Reviewed: February 9, 2008
Reviewed by: David Shattuck
Publisher
Sierra Online
Developer
Artech Studios
Released: January 16, 2008
Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1-2
6
6
7
4
6.2
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
For centuries, nay millenniums, professors of higher learning have been delivering impossibly boring academic lectures to unfortunate pupils. The professors want to get paid, and the students want that all-too-important piece of paper, so this dreary instructional encounter is a necessary evil. Fortunately, less than two decades ago, there was an industry-altering breakthrough in the educational institutions. Thanks to the miracle of technology, and under the guise of taking notes, students suddenly had in-class access to a personal computer. Subsequently, there was a demand for mind-numbing, colorful, endless computer games. Thusly, the puzzle genre was born.
Boogie Bunnies is one of the most recent additions to the puzzle family. It was developed by Artech Digital Entertainment, a Canadian game designer that has been “in the business of making serious fun” since 1982. Boogie Bunnies is their first venture into the realm of 7th generation consoles. The game, like so many of my other recent reviews, was published by Sierra Online.
The storyline here is that these bunnies have big dreams of becoming a dancing sensation. Their style of dance is fairly unique; they stand in straight lines and march relentlessly towards a cliff and certain doom. The player can save them from this fate by shooting bunnies into the crowd in such a way as to get three bunnies of the same color matched up. Of course, everybody knows that when three or more bunnies of the same color are standing next to each other, they explode and any nearby bunnies shout for joy and dance with glee. Blow up enough bunnies, and those that remain will break into an all-out dance rave. The player can score bonus points for matches made during one of these “parties.”
The game features three different modes: Arcade, Classic, and Endless. The only differences between these three modes are their titles and the timer. Whether the player is racing against time or not, the game itself remains unchanged.
The controls are simple and straight-forward. Left/Right aims your bunny, “A” launches it, and that's all there is to it. Aiming can be a little tricky. The only indicator you have as to where your bunny is going is that the first bunny of that column stands up a little straighter. This combined with the not-quite-accurate-enough controls will likely result in shooting your bunny down the wrong column a few times.
On the other hand, Boogie Bunnies introduces a fairly unique and, I daresay, innovative twist to this particular family of games. Not only can you launch bunnies from anywhere along the bottom of the screen, you can also run up the sides and shoot bunnies into the fray from the left or right. This opens up a few more options and works a tiny mote of strategy into the game. Please note that I said “tiny mote.” Don't get the wrong idea.
The game is bright and cheerful, the bunnies have big, black, orb-like eyes, confetti and combo announcements explode brilliantly out of recently matched critters, and the environments are colorful. However, when you get right down to it, there is nothing here that is particularly impressive. The playing field is just a 10x12, perfectly flat game-board with dozens of bunnies who, with the exception of a few costume changes, look, act, and move exactly the same.
There is no interaction with the environment and it has no bearing on the game. It is just scenery. The graphics get the job done and the game runs smoothly, but there is nothing that warrants a double-take.
The bunnies chatter quite a bit while you are detonating their companions. None of it is intelligible, but you can get the idea what they're thinking. They will cheer in their squeaky voices when you land a sweet combo, squeal with joy as you shoot them across the board, and whimper nervously as they start getting too close to the perilous edge of the board. Even when nothing particularly interesting is happening, they will still continue to chirp merrily back and forth.
The background music is an appropriate, light-hearted little melody that is occasionally interrupted by the techno-beats of the dance parties. In total there are about 3-5 extremely short tunes that get replayed constantly. The music was the first thing to start grinding away at my enthusiasm for the game.
None of the three game modes are particularly challenging. The Arcade and Classic game modes can be completed in about 30-60 minutes each. On the bright side, they have a defined ending; once you finish the final level, you're done. Boredom will be your biggest obstacle while playing the Endless mode. There is no sense of progression except for a score in the top left-hand corner. Nothing seems to change from the moment you start the game to the moment you put the controller down to go find something more engaging to do. Even a student locked in a day-long session about cultural anthropology would probably not play Boogie Bunnies for more than an hour or two.
The co-op mode is identical to the single-player modes but it has a severe flaw. Player 1's bunny launcher cannot pass through Player 2's bunny launcher. That may not sound like a big deal, but the end result is that the two players just get in each other's way. Cooperation is supposed to incorporate teamwork to get a job done faster and more easily. In this case, it is much easier to get the job done if you fly solo and can move freely.
Boogie Bunnies is an easy, cheerful way to burn through about half-an-hour of life. Any player pushing much deeper into the game than that is probably just looking for XBL achievement points. Ultimately, there are many $10 purchases in life that will generate more happiness for you than Boogie Bunnies. However, if you have too much money and too much free time, this is the game for you.