Buck Bumble - Reception

Reception

While not heavily praised, and widely regarded as below contemporary N64 standards, Buck Bumble was met with overall positive reception from various gaming critics. Narayan Pattison of the Australian magazine N64 Gamer gave the game several compliments. Comparing it to Star Fox for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which was also partly developed by Argonaut Games. Saying that it avoids Star Fox's "restricted preset paths that had to be followed." They also compliment the game's designers for the added features, like the player being able to hover in the air, and drop down and walk across the ground, thus giving the player "the ability to try some new gameplay techniques that have never been used before." The game's main theme song he describes as being a "very catchy dance beat that even has clear vocals." However he was disappointed in the game's thick fog, repetitive textures, and that the save feature after each level, "makes the game too easy".

Matt Casamassina of IGN called it "the epitome of 'first generation' Nintendo 64 products" and compared it to a lower quality version of the bee level in Banjo-Kazooie. This is largely due to its heavy distance fog, low frame rate, and low resolution graphics. Casamassina also considered the single player levels too short and too easy. However, he praised the flying controls, the design of the title character, and addictiveness of the Buzz Ball multiplayer mode.

Fabian Blache, III, of Dimension Publishing's Q64 magazine, compared the game's shooter style to the PlayStation game WarHawk. His first response to seeing the game was; "I was almost dreading having to labor through (what I perceived would be) inane gameplay at the hands of a childish premise." While praising the sound, and graphics, he excused the presence the fog, in the fact that, "the game is set in England." He finishes the review with "There aren't many games of this quality on the market today, and Argonaut should be proud to have this one as their own."

Another positive review came from Nintendojo. They stated that, while fog makes navigation difficult, "the graphics do not disappoint." In terms of multiplayer, the "extremely difficult" Buzz Battle was considered much less enjoyable than Buzz Ball. The review summed up stating, "Buck Bumble is definitely worth playing. While it isn't perfect, it's a fun game, and that's what really counts."

GameSpot's Lauren Fielder gave the title a significantly lower review than most publishers and echoed the belief that it "missed the boat" of lower quality, first generation N64 games. She criticised the flying and walking controls and deemed the multiplayer modes "seemingly quite literally thrown in." She closed by saying "In spite of all the obvious flaws, Buck Bumble is not a terrible game. It's just not a good game, and the rewards do not make up for the dull, tugging experience it quickly becomes."