty good. The player is introduced to an ability and a few levels are dedicated to mastering it before throwing all previously learned abilities into the mix. It does not lean much on technical skill as opposed to just remembering how all of the abilities work and when the end of the game rolls around, Bzzzt makes sure that you have remembered everything.

I praised the game before for its game design. I still love it and even after the demo levels pass the game still looks absolutely beautiful. The backdrops really shine here by showing the player a glimpse of what the world looks like outside the frantic platforming world that is the game.

The audio design is awesome. I love it so much. Martin Linda really knows how to compose music.

Bzzzt is a great platformer; that holds true. I cannot recommend this game enough. The only gripe that I could possibly have with it is the time it takes to complete. I first completed it in just under two hours, and I can imagine that it would not take much longer to 100%. I am selfish and I wanted to platform some more, but here I am talking about how a two-hour game is not enough. It is overall a really good platformer with roots in retro and even modern platformers.

Bzzzt is a well-put-together game with great level and audio design. I just wish it was a bit longer so I could have more fun.