Essentially, the goal in Butterfly is to travel in predetermined paths in order to bring life to flowers. It's like pollination only physically impossible. At the beginning of the game, levels are simple to the point of feeling insulted by the developer. Sure there are enemies to avoid, which consist of carnivorous plants, carp, bumblebees and frogs; but true difficulty is left out for 90% of the game. I emphasize this percentage, as come the final stage of the game all rules and regulations previously used throughout Butterfly are disregarded.
Butterfly only gets annoying when scrolling levels are introduced. For at least half of the game, entire levels are visible on the screen immediately. Further on, stages get larger and the camera has to move to accommodate this. But when you control your character by sliding your finger across the screen, it can be easy to see why there's a problem. Or rather, the problem is unseen. The very medium required to play Butterfly is the biggest hindrance. You can't see where you need to go, what you need to do or enemies you must avoid. The final portion of my playthrough consisted of flying through levels at rapid speed with a clear disregard for whatever enemies were in my way.
The funny thing about this supposed difficulty is the scoring system. You are graded on your performance, but in the weirdest of ways. Getting hit by enemies does not effect this score; it's all time-based. But when purposely trying to receive a low score, I could only muster a 2/3 grade. What you actually have to do in order to receive the pitiful 1/3 grade is beyond me. So while enemies do make your life harder, and slow you down for a couple seconds- there is really no reason to worry about them. For many stages I simply moved my finger across the screen like a madman, hoping to cover all distance and flowers.
Butterfly's saving grace is that the low level of difficulty will adhere to one of the phone's biggest markets: Achievement hunters. Anyone who loves Microsoft's GamerScore system will no doubt pick this up, blaze through it and move on. It only takes an hour and a half at most, and even the biggest simpleton could complete this with extreme ease. For anyone else, Butterfly is a complete waste of time and three dollars.
|
Graphics |
5.0 |
Simple graphics with no innovation in sight. |
|
Audio |
4.0 |
The audio was annoying, however sound was needed in order to know when you can progress. |
|
Single Player |
3.5 |
A pitifully boring experience. How can anyone charge money for this? |
|
Multiplayer |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Replay |
3.0 |
Even the Achievements are pretty much done by the time you finish a standard playthrough. |
|
Overall |
3.5 |
Don't bother with Butterfly. |
