Messing Time Up: Oldies But Goldies

My sister was born in 1997 as the youngest of three. With 10 years difference between her and my brother and 7 years difference with me, she always wanted to be involved even from an early age. From mock WWE fights to Pokemon, Playmobil, Tomb Raider (for some reason), she wanted to be included everywhere, going so far as to displaying a few random acts of senseless "bravery" which got her to fall on her face more than once. The amount of stories I have about my sister growing up are equally numerous as they are embarrassing.

Seeing me and my brother playing on the Playstation, meant that she, as well, wanted to be part of it. She -always- wanted to play with us, to a point that it was downright irritating. My older brother bumped heads with her over this, as he was well within his teenage years and often wanted to blow off some steam, me, as the middle child, had a more diplomatic approach, having her hold a controller that was not plugged in, and have her think she was playing as well.

For hours and a good solid year that trick worked. But as she got older she got wind of my machinations, partly as well due to the fact she now had a few of her own games for the Playstation. Having no choice but to make sure she either had other things to do, or find 2 player games to play, Bugs Bunny and Taz: Time Busters appeared like a divine blessing.

Finally, a game in which we both had fun, played for -hours- and off course got into sibling shenanigans.

Produced in the early 2000 Bugs Bunny and Taz was a game in which you controlled the two characters in an adventure to stop Daffy Duck from screwing around with the timelines. In their journey they will meet other Looney Tunes in time themed versions of themselves in themed maps such as Aztecs, Vikings, Victorian England and Arabia. With a dynamic gameplay system which had both characters behave very differently from each other, each with their own unique powers and abilities, the duo would tackle fun puzzles, entertaining boss fights and off course, a plethora of fun little mini games to spice things up.

With the dual nature of the characters, it was obviously ripe for two player co-op, and the colorful and humorous style of the Loony Tunes made it a perfect match for a middle sibling trying to find a game to play with his younger sister.

With Bugs Bunny having a signature "diving" animation for him to get into holes, which my sister used to dive into pools and water, my sister insisted on having him, as he was, admittedly, the funnest to play in the beginning. With Taz being my personal favorite, and the obviously better character, I agreed.

Having to translate everything as my sister was too young to know English, the first ten minutes were spent in going over the controls, trying to convince her to stop jumping on Taz's head, stop diving into the lake, stop using the helicopter glide thing Bugs had, and off course both of us being jerks to each other, repeatedly killing each other, before reviving them via destroying crates

With the standard gameplay every 3D puzzle platformer had in the Playstation era, what made this such an enjoyable game was a number of key elements

For starters, the responses were pretty good for their time. With good camera work, and the ability to control the angle, easy to read signs and shadows, the moments where you felt "cheated" by the game were so far in between they were virtually non existent.

In addition, throughout the game, your characters would learn interesting and fun ways to interact with each other as a means to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Those unique abilities would range from the simple, "have Bugs jump on Taz's head to reach higher" to downright strange, such as Taz being able to eat gum and create a bubble so big it literally has him fly up into the sky.

The game never allows itself to let you get bored. There is -always- something new and interesting to do in such a way that it does not feel like just extra busywork, but with actual unique gameplay.

Want to play soccer? there is soccer, want to play Aztec pre-basketball? You can do that. Want to just run around chasing your sister as Taz, lift Bugs bunny up in a ball and throw him in an icy lake? You can for sure do that too, much to her dismay.

I would never thought there would be a game that I would have to say this, but keep in mind, that Taz being a ravenous monster that wants to eat everything, is -part- of the gameplay. How? Well, if you have bugs bunny stay directly in front of Taz's face with his back turned, Taz would literally sniff towards him and then proceed to try to bite him. Which causes Bugs's life to go down. I am not joking folks, the bugs bunny player would have to keep in mind that Taz will literally try to bite his butt off.

With graphics being less than average for the time period, the developers opted for colorful and cartooney as well as focus on the animations and little details. Oddly, this worked perfectly for the game. With a proper example of stylized art>graphics the game may not -look- good in screenshots, but looked good on the screen.

Animations were fluid, facial expressions and animations were fun to watch and the scenery and backgrounds made the game feel like you were playing through a loony tunes cartoon.

Sound wise, it is what you would expect from a Playstation game. The voice acting on the other hand, well, they got the original cast to do the voices. Enough said. The sound effects, though not the best ever, are perfectly placed. The game used what it got to maximum effect.

A personal favorite for me is how much they did not shy away from Taz's sound effects. He, was, the, best. With a dumb bouncing noise to match Bugs jumping on his head, facial expressions distorted and then Taz furiously flailing his hands to get Bugs off him is just one of the funnest things to watch.

Music was perfect and oddly memorable. I still have a few of the tunes stuck in my head to this day.

Nostalgia goggles off, the game's individual parts are sub par. Graphics leave much to be desired, sound and music have not aged well, and in an age when Spyro and Crash were in that category, it is not a surprise that this game never got the spotlight.

Yet, what is more important in a game if not how fun it actually is? What Bugs Bunny and Taz: Time Buseters manages to do is to be a perfectly fun game, utilizing the two characters to make it even more enjoyable when playing co-op.

It may not look like much, it may not sound like much, but this game will have you coming back for more when you least expect it.

My advice? Grab a friend, or a sibling, fire it up (there is a pc version) and just prepare yourselves for some jolly good time.

ABEDIABEDIABEDIABEDIA THATS ALL FOLKS! Queue the music!