Butterfly review

Butterfly tells the story of a nameless caterpillar whose only purpose to make his way to a blossoming meadow in order to become a butterfly. Unfortunately, his path to the promised land is filled with dangerous obstacles and enemies and our furry little insect cannot jump; meaning he can only walk and turn his weakness into his strength in order to overcome everything on his path.

Butterfly is a 2D (walking) platformer. As indicated, the caterpillar can also walk. Each level is a puzzle in itself and players will need to rack their brains in order to figure out how to proceed to the next level. While early levels are pretty simple and straightforward, later levels become more difficult, by adding moving enemies, water hazards, and seemingly unreachable areas.

So you have to ask yourself, how can you overcome each level with progressively increasing difficulty? Well, you’ll have pipes à la Super Mario Bros that will help you either reach a new spot on the level or allow you to get yourself out of a seemingly dead end. And while the caterpillar cannot jump, he can bounce on enemies; just make sure to properly land *on* the enemy, otherwise, it’s instant death. Falling onto lower platforms and then landing on enemies will allow you to bounce around high enough to reach certain areas.

So getting around is simple enough, so what do you need to do to clear each level? In order to progress through the game, each level has a set amount of flowers to collect; which adds a layer of challenge. You can’t simply go from point A to point B and expect to progress. Later levels will have flowers in what looks like impossible to reach areas or on moving platforms to make things a bit harder. While some levels are pretty easy and simple to solve, others will legit have you stare at the screen for a few minutes trying to figure out your path.

The game’s biggest nuisance is the fact that you’re forced to use the joystick to move the protagonist; while it doesn’t sound so bad on paper, it becomes a pain in the ass sometimes; especially when near pipes because if the joystick is a milliinch pointing towards the pipe, you’ll be sucked in thus wasting time going back and forth. Not a huge deal-breaker, just annoying as hell.

Butterfly features an 8-bit visual that looks great; each level is uniquely designed and provides a unique challenge. The game is also very bright and colorful; it can almost be like a ray of sunshine piercing through cloudy skies. Soundtrack-wise, there’s not much to report. A pretty simple and cutesy score will accompany you while you rack your brain. It’ll easily be drowned out by your own theories on how to proceed to the next level.

Butterfly is a surprisingly fun and challenging game. It’s the type of game you can play in short bursts or during “longer” sessions; also perfect after a long day for relaxing or wanting to give your brain a quick exercise session. Sure, it’s not perfect. Joystick-only control can be annoying and lack the same precision given by a d-pad and some levels will frustrate you, but overall, it’s a little gem that can be enjoyed during gaming droughts and its simple premise ensures that you don’t need to worry if you don’t play for long periods of time.