Glitches, Bad Controls, And Zero Fun: Bubsy 4D PS5 Review
Bubsy is back, and he’s just as annoying as you remember, flinging himself into a full 3D world that feels like it’s held together with spit and prayer. The vibe is pure cartoon chaos, but the stakes are non-existent when you’re constantly fighting the camera and falling through the actual floor. It’s a loud, pun-filled nightmare that tries to mask its hollow soul with silly animations and a mountain of pointless yarn.
QUICK NAV: [Specs] [Gameplay] [Performance] [Settings]
Bubsy 4D Playstation 5 Review: Specs & HUD
- Developer / Publisher: Fabraz / Atari
- Official Website: Atari Official
- UK Store Link: PlayStation Store
- Genre: 3D Action Platformer
- Release Date: May 22, 2026
- Download Size: 1.83GB
- Trophies: Platinum trophy available (Cross-buy includes PS4 and PS5 versions for two Platinums)
- Interface: Options to hide UI, level timer, game timer, and streamer name
- HUD Elements: Grounding visualizer helps line up jumps.
Gameplay Review & Mechanics Breakdown
The game is a full 3D world with 360-degree camera control, where you can click the right stick to re-centre it instantly, but that’s where the control ends and the frustration begins. Bubsy himself is very animated with silly jumps and sliding animations, which look good for a change, but it completely messes up your jump or gliding estimates. You have double jumps, lunges, and gliding to get around, and you can even turn into a ball to roll with a boost button. However, slamming into the ground triggers a pancake animation that is funny exactly once before becoming a time-consuming sequence that just gets in the way of the action.
Levels are actually very open, acting like a maze where you can go off in any direction, but the design is so unclear that you never know the right route to take. You’re supposed to find upgrade scrolls and blueprints to spend in the hub shop for abilities like fast travel between checkpoints or resting to get health, but the core loop of collecting wool feels totally pointless. There is no reason for doing it other than a tick in a box or unlocking a few skins like the retro pixel Bubsy. You get tutorial pop-ups with videos showing you what to do, but the jokes and humour never land, and the in-game interactions are just silent text-based mutters that lack any real personality.
Bubsy 4D Playstation 5 Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Visuals: Cartoon graphics with a 3D game world; Bubsy is highly animated, but pop-in makes it hard to see ahead.
- Haptics: Uses haptic feedback, controller speakers, and the light bar flashes when picking up wool.
- Glitches: Very common; includes getting stuck in scenery, jump/grabs not counting, and falling through platforms.
- Bugs: A weird glitch turns the first boss fight and subsequent gameplay into a slowed-down, low-gravity state.
- Loading: Using the retro skin can lead to long black screens while waiting for the game to reload.
- Camera: Goes mental during rolling sections on tight half-pipe chutes.
Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Accessibility: Invincibility, game speed slider, and reduced text effects.
- Camera Settings: Field of view slider and Screenshake toggle.
- Handling: Hairball held variant, hairball boost camera, and old-school tank controls.
- General: Lock-on style (none/colour/reticle/both), hitstop toggle, and vibration/adaptive trigger settings.
- Controller: Invert axis, sensitivity/deadzone sliders, and full remapping, including unassigned camera zoom buttons.
- Social: Online leaderboards for each stage with filters and challenge ghosts.
- Checkpoints: Cat litter trays that trigger from random distances (really close or really far).
Related Gert Lush Gaming Reviews
- Review: Bubsy: Paws on Fire (PlayStation 4)
- Review: Bubsy: The Woollies Strike Back (Steam)
- Super Meat Boy 3D PS5 Review: A New Dimension of Pain
Bubsy 4D Review
Summary
GOOD STUFF
The cartoon graphics look decent enough, and Bubsy himself has some silly, high-energy animations that make him feel a lot more alive than in previous games. There is a solid amount of stuff to tweak in the menus, from deep controller remapping and deadzone sliders to accessibility hits like invincibility and a grounding visualizer to help you actually land a jump. Getting both the PS4 and PS5 versions means you can bag two Platinums if you really want to suffer twice, and the inclusion of online leaderboards with ghost challenges adds a bit of competitive edge for the three people who will actually want to replay these levels.
BAD STUFF
The game is a technical car crash where you’ll constantly get stuck in the scenery, fall through platforms, or watch the camera go mental during rolling sections. The levels are a confusing maze with no clear direction, and the enemies feel like they were just randomly dropped into the world without any thought. Collecting wool is a total waste of time since it gives you nothing but rubbish skins, and the platforming is ruined by the very animations that were meant to make it look good. Between the long black loading screens and a low-gravity glitch that breaks the boss fights, it’s a frustrating slog that simply isn’t fun to play.
FINAL VERDICT
Bubsy 4D is a chore to finish and a mess to play, proving that some mascots should have stayed in the 90s. The controls are tight on paper, but the actual experience is sabotaged by glitches, poor level design, and a camera that has a mind of its own. It’s got plenty of mechanics and ideas lifted from better games, but it fails to find any identity of its own amidst the sea of bad jokes and broken platforms. Unless you are a glutton for punishment or a trophy hunter, this is one litter tray you should probably avoid or go in expecting to work for those trophies.
