PixlBit

Blog a Day is back and here's the first game of my planned series of first impressions for this February.

Just for context, Bunny Must Die! Chelsea and the 7 Devils is a japanese Metroidvania indie (I believe it's part of Doujin gaming scene over there) originally released in 2006 and then years later localized and released with slight updated graphics on 2012, first on DESURA and then to Steam thanks to Greenlight.

The plot so far concerns a Bunnygirl named, well, Bunny, who after being near a cattomic plant station explosion, got cursed with cat ears (I am not making this up). Then an old prophet appears and guides her through the Cave of the Devils to get rid of the curse, only for a random steer appearing and killing the prophet. Now without a guide, Bunny must venture into the cave to find a way to get rid of the ears. Yup, that's the weird intro to the game. I also should note that the Chelsea in the title is another character I have not run into yet.

So what can I say about Bunny Must Die!? I first I should say I had a rocky start, since it turns out you can't go right until you pick an item at the start of the game, thus taking Metroidvania to a whole new level and confusing me in the process. I also had a problem with the normal 360 pad configuration as it commited the sin of having B as Jump and A as Attack, thus when I reversed the settings, B was accept and A was back/cancel. I also started not feeling very ready and got maulled like a ragdoll by the first boss. But then at my second attempt at the game, I was feeling more ready and not only I had better grasp of the controls, but managed to beat the first boss in only two tries and then the game got a bit better once I got the dashing ability on the next room, making the game fast-paced fun.

You start the game with a set of knives that you can shoot in any direction when stand still, but there's other weapons like a long sword or a ball-and-chain hidden in chadeliers that change your attack style (thankfully, the weapons remain in the chandeliers of you want to change) and all the weapons have an aerial attack. The game is also characterised by the use of time mechanics that help with the bosses and hazards in the scenery (so far, i've got the abilities to stop time and reversing). There's also set of physical abilities, like the mentioned dashing, backstepping, aerial kicks and other assorted, though a bit frustrating that some of them neither appear on the control guide nor the tutorial signs scattered around. Music is also quite great and the artstyle does give the game an unique look.

So despite the bad start, I gave the game a second chance and now i'm finding it enjoyable. The game definitely opens more when you start advancing, the combat is lots of fun, it's challenging but not too rough so far and well, the game has a sort of unique charisma on its weird premise and some of the quirks like Bunny having a japanese voice but also doing lots of engrish. You can even have an own screenshot buttom and Bunny will smile at the screen:

To finish, I should add that I had the game since the Steam Holiday Sale from all the way back in 2013, but when I tried to play it at the beginning of 2014, I ran into a problem where the music and the menu cursor would work, but the screen would be all black. I was baffled by it and then asked around the Steam forums where I was told that I should change the compatibility to Windows 7. I did and now the screen appears. Thought I let you know if you have Windows 8 or 8.1.

On other news:

-Out of boredom and slight interest, yesterday I watched the Super Bowl at a friends house. I was pretty much paying more attention to my Iphone than the game on some ocations, but I did thought that game was pretty damn close. I was bit for Seattle, but I didn't care who won in the end, so congrats to the Patriots, the team of Tami. This won't mean i'll give up with the other football though...

- Speaking of the Super Bowl, that shark on Katy Perry's choreographers was the real star of the night.

- Tomorrow i'm going goaty for BaD....