Beetle Ju Review

Somewhere in the dungeons of Alawar labs, an evil computer scientist mated Dig-dug and Pac-man consoles with an ancient Castlevania cartridge. The Frankenstein's monster result is Beetle Ju; and, like Dr. Frankenstein's monster trying to run the 40-yard dash in flip-flops, the game falls relatively flat relatively quickly.

The Dig-dug element comes into play with the "drop the boulder on the head of the bad guy if you can" gameplay combined with the ability to use a weapon to also destroy one's enemies. The game is NOT Dig-dug revisited, however. Read on.

I had flashbacks of feeding quarters into the tabletop Pac-man at the local pizza joint when I heard the music from Beetle Ju. Very 80's. Enjoyable if you like that kind of thing. The idea of "eating" the dirt portions maze as one travels from point to point is also a bit reminiscent of the old yellow dude.

The game involves moving Beetle Ju (where in the world did Alawar come up with that name, anyway?) via the keyboard around the maze, eating earth and destroying enemies (aliens, monsters, etc.). Your beetle friend can collect treasures and various power-ups to defeat these enemies.

Beetle Ju was easy to install and easy to play. Alawar has several packs available (each at a price, of course) such as a "Hard Pack" and a "Monster Pack", however, the game is quite repetitious in the end. While the environment and enemies change, the basic premise stays the same. It's very old-school in that way, but the depth of storyline isn't at all intriguing.

Graphics are outdated, but fun to look at for a few minutes. You shouldn't expect anything mind blowing or revolutionary as the game is a bit dated (2003). Gameplay is simple with only six keys required to function. The learning curve is low - it's easy to get the hang of the operation in a few minutes, even for kids. Mindnumbingly low, really. Press, press, press, press, press, press. Blah. Once the cutesy music and graphics (a pot-bellied beetle, for example) wear off, the game loses most (all) of its fun. I assume the additions of the gamepacks are meant to combat this, but the general operation of the game stays the same no matter the pack.

I'd recommend looking elsewhere for your gaming entertainment. There are far too many free games online and via free and shareware available that are better. There are also a lot of $15 games that are much better if you have $15 burning a hole in your pocket.