Yes, there's a strong sense of 8 and 16-bit homage here, to the point of being a subtle rip-off of the first-party titles that populated your childhood, but in the end, it's all quite forgivable.
Super Mario Bunny
That's what the game might as well have been called, at least in terms of appearance.
Super Bunny World is found somewhere between the graphical styles of Super Mario Bros. and Sonic The Hedgehog, with a stronger lean toward Mario given the bunny's slight inertia when running back and forth.
While it might look like someone's ripped the graphics from the Nintendo classic, the gameplay has a twist that brings it right up to date.
Your objective is still to collect coins, which are either extracted from blocks or picked up while traversing the levels. Simple and classic, in that respect. The difference is the way the game applies pressure.
There are cute enemies to jump on, but the major difference is that the screen scrolls automatically, and continuously.
Should it catch up with your eponymous bunny, it simply shoves you along with it. Hit a wall, get pushed off an edge, or become trapped in any other way, and it's game over.
One life to live
IAPs explainedAlthough there aren't actually any IAPs, the game is fully ad supported so you can expect to see the occasional full-screen interruption between rounds. They're not too frequent, however, and feel like a fair swap for a good game. |
One life lost, and it’s right back to the beginning, but you can keep going and keep collecting coins for as long as that single life lasts.
Keeping the game fresh with every (regular) restart are procedurally generated levels, which really save the day in Super Bunny World.
If you were riding the same platforms each time it'd soon outstay its welcome, but when every go is unique the game really comes to life.
Indeed, it's unusual to see an infinite runner that demands you achieve other goals besides running as quickly as possible in one direction.
Darting back and forth to grab up the coins, jumping on an enemy, or destroying blocks - all while under the threat of an ever-scrolling screen - adds a lot to Super Bunny World's value.
At first glance we were prepared to dismiss this as a blatant and unadventurous retro clone, but a few minutes is all it takes to dismiss that notion and begin enjoying the game on its own merits.
If this had been released for the SNES back in 1994, it would have been an instant classic. But Super Bunny World still has a lot to offer the retro smartphone gamer, and delivers a few cute surprises along the way.
