Games that are based on movies are generally a hit and miss affair and this time, The Ant Bully has made the transition to the PlayStation 2 which is also based on the movie with the same name. With that said, Ant Bully follows the story of Lucas or as known to the ants, “the Destroy” who has a passion for destroying ant colonies. Unfortunately for this bully, his just deserts are about to served up when the ants strike back and shrink Lucas to the size of an ant.

 

 

With this strange conception, the gamer must control Lucas through a world of ants and insects in order to make penance for his crimes and to find Fugax who is voiced by the delightful Bruce Campbell. Through guidance by the ants, the player must navigate their avatar through a world of terrible nasties in order for Lucas to understand the damage he has caused and hopefully repent his violent ways.

 

Ant Bully in its essence is a traditional arcade game where the player must jump, run and fight their way through a myriad of different gaming environments in order to complete missions. These missions generally range between two extremes of fighting and collecting live pupa. By collecting these ant larva, you prevent a variety of dangerous and scary insects from decimating the ant population and this is where the fighting comes into play as you fight your way through various insects such as pill bugs and centipedes.

 

Unfortunately the game becomes rather repetitive as you get to the crux of the story but every now and then, the gameplay does change to give you a break from the monotony of the title such as using wasps to glide through the environment while you dogfight against exterminators which is kind of cool.

 

The control system of Ant Bully is a little strange at the best of times and is a little unresponsive and moves away from the traditional button system. Interesting enough, the character will jump automatically without any player input which becomes frustrating when you try to jump a wide gap in the game.

 

Through practice however, you eventually understand that you need to run towards these gaps and cannot just stand on the edge and hope to make it across.  The combat of Ant Bully also suffers a little from the game controls that makes it difficult to auto lock onto your enemies, especially when you are trying to change the camera angle.

 

 

Graphically, Ant Bully features some extremely colourful characters that are animated quite well but when matched with the repetitive background environments, it’s almost as if you’re playing in the same map over and over again. There are some special effects in the game such as lighting and reflective surfaces but the things like the draw distance and polygon count of the characters feels like this game is older than it really is.

 

Soundwise, the game features some great voice acting by Bruce Campbell but for the more mature gamer, it’s unfortunately not worth the price of admission. The title also features quite a bit of background ambience from the sounds of the insect world to the jungle-music soundtrack that actually goes hand in hand with the gameplay.

 

In conclusion Ant Bully feels a little rushed and unfinished for the more experienced gamer but for those adults who have kids that loved the movie; this might be a title that they will enjoy. As a game for adults, Ant Bully would definitely score a 5 for its gameplay, graphics and replay value... however as a game for kids, the title would score a 7, depending on their age.