Bee Simulator Review

Why can't we 'bee' friends?

When I heard about Bee Simulator, I was absolutely buzzing… *ahem*… I was excited. I am hoping that it’s a relatively normal practice to have a hierarchy of your favourite animals. My top three consists of Penguins, Bees, and Narwhals. So, bees combined with my love of simulator games made this a perfect fit. Here are my thoughts.

A Fragrant and Fruitful Campaign

You begin your journey within a bustling hive as an inquisitive and knowledge-hungry honey bee. Learning the controls will become your main priority as they do take some getting used to. You will venture beyond your starting hive into a large sandbox world abundant with places to be and people to see.

The campaign leads you through the day to day of a honey bee with some twists and turns along the way. The game not only seeks to entertain you on this journey but also educates us about the trials and tribulations bees face. From habitat destruction to conflict with other animals in the eco-system, you will become more mindful of your environment even after the game has ended.

The story is told through an imitation storybook format accompanied by narration from a jolly American lady. Bee Simulator is quite clearly meant for kiddos especially when it comes to how educational the game is. However, it contains themes relevant to everyone.

Is the gameplay sweet?

The controls simulate being a bee very well… in that, it’s all over the place. You will need some practice before you become savvy in the flying department. Small movements with your controller can make a HUGE impact on your ability to control your bee.

Your aim is to collect pollen from the abundance of various flora in the map and take it back to your hive. Sounds standard but the game uses a ‘mini-game’ approach to add some extra flair to the simulator. You will tackle wasps, follow dance routines, race other critters and escape from a spider’s web to name but a few activities. These can get repetitive and are extremely simplistic but are a good way to break up from the monotony of collecting pollen.

There are side quests scattered throughout the world where you help the various animals around you in their day to day tasks. These were by far the most interesting parts of the games as each side quest was unique. As expected, the abundance of activities will tire you out so you will need to obtain a sugar fix from various cakes and sweets found in the world. This will also give you the ability to boost which is a bonus not to be underestimated.

However, where the game truly excels is in its ability to keep you hunting through the world even beyond the campaign and activities. Each flower becomes a collectible and has its own rarity.  Using your Bee Vision, you can see all the various rarities so don’t worry about missing anything! Animals will also be added to your collection and so the aim transforms into collecting everything the world has to offer. Knowledge points, the in-game currency, will help you speed this process up. This is where I spent most of my time. When you find certain animals or insects, a statue of them will be added to the hive. For someone who is thorough, this is a really fun addition to the game.

Do the characters in the game make me buzz?

Personally, I didn’t find the voice acting to be a problem. The target audience of Bee Simulator seems to be children or even young adults. So, the words used, and the tone of the voice is a combination of soothing and simple. A lot of lines are repeated which can become irritating but ultimately, I enjoyed every fellow bee I interacted with. They all had their own personalities and quirks.

The humans themselves are fairly stiff and sound almost identical to Swedish Chef from The Muppets. You do have the ability to sting the people around you causing them to hilariously run in a random direction but other than that they are lifeless shells.

You might now be thinking: ‘Bernie it’s a bee, what can I possibly do to spice up my character?’ Well, there are customisable outfits for your character from a wizard hat to a whole new shell colour. This gives something to aim for during the end game content.

Good
  • A decent Simulator experience
  • A lengthy and substantial campaign
  • Educational and child friendly
  • Abundance of activities to do
Bad
  • Repetitive
  • Ugly looking sandbox world
  • Controls are difficult to master
5.7
Average

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