Cartoon Crime mit zwei Kameraperspektiven
Think classic GTA with a colourful cartoon twist! Independent developer BuBa Games continues expanding its open-world crime sandbox with new locations, dangerous wildlife, fresh missions and plenty more opportunities to cause absolute mayhem.
Some games give you a mission marker and expect you to behave yourself. Others hand you the keys to an entire city and leave you to make your own terrible decisions. Cartoon Crime, developed and published by the small independent team at BuBa Games, falls firmly into the second category, bringing back the freedom and chaotic charm of classic open-world crime games with a colourful, cartoon-inspired aesthetic.
Available in Early Access on Steam since 26 August 2026, Cartoon Crime takes inspiration from the old-school Grand Theft Auto formula, offering everything from police pursuits and street fights to recruitable bodyguards, vehicle mayhem and a variety of activities scattered throughout its expanding world. However, one of its most interesting features is the ability to switch instantly between traditional third-person gameplay and the classic top-down perspective that helped put the original GTA games on the map.
With Update 8 arriving on 14 October 2026, the developers have taken things even further, introducing an entirely new Wild West-inspired continent, additional vehicles, dangerous wildlife and several improvements to the overall experience. For a project developed by such a small team, there’s certainly no shortage of ambition here.
Old-School GTA Meets Modern-Day Chaos!
One of Cartoon Crime’s biggest selling points is its approach to player freedom. Rather than forcing everyone to follow a strict path, the game encourages exploration, experimentation and, naturally, making the occasional questionable decision that results in half the police department chasing you through the streets.
Players can work through story missions, earn money, purchase weapons, improve their character’s abilities and build a small crew of bodyguards to accompany them on their adventures. Alternatively, you can ignore your responsibilities altogether and spend your afternoon driving around the city, picking fights with strangers or seeing just how much trouble you can cause before the authorities intervene.
The ability to switch between third-person and top-down perspectives adds another layer to the experience. While third-person gameplay brings players closer to the action, the overhead camera captures that nostalgic arcade-style feeling associated with the earlier Grand Theft Auto games. Better still, switching between the two happens instantly, meaning you’re free to enjoy whichever perspective suits the situation without interrupting your adventure.
The wanted system also follows a familiar formula, with police becoming increasingly aggressive depending on your actions. Cause a little trouble and you might escape without too much difficulty, but continue pushing your luck and things can quickly spiral into a full-blown pursuit. Add weapons, helicopters, tanks and a few unfortunate explosions into the equation, and your peaceful afternoon suddenly becomes a rather expensive day for the local authorities.
There's More to Life Than Crime. .. Apparently!
Of course, even the most dedicated criminal mastermind needs the occasional break, and Cartoon Crime offers plenty of opportunities to step away from the chaos. Rather than filling its world with buildings that exist purely for decoration, BuBa Games has included numerous interiors and activities designed to make exploration feel worthwhile.
Players can visit shops, purchase weapons, grab something to eat at fast-food restaurants, work out at gyms or head to the cinema. If you’re feeling competitive, there are also bowling alleys, billiards tables and arcade machines waiting to distract you from whatever important criminal business you were supposed to be handling.
Combat goes beyond simply pointing a gun and pulling the trigger, with punches, kicks, melee weapons and kickboxing challenges providing additional ways to settle your differences. Taking part in activities and fighting opponents also contributes to character progression, allowing players to improve their abilities as they spend more time exploring the world.
Another interesting addition is the ability to recruit bodyguards who follow you around and help deal with hostile encounters. Whether you’re facing rival gangs, angry civilians or an increasingly determined police force, having a few heavily armed friends nearby could make all the difference. Just remember, bringing your mates to a gunfight is one thing, but convincing them to join you in a five-star police chase is another matter entirely.
Welcome to the Wild West – Update 8 Arrives!
Released on 14 October 2026, Update 8: Welcome to the Wild West introduces a brand-new desert continent situated in the northeastern part of the game’s world. This sizeable expansion takes players away from the familiar city streets and into an environment filled with rugged landscapes, new landmarks and additional opportunities for exploration.
Among the new locations is Redstone Canyon, a desert region that embraces the atmosphere of the American Wild West. Players can also investigate a nuclear power plant, explore volcanic islands located offshore and visit Dustwing Airfield, the game’s second airfield.
Dustwing offers access to a propeller aircraft, giving players another way to explore the landscape from above. The update also increases the aircraft’s maximum flying height, allowing it to travel twice as high as before. Whether you’re taking a scenic flight over the desert or attempting to escape the consequences of your latest crime spree, having access to another aircraft certainly opens up some entertaining possibilities.
The expansion also introduces new rally cars, armoured vehicles and fully drivable desert tanks. Because when you’ve already caused enough trouble with ordinary cars and motorcycles, the next logical step is apparently to drive a tank through the desert. What could possibly go wrong?
Dangerous Wildlife, Fresh Missions and Tougher Police!
The new desert region isn’t simply another place to explore, either. Update 8 introduces Mission 22: Beneath the Sand, which becomes available after completing the previous story mission. This latest adventure tasks players with hunting dangerous creatures, including tunnel spiders and desert scorpions, bringing an unexpected wildlife threat into an already unpredictable criminal sandbox.
The developers have also made these encounters more challenging, increasing the speed and strength of spiders while improving the behaviour of recruited bodyguards. Your companions can now help defend against attacking wildlife, which sounds particularly useful when an enormous spider decides you’re the next item on the menu.
Meanwhile, local law enforcement has apparently decided that enough is enough. Police officers have become more aggressive, spotting suspicious activity faster and stepping out of their patrol vehicles more frequently to engage players. That should make escaping a wanted level considerably more interesting, especially for anyone who enjoys testing just how far they can push the game’s systems.
Weapon handling has received attention as well, with improvements to mounted machine-gun recoil and a more powerful revolver featuring updated sound effects. It’s a welcome collection of changes designed to make encounters feel more responsive while adding further variety to the action.
A Small Team With Some Big Ambitions!
Beyond the headline additions, BuBa Games has spent time addressing several technical issues, particularly those affecting police pursuits and cooperative gameplay. Vehicle chases have received performance optimisations intended to reduce stuttering, while co-op improvements target police behaviour, wildlife interactions and damage synchronisation between players.
Additional fixes address vehicle entry problems, misplaced environmental objects and collision issues that could leave characters stuck in the scenery. These might not sound particularly exciting compared with driving a tank across the desert, but they’re important improvements for a game that’s still finding its feet in Early Access.
What’s particularly interesting about Cartoon Crime is the scale of the project compared with the size of its development team. BuBa Games consists of just two developers, with the studio building its own engine using C++ and OpenGL. Creating an open-world sandbox with multiple gameplay systems, enterable buildings, character progression and an expanding map is an ambitious undertaking, especially without the resources of a major publisher.
The developers have made it clear that Cartoon Crime remains a work in progress, with further missions, locations, vehicles, activities and improvements planned throughout its Early Access development. Player feedback is also expected to play an important role in shaping the game’s future, helping the team identify which features need further refinement.
There’s still plenty of work ahead, but the continued arrival of substantial updates suggests BuBa Games is committed to expanding and improving its colourful criminal playground.