When you first start to play Bud Redhead, you immediately get immersed into some classic game play. This side-scroller involves the standard running and jumping that many games of its type sport, and it doesn't deviate too far from its roots.

You play Bud Redhead, and you have to rescue Rachel, a girl that Bud was just about to profess his love to before her kidnapping by the space alien Feyatta. Bud manages to remove some equipment off of Feyatta before he escapes with Rachel, and two other aliens arrive shortly after to explain that Bud has just given Rachel a chance to be saved. Lacking the equipment, Feyatta has little control over his time travel, and so he needs to make use of the stationary portals strewn throughout the planet. Before he could be told more, the two aliens give him anti-gravity boots and send him back in time to chase after Feyatta and save Rachel.

As explained above, the game plays like most side-scrolling platformers, requiring you to jump to floating platforms, climb ladders and vines, and stomp on crates to open them, all while avoiding enemies and traps. There are multiple items such as fruit and gems that can be collected on each level, but the key to winning is to finding the requisite number of gold coins in order to open up the exit portal. Stomping on enemies usually produces extra items. Crates sometimes have bombs which can help take out enemies that cannot be jumped on, but you need to watch out for damage yourself!

Each world and its inhabitants have their own unique look as well as their own sounds. There are forest greens, desert sands, Medieval castles, and the futuristic spaceship that is the site of the final battle. The animation and artwork is colorful and very well done. Great care was taken to add little details to make this one beautiful game, from the lush forests and sounds of water falling to the coldness of the spaceship with the lasers and roaming machines.

In some areas you have to pull levers to open up doors or turn on moving platforms in order to proceed. The game features many secret areas which can be found by walking into what are seemingly solid walls, usually to find extra items, lives, health, and other bonuses. There are also letters that can be picked up that spell "PASSWORD". Collecting all of the letters in a level results in a password that can be used to start a fresh game at the next level.

The password system is pretty unique, since it uses images of the main characters in the game rather than actual words or letters. Writing down the passwords can be a bit awkward, but the game remembers the last password you either received or used. Luckily there is a fan site that is linked from Space Ewe's site that holds a collection of passwords for each of the levels.

The game does not sport too many options, but one that stands out is the ability to play with a gamepad. Being able to play the game in a console-like way on your PC is a great feature. Each world in Bud Redhead has five levels, so there are 20 levels worth of platforming goodness, plus the end boss battle, which plays like a shooter. It is fun in its own right but did not last too long. I think it would be interesting to see a new game made that makes use of both game play styles more evenly, but in Bud Redhead the boss level seemed out of place.

If you enjoy classic platformer action, then Bud Redhead is definitely a game you should give a try.

Graphics: 8
The graphics are hand drawn and are reminiscent of a cartoon. The animation gives the characters and the environments life, and the entire game looks great.

Sound: 7
While the music is not spectacular, each world had its own soundtrack that fit quite appropriately. The sound effects were done well, with enemies and other sounds fading as you get further away from their sources. Some of the effects were exaggerated in keeping with the cartoon feel.

Game Play: 8
The controls are fairly simple, since only the directional keys and a jump key are needed. While some PC platformers don't quite get the controls right, Bud Redhead feels comfortable and intuitive to play.

Value: 8
Even after beating all of the levels in the game, you can still go back and try to get all of the items and secrets. There is a high score list so you can compete against your previous scores. The game can be picked up and played fairly quickly, and save points are strewn throughout the levels, so if you only have a few minutes you can still get some progress completed.

Concept: 7
Bud Redhead is mostly standard fare in terms of platformers, but it is well executed and having it available on the PC is a welcome change for the console-dominated genre.

Fun: 8
It was quite fun to play this game, as it reminded me of games like Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong Country.

Overall: 8
I found this game to be both nostalgic and refreshing. A lot of care has obviously went into its development, as it is polished and well balanced in game play. It is challenging but also accessible, and it should be great fun for all ages.