Bzzzt review – a journey into history

Platformers are a genre that has no shortage of competition. However, new projects still come to us. One of the current new products is Bzzzt, the creation of the Czech developer Karel Matejka, which we will talk about in the following paragraphs of our review.

Platform: PC
Publication date: 13/11/2023
Developer:KO.DLL
Publisher: CINEMAX, o.o.o.
Genre: 2D platformer
Czech localization: Yes
Multiplayer: No
Download data: 478 MB
Game time: 2-3 hours
Price: 499 CZK (Xzone)

In Bzzzt the future is full of robots

The story of this work takes place in the year 4096 on Earth, where robotization is already in full swing. However, one scientific laboratory has created a robot, the ZX8000, that can outshine all tin cans ever created. But before it can actually be properly tested, scientist Badbert appears on the scene with a desire to destroy. Your task in Bzzzt is nothing less than to stop this villain. But first you need to get to it. The narrative is relatively undemanding, but there are a few interesting moments. However, the main thing in most 2D platformers is not the plot, but the way the game levels are designed.

In this case, I think the author of this work managed to fully exploit the potential of the 1980s, so we have very beautifully designed levels, where you will mainly be interested in the fact that their format is gradually changing. I’m playing. In the first missions you will encounter relatively few traps, and getting from the drop point to the teleportation platform is not difficult. But once you have several instances behind you, things become more difficult due to the presence of new abilities and elements that you will have to learn to work with in order to successfully conquer the entire instance. Primitive circular machines are being replaced by laser beams, and slow robots are being replaced by more dynamic opponents over time.

And the transformation of the game world, and above all the addition of new challenges, in my opinion, is one of the aspects of Bzzzt that will captivate you. At some points, certain situations may even bring a smile to your face because you will be surprised by the creativity with which certain elements are included in the game world. Personally, for example, I was interested in how robots break test tasks and then run after the main character, trying to blow him up. I don’t know if this was intentional, but I immediately remembered the first Half-Life, where you could work with similar creatures and send them towards enemies. The palette of robotic opponents here is decent and I’m not afraid to say that these are memorable things, although, of course, one cannot be too demanding.

However, your enemies in this game are not only negative robots. Time will be your next enemy. Because every time you have a stopwatch running, which shows the ideal time to conquer this map. If you complete a level within the allotted time, you will receive extra points. Likewise, you will also get a fair amount of points for collecting all the available screws. At the end of each event, you have the opportunity to see your points tallied, just like in the 1980s.

The harder you make it, the harder it will be.

Playing time in Bzzzt is determined primarily by the difficulty level at which you choose to play. On basic difficulty you can reach the end of the entire adventure relatively quickly. For less experienced players, it will take about three hours, and I’m working here with the idea that the game will fall into the hands of those who have no experience with the game. Increasing the difficulty here acts as an imaginary increase in game time. Why is this so? In Easy Mode, you only have three lives, so it gives you room to make mistakes, and replays only happen after your “powers” are depleted.

The normal difficulty here is based on you repeating levels after any mistake. Will you touch the electric fence before the final point? Unfortunately, you will receive the entire copy from the very beginning. Thanks to this, you will repeat some complexes many times, because not taking a step to the side is sometimes more difficult than it might seem at first glance. But what if you are trying to achieve the best possible result within a deadline and collected screws, then you often make one mistake after another. The biggest challenge in Bzzzt is the third difficulty level offered, characteristically called Crazy. This is due to the fact that you only have seven lives throughout the entire game, so within 52 levels you can only make a clearly defined number of mistakes. Once you run out of tries, it’s over.

Fans of the genre will be delighted with Bzzzt.

Karel Matejka created a game aimed at a specific audience. Bzzzt is a great retro game that will allow you to enjoy times gone by in an easy to use visual and gaming format. The game is all about vintage music, well-designed levels, enemies and, above all, nostalgia. Its creator actually fulfills everything that he promises in the presented materials, before us is a game from the eighties in a worthy form. However, it is doubtful whether this will be enough to achieve success at the moment, because the competition is not small at all and a significant part of it relies not only on remembering innovations that can differentiate it.