Bzzzt (Nintendo Switch) Review

Bzzzt is about a super fighting robot who doesn't fight. Instead, he runs, jumps, and dashes his way through deadly obstacles and threats. The closest he gets to shooting anything is during the one scrolling shoot-em 'up level that wasn't play tested, as evident by the fact that gamers can sit in the upper left corner and never get hit. There are a couple of instances where the robot hero will be able to stand on a button that fires turrets, but the majority of the experience is a skill-based platformer like Celeste.

Nobody will play Bzzzt for its one shooter level. The reason why someone would come back is for the wealth of intricately designed gauntlets. Each stage has a simple goal of getting to the exit. There is no need to fight and no keys to collect. The most puzzle-like moments involve hitting a few switches and running toward a closing door.

The robot can dash and air-dash with very little cooldown. It's feasible to cover huge gaps and mix double jumps between dashes, which will become imperative for survival, making dodging the obstacles require some rhythm. This little guy will be vaulting over deadly lasers, blood-thirsty buzzsaws, and will frantically avoid bullets - sometimes all at the same time while being chased by a death machine.

Bzzzt feels satisfying to play thanks to the robot's responsive and snappy controls. Movement is fluid and the character animations make the protagonist have a palpable heft and weight when running and jumping. He is a very small character, but this is to give players a large view of the environment. Some obstacles or platforms move or disappear, so being able to see what's coming is helpful.

There are over 50 stages and none have checkpoints. Bzzzt may seem difficult, but this is to make up for its short length. Each stage can be beaten in about a minute or less for skilled gamers, but the bonus extra stages will put anyone to the test. There are several difficulty modes that can adjust the experience, so even new players can have a shot at beating the game, though it will still challenge them and maybe push them into asking their parents for help when encountering a tricky part. The 50 main story levels may seem like a lot, but they can be beaten very quickly. The way the story wraps itself up very suddenly toward the end makes Bzzzt feel like it should have more levels integrated into the core experience.

Bzzzt's core gameplay is simple, yet rock solid, and it also looks excellent. The pixel art and animation is impressive and expressive. The environments are festooned with tiny moving parts and effects that bring it to life. It is very colourful and has high contrast lighting with bold highlights, giving the aesthetics a cheeky, chunky toy-like quality.

The pixel art will impress, but the music will shock. For some reason, Bzzzt has incredible music that leans on interesting use of voice samples. It has some aspects of European house music and Sunsoft-esque audible cues. The music in Bzzzt is utterly electric and infectious, pushing players to keep moving forward and retrying.