Yes, that really is the full title
Epic Dumpster Bear 1.5 DX: Dumpster Fire Rebirth is an incredibly silly name, and this is an incredibly silly game.Â
A 2D platformer that revels in how low rent it is – all the character models look awful, and the animation is shonky beyond belief – it’s a massive relief that this is actually far more playable than it appears. Not that that would be even remotely difficult.
You play as the titular Dumpster Bear, who has gained great powers because of an unfortunate incident involving a dumpster and toxic waste. The plot, told via frequent cutscenes, is as basic as it gets. But the script is hilarious and bizarre, and I always enjoyed what intentionally melodramatic line or plot point was going to be thrown at me next.
The platforming itself is basic, with your main moves being a dash, double jump and a wall jump. This is part of the appeal though, because the movement is the big draw.
Leaping around these stages is hugely satisfying, with Dumpster Bear being a nimble fellow.Â
Bear-ly holding itself together
The actual level design itself is fairly straightforward, with a range of bizarre enemies thrown your way and the emphasis is on fast movement past them all.
There’s some variety thrown in via boss battles and power-up focused stages, including ones where you get the ability to throw an infinite amount of bombs. Getting a brown bear to chuck a stream of bombs at an army of marching cows is not something I will ever forget.Â
There’s a certain appeal to this game that is very hard to explain when you look at screenshots or watch footage of it. It controls well and there’s just enough variety to keep you playing, if only to see what bizarre character model you’ll encounter next.
However we found Epic Dumpster Bear 1.5 DX: Dumpster Fire Rebirth’s uneven presentation often bled into the gameplay a little too often.Â
We found a bug in the very first level that crashed the game for example, and sometimes the shonkiness can make seeing where to go and what to do difficult. Especially in the bonus 3D sections, which often veer a little close to being unfair and frustrating.
This is a budget title, but one with more charm than most games in this price bracket. So this is a hard title to score. For fans of ironic low budget kitsch this could be a four star game – for those unable to look beyond the visuals this could be a one star experience.
Ultimately though, if you’re looking for a new 2D platformer to play and don’t mind a few rough edges you could certainly do worse.
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