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It appears that side scrolling beat ‘em ups bear a strong resemblance to buses – you don’t see any for ages, and then two turn up at the same time. Following on from The Karate Kid: Street Rumble, this time around we are casting a beady reviewing eye over Bunny Battle Nemesis from DCF Studios.
The two games couldn’t be more different, apart from the genre that they share and, strangely, it’s the game involving bunnies that is dark and gory. But is it any good?
Normally, there is a token effort made to shoehorn a narrative into this type of game, and that has also proved to be the case in Bunny Battle Nemesis. We have to fight to save our world from the rampaging armies of a vengeful demigod – and her army of mercenaries. So, can our ragtag band of characters stand up against the tide of evil that is about to lap around our ankles? Well, that is entirely up to you and your lightning fast fingers.
Presentation of the game is a more interesting proposition, as there is definitely some of that going on. First off, the design of the characters we have to choose from is pretty wacky, ranging from an athletic woman with a stick, through a cute but psycho looking bunny, to a massive tank style rabbit general. The enemies are a bit more uniform, being some kind of variation on “blokes in a suit of armour”; some big, some small, but quite a lot of the time, absolutely identical. A nice touch is that as new enemies are introduced a small cutscene pops up, creating a bit of tension as you attempt to size up the way they are going to fight.
Further to that, the levels are a decent size, scrolling from left to right, as is traditional in these games, the stages then split into various encounters. These range from just a load of enemies piling in, to parts where you have to smash as many bunny totems as possible, through to the inevitable boss fight at the end of each stage. The bosses are a varied bunch as well, and take quite a beating before they go down.
There’s quite a lot of audio going on too, mostly in the form of fighting sound effects, as you’d imagine. The music is barely noticeable, but the thumps and thwacks are right there in your face – and the game is all the better for this. All in all, the presentation works pretty well, but there is one drawback; Bunny Battle Nemesis makes judging depth quite tricky, so quite often you’ll be wandering around into and out of the screen, trying to find the particular plane the enemies are in. Thankfully, this does get easier with practice.
Jump into the gameplay and, at first, Bunny Battle Nemesis is the usual kind of fare that you expect – wander from left to right, give some enemies a slap, and then rinse and repeat. And that does start to feel a bit samey after a while, although the different stages do help to break the action up a bit. One thing to mention straight off is the multiplayer elements and should you be able to gather three like-minded mates, sat around with a controller each, maybe with a tiny bit of social lubricant thrown in, and the fun is multiplied.
Each character has a different set of attacks too, based around the same set of buttons. However there are some cool RPG-lite elements built into the combat as well. As you finish each stage, you are awarded with the in-game currency, which I would swear are blood drips. Before you begin the next stage, you can use this currency to power up some of the attacks – whether that be the basic combo attack (that I found myself using 9 times out 10), the heavy attack, or even each character’s special attack. Keeping the power of your attacks rising as the levels get higher keeps you in the fight, as otherwise you’ll get left behind in the arms race.
So, in conclusion then, Bunny Battle Nemesis is a pretty accomplished side scrolling beat ‘em up. If you have mates to play with, this is an easy sell, as absolute carnage takes place. However, it’s decent as a solo player too, as the game mixes things up enough to keep you guessing. With very different characters to play as, and learn, this is one that is capable of keeping you busy.
Bound into Battle with Bunny Battle Nemesis on Xbox – https://www.thexboxhub.com/bound-into-battle-with-bunny-battle-nemesis-on-xbox/
Bunny Battle Nemesis is on the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/bunny-battle-nemesis/9N4K9MDZJ26F