Did you know that Cave made anything other than bullet-hell arcade shooters? I didn’t, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the latest Mushihimesama was not a by-the-books shooter. Rather, Bug Panic is part adventure game, part traditional Cave endeavor. The limited story is annoying and irrelevant, only serving as a mild excuse for main character Reco to run around different levels dropping bombs on all manner of giant insects.
The move away from being an on-rails shooter opens up gameplay a bit, as you’re free to explore and move about the different levels as you’d like. You’ll charge up your bombs and use the cursor to lock on to bugs, unleashing all manner of insect-killing carnage. As the levels progress, the enemies become more akin to what you’d expect from a Cave game, filling the screen with bullets.
It’s an interesting twist on Cave’s tried-and-true formula, though I had issues with the aiming since the control area is small yet you’re expected to quickly move the cursor all over the screen. Different control schemes, GameCenter achievements, and a Score Attack mode round out the additional content, making this a very solid package, albeit one more expensive than the usual one dollar app.
