Band of Innovation

Published July 11, 2007

Xbox LIVE® Arcade has rapidly become a breeding ground for innovation. With the promise of less financial risk and a proven digital distribution system, small-time developers have been given license to innovate, and innovate they have.

Ugly, AND deadly.

With Band of Bugs, developer NinjaBee has reached into the past, plucked out the turn-based strategy genre, and delivered precisely what Xbox LIVE Arcade fans clamor for, a game brimming with sophistication but wrapped in accessibility.

Return of Turn-Based Gameplay
You play as a band of battle-ready bugs ready to defend their land and protect what's theirs, and turn-based tactics are the mechanism. For those not familiar with the genre, imagine the same basic principle that applies to board games. Take chess for example. Detailed, well thought out tactics are required for success, but until your turn is over, you need not worry about the enemy.

The ability to design and craft your own maps is seldom seen even in the more expensive, retail Xbox 360 games.

Bug Basics
Understanding the basic structure of the game can be best accomplished by examining the actions of a single turn.

• Movement: Band of Bugs utilizes a grid-based layout, so movement is handled by selecting your bug and navigating the squares that make up the grid. However, each block isn't necessarily created equal. You may move right up against an enemy to attack, but find yourself in a square recessed in the ground. This tactical disadvantage will cause you to do less damage and take more damage in turn.
• Enemy relation: The end purpose of movement is generally to gain an advantageous position on your enemy. Positioning yourself behind or to the side of an enemy increases the damage you do and gives a greater chance of scoring a critical hit.
• Action time: Once you've positioned your bug on the map, attack, use a skill, spell or item, swap out weapons, or simply wait. Skills and spells include a wide variety of abilities such as healing a comrade, taking time out to aim a precision archer shot, penetrating the enemy's armor with a unique attack, and more.
• Facing: Once an action is completed, decide which direction your bug will face. Though it seems a small decision, it's critical for helping minimize the chance an enemy can sneak up and flank you from the side or behind.

Sweet!

Class It Up
Your rag-tag army of bugs isn't comprised of just a series of carbon copies, but made up of unique classes of combatant, each with distinct and often humorous personalities. Regarding classes, expect to use archers, healers, straight-up fighters and more right from the beginning. Like any good strategy game, success is found by balancing the strengths and weaknesses of your army against your opponent's.

Abundant Features
Beyond the well-conceived and expertly implemented gameplay, Band of Bugs may be most striking for the massive quantity of features that serve to complement the core gameplay. For example:

• Level editor: The ability to design and craft your own maps is seldom seen even in the more expensive, retail Xbox 360™ games, so to find a map editor in an Xbox LIVE Arcade game is staggering indeed. What's more, it offers all the tools to create maps just as complicated and well-balanced as any the game offers on its own.

Mold your own masterpiece.

• Skirmish: In addition to the single-player story mode, you can also test your wits against the computer in one-off skirmishes, where you choose the game type, the time limit for each turn, the use of created maps, and the number of opponents.
• Over the Internet: Of course, multiplayer matches with friends or even people you don't like at all can be waged on Xbox LIVE, and you'll have access to all the same options just mentioned, including the use of user-created maps.
• Graded play and Leaderboards: Every match is graded for skill, and while seeing that gold medal pop up serves as a pleasant pat on the back, it's really spotting your high-score on the Leaderboard well above those on your Friends List that makes the difference.

For turn-based strategy fans, Band of Bugs is a welcome boon, and for those unfamiliar with turn-based games, you simply couldn't ask for an easier-to-grasp and charmingly fun introduction to the genre. If you don't believe me, download the Trial version for free and discover the magic for yourself.

Article by Ryan Treit