I’ve been a fan of Hothead Games for quite a while. From the Ron Gilbert helmed Deathspank to the criminally under-appreciated Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness series, they seem to be one of those groups that know how to make fun niche games. Bunny the Zombie Slayer is their first foray into the iOS market, and is universal for both iPhone and iPad. Do they continue what I believe is an impressive pedigree? For the most part, yes.
I’ve been a fan of Hothead Games for quite a while. From the Ron Gilbert helmed Deathspank to the criminally under-appreciated Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness series, they seem to be one of those groups that know how to make fun niche games. Bunny the Zombie Slayer is their first foray into the iOS market, and is universal for both iPhone and iPad. Do they continue what I believe is an impressive pedigree? For the most part, yes.
Bunny the Vampire Slayer has players flinging eggs from the left side of the screen to knock down zombies on the right side. That setup probably sounds familiar, but don’t think for a second that this is an Angry Birds clone. It isn’t. In Angry Birds you set your shot up in reverse order, i.e. I’m going to pull down and left and the bird will fly up and right since it’s coming out of a sling shot. In Bunny the Zombie Slayer you’ll tap and drag where you want the apex of your throw to be, since you have to throw them over the pile of sandbags in front of you. You’re aiming to get the egg to arch and hit the zombies right in the face.
The other way this game differs so greatly from something like Angry Birds is that you’re shooting at moving targets. The zombies are walking (or crawling) their way towards you at all times. So if your shot just barely missed, don’t expect to try again with a slight adjustment and just re-fire. You’ll need to line up a whole new shot depending on how fast the zombies are moving.
You’re always going to be going for the head shot, because in Bunny the Zombie Slayer that’s the guaranteed kill shot. Everything else will do damage, but will force you to hit a target multiple times to kill it. Where you do hit it matters though. For instance, if you hit it in the legs you’ll knock them off, forcing them to slowly crawl towards you.
The animation and sound are really solid, and it really does look like a cartoon in motion. The eggs all lens bloom out and look like fireworks as they fly, and you’re constantly being bombarded by “head shot” and “Ace!” popups when you take out the zombies. All the over-stimuli made the experience really enjoyable, driving home that arcade game feel.
I think my biggest problem of the game was one of expectation. Maybe it’s too much of me to expect multiple game modes or levels or a much larger variety of enemies from a budget-priced title, but the fact remains at this point many companies are giving us some pretty deep experiences and hitting the same price point. Luckily the lack of variety or options didn’t really hurt the experience at all.
You could say worse things about the game than “I wish there were more of it,” and that means the base game is pretty darn entertaining. But the fact remains I worry about how long the one mode will hold a player’s interest. A week maybe? So while it’s fun, it’s also a quick burn. Let’s hope for some updates to increase the longevity of it.
