If this is what being a bug is like, being a bug must be awful.

What I expected from Incredipede was a kinematics-based puzzle game, attempting to construct a weird muscle-bug creature to manipulate objects and climb over obstacles. That expection is ... partially accurate. But I'll get to that in a bit.

Incredipede's campaign is presented in two difficulty options, "Normal" and "Hard." In the Normal mode, there doesn't seem to be any construction element at all -- the game provides your insane creature, and you attempt to maneuver it, as if it isn't in constant, horrifying pain, to a goal at the end of a level. Given that the levels aren't really that complicated, the challenge isn't in solving obstacles so much as it is in solving the creature's wacky movement patterns. This gameplay is pretty much QWOP plus collectibles.

The Hard mode is where the construction elements come into play, but not necessarily. Even in this mode, the majority of the game seems to be about taking what the game gives you and trying not to play it like a tool. Just, uh, more ridiculous. Sometimes, you'll have to build upon a given creature in order to make something better. Allegedly. I didn't actually get far enough in this mode to try that aspect of the game.

I only even got to try the construction mode by ignoring the story levels and going to the game's "Sandbox." But imagine my disappointment when discovering that controlling the construction mode was even more difficult than trying to control the pre-constructed creatures. How do I undo or remove limbs? How do I actually connect muscles? I'm not going to say that this mode is impossible, but - my patience having already worn thin by that point - I simply gave up trying to figure it out.

Incredipede is fairly well done for what it is: the presentation is good, and given that its goal is to be hard to control, it really nails that. But in light of what I wanted-slash-expected, the game is a definite let-down.