Imagine your cute spider boyfriend gets kidnapped by a good-for-nothing bowerbird. You’ll have to polish off your web-spinning skills if you want to get him back safe and sound. So get weaving, ya webhead!
Following a PC version in September of last year, Brisbane-based studio Sbug Games’ debut release Webbed crawls its way onto the Switch. The game is a puzzle-platformer with tight, physics-based gameplay that’ll have you shooting webs and freely swinging about the Australian bush with ease in no time.
The physics-based gameplay in Webbed is brilliant fun. You’re able to shoot a web to swing from or pull objects with, as well as shoot webs that can be attached to two surfaces. Between these two abilities and the physics engine, you can really have a good time. You can also connect webs to each other with what seems like no limit, so you can web up the whole screen if you like – terrain permitting. And there are puzzles beyond your typical platforming that take advantage of the physics engine.
One section has you building a bridge out of webs and wood for an injured dung beetle, and another has you dragging heavy mechanical parts around the narrow tunnels of an ant colony, both of which were particularly challenging and required some carefully placed webbing. On top of the story missions there are even some collectible items (edible bugs) and wearable hats!
The game can unfortunately become quite laggy, occurring most often in the main hub area. I wasn’t sure if this was because I’d placed down too many webs or if the area was too big for the engine to handle, or perhaps both. This can be quite annoying as it’s the location you’ll be zipping around the most, but the area isn’t home to any big puzzles or tricky platforming so it shouldn’t hamper your experience so much. Webbed could also stand to be a bit longer; I wasn’t unhappy with the length, but the credits rolled a little sooner than I would’ve liked.
As the first release by Sbug Games, Webbed is a brilliant romp that’ll make you proud of the Australian video game scene. The sets and characters have a lot of charm and swinging around the bush and launching Buddy the spider feels great. Webbed should definitely be on the radar of Aussies and non-Aussies alike!
Rating: 4/5
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