Talking a little inside baseball, while I may not be a game developer, I am a programmer by trade, so there’s a certain kinship I feel for indie developers trying to make a buck and grab eyeballs in this space. It’s part of why I’m passionate about indie games, though my other major interest is in helping to provide people with insight to help them make purchases that are right for them and their budget. Anyway, given my professional background, when you begin seeing games with the same basic visual style, controls, level design, and style of play, it’s a double-edged sword.

I’m by no means here to say Beaked Buccaneer is a bad game. In fact, for the price it’s at least a reasonably-good romp. My problem with it though is that aside from being re-skinned, rethemed, and maybe a few small details being different, it’s essentially the same game as both Caveman Ransom and Prehistoric Gal. I appreciate the concept of building a base engine and then leveraging that code multiple times in multiple ways to extract as much value as possible from your work. It’s smart programming. The thing is, from the perspective of players and in a crowded eShop, it makes for a case of diminishing returns.

Now, the good news is if you’re looking for a decent budget platformer that has a mix of some exploration, a reasonably-sized map, and decent mechanics, any one of these three will do. I think some very mild improvements have been made since Caveman Ransom, but aside from that the games are functionally identical so you can take your pick, probably wanting to opt for whichever is the cheapest. If you already have one of these titles, enjoyed it, and wouldn’t mind simply having more of that, again the other two will deliver again and that’s fine. If, however, you’re looking for something a little better and more refined, there are loads of options out there in the eShop that can be picked up at budget prices that are simply a step above this trio of re-skins on the same basic engine.