Do you remember Centipede, that classic arcade game? What if there were a game that brought that gameplay into the modern day? Wouldn’t that be awesome? Well, my friends, for that I give you Bad Caterpillar from Fun Infused Games, a game that does just that.
If that doesn’t sound appealing, let me reassure you that this game is one of the most innovative shmups out there. Your ship moves in the style of Space Invaders and Centipede, i.e. up to a certain point as enemies descend. But in this case, you also have to shoot the Caterpillars as they move through mazes reminiscent of Centipede, while at the same time, lesser insects and enemies descend faster and must be destroyed. This cleverly combines the Shmup genre with the puzzle genre while keeping everything at a fast pace. . The more you progress, the more difficult the game becomes and the faster the pace gets. This is a high score type game and is perfect if you just have a few minutes at a time for gaming. I love the different ways the game allows you to attack the Caterpillars, since it feels like different routes you can take in a puzzle adventure game.
You can choose from multiple ships to play as, although to be honest, the differences are not as important as the skill of the player and this felt like a bit of a letdown. I like more variety, but I did not really feel it here. Still seeing the interactions is pretty funny at times. However, an issue I do have is with us that at the rate things move on screen it can be easy to get confused and attack the wrong place. Its somewhat bothersome, but nothing too major but is something to keep an eye out for.
I really do like Bad Caterpillar. It is a clever blending of different game styles and genres, with a good end result. If you can look past some of the flaws, then I recommend checking this out. It has great music ( really good music actually, and great sound effects that sync nicely with the controller rumbling), nice visuals and spot-on controls. I have to give this a high recommendation.
Disclaimer: We were provided with a review code for this review.