Kung Fu Rabbit Review

Kung Fu Rabbit Review

I’m back with another quirky little platformer review … except this one isn’t so little. With 60 levels, and 20 unlockable bonus levels, Kung Fu Rabbit is actually pretty freaking huge. But does size really matter?

Yes, it does.

Kung Fu Rabbit is available on WiiU, PSVita, Playstation 3 and 3DS. Although I have the PS3 version, I can’t help but feel that the WiiU or 3DS would be a preferable platform to play it on. It just has that handheld console feel to it.

I say it on every platformer review, and I’ll say it again – there is a metric hell-tonne of platformer games out there, so making one that doesn’t suck is getting harder and harder. Kung Fu Rabbit doesn’t suck. There are plenty of levels, none of which are too hard or too long, to keep you playing through. Kung Fu Rabbit doesn’t pass by in a rapid breeze like other smaller platformers, and it gives you enough to sink your rabbitty teeth into.

So, the protagonist of this little adventure is a kung fu master who just happens to be an adorable rabbit. He teaches his tiny bunny students the art of Kung Fu combat. But alas, evil black blobby aliens kidnap his students and hold them hostage in purple evil capsules. Kung Fu Rabbit is on a mission to get his students back. Think Liam Neeson and Taken, if Liam Neeson was an adorable fluffy bunny rabbit. This guy has a very special set of skills … and he loves carrots.

With a genre based entirely on jumping around, the physics are pretty important. You’re looking for a platformer with enough range on your jump, plenty of ways to interact with the environment and a decent attack move. Kung Fu Rabbit ticks the boxes. What is particularly awesome is how much wall jumping you have to do. Because nothing makes you feel badass like wall jumps, am I right? Your little ninja rabbit leaps around with a huge toothy grin, clutching walls, karate chopping inky black enemy blobs in the face and collecting carrots.

Which brings me to perhaps the only negative I can find in the game – I’ve found myself more and more frequently referring to platformer bad guys as ‘inky black blobs’. I mean, the aliens are referred to as The Universal Evil, which made me crack a smile. We’re literally talking about an uncharacterised evil. But that seems a little like a cop-out these days. While the contrast between the black enemies and the colourful, pastel backgrounds is nice, the enemies lack personality. They’re a little too generic, and pop up all over the place in platformers. The scenery of the game becomes repetitive after a while, too. With this number of levels to get through, originality is clearly difficult to come by. But a little more variety would have been nice.

There is, however, more than inkly black blob aliens in your way. Spiky walls to navigate, disappearing platoforms and pools of black death to leap over block your path, and you’ll find yourself having to pause now and then before you work out what you’re going to do. There isn’t a time limit on the normal levels, so plotting your next move can be taken at your own pace, and you have the time to really explore and investigate the level. The levels are just challenging enough to give you pause for thought, without making you want to storm out of the room and slam the door. All in all, a good balance to make for an engaging and enjoyable game. I never found that I didn’t know where I was meant to be going next.

Let’s talk about carrots. Kung Fu Rabbit loves carrots, and you’re tasked to collect them as well as your bunny hostages along the way. Carrots behave as a currency, with which you can purchase upgrades and new bits and bobs which will be useful for you as you progress – or costumes for your rabbit, which are less than useful, but so much fun. There are three bog-standard carrots, and there’s also a bigger gold carrot, one in each level, placed in an awkward position on the map for you to collect. This is a device frequently used for completitionists out there. You can get on fine without the big carrot, and would perhaps rather not risk dying and restarting the level, utterly carrotless … but you’re sure you might just manage it.

Summary

Kung Fu Rabbit might not look like it’s anything special at first glance, but give it a chance – it’s quirky, charming and a whole lot of fun! With smooth mechanics, a bright and cheerful art style, and a shed-load of content, you can squeeze a good few hours in the basic levels alone. On completion, you get hardcore levels, so there’s plenty of repeatability here. This game is maybe slightly repetitive, with limited scenery and soundtrack, but it’s forgiveable. I recommend this one as a not-too-challenging-and-yet-not-too-boring pick me up.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.