A lost video game gem from 1983, Bumpy Grumpy has been lovingly restored into a frantic driving strategy game in 2024. It is the antithesis of bloated modern gaming. It takes us back to pure gameplay, split-second decision making and risk vs reward arcade action. It is easily one of my favourite releases of 2024.
Bumpy Grumpy sees you playing as Frantic Frank who is late for work. You’ll be driving to work as quickly as possible, dodging traffic, bashing them out of the way, jumping traffic lights and picking up your paperwork as you go. This takes place across 12 themed stages but the premise never changes – drive fast, don’t crash. You’ll control your speed and brakes as well as when you move up and down the lanes of traffic and that’s crucial because you score points by driving alongside cars in the next lane. You’ll also reach intersections often and depending on the traffic lights you might want to slow down or stop to avoid the traffic or close your eyes and hope you make it before the red light hits.
There is nothing new here but it is so well put together. The game oozes 80’s British cheeky humour and if you make it through all 12 stages but don’t collect your paperwork on the way littered over the roads, you’ll get the sack. This is one of three endings the game has depending on how well you do. Other enemies have a cheeky charm to them too such as the devils that try to ram you from behind if you slow down too much or the various food and animal themed traffic that cause you trouble. Cops move lanes at pace. Skaters stake the wrong way. Powerups like a mace can be used to whack traffic for points. Speed boosts can blast you out of trouble and collecting the letters to spell BUMPY gives you a few seconds of invincibility. Again, nothing new but it works so seamlessly well when it’s put together. The controls are responsive too.
A local leaderboard saves your best scores and global leaderboards put you up against the world’s best too. Bumpy Grumpy is a short game but crammed full of replayabilty. It would work well as a pass-and-play score attack game for game nights too. With its 1983 charms, it may be overlooked by some new gamers for being too retro feeling. Happily Bumpy Grumpy plays like a responsive game in 2024 with all the pure gameplay a game from 1983 had to offer to exist. For me, that’s the best of both worlds and it’s why I’ve loved every second of my playtime.
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