GAMES Review: Happy Tree Friends: Run and Bun

Happy Tree Friends is a deceptively messed up show. Those were my exact thoughts (except maybe my original thoughts were more filled with dumb founded terror) when I watched my first episode of Mondo Media’s Happy Tree Friends. The show about cute woodland creatures that look like if you smashed Hello Kitty and the Care Bears together being dismembered, chopped, pulverized, broken, cut open, and eviscerated in the most grotesque ways the animators can think of. My favorite moment from HTF a.k.a. the moment that had me turn off the computer, lie on my bed and contemplate ever sleeping again was the one where a military critter jumped on some barbed wire and when the camera panned  down his intestines were wrapped around the barbs with his guts hanging out.

Bottom line, Happy Tree Friends for me is a fantastically gory show that I just don’t like. I can see why others like it, because of its great visual flare and all the creative ways the animators kill off these cute bastards, I just feel that the violence, because it is so ramped up, is just draining to watch after a while. But moving on from the actual show is the free to play Iphone game Run and Bun able to stand on its own merit?

The contextual story for this game is that two green raccoons have stolen some buns from Mole and you have to run to get them a.k.a. collect as many as possible to get the highest score. Yep, another impossible running game. Tap the screen to make your character move up the screen and don’t to let your character go down. The mechanics are simple enough but what I was surprised to find out is that even with its very limited controls the game adds layers of complexities that at first glance aren’t noticeable. But you can definitely feel the difference.

Before starting a level you pick one of the many Happy Tree Friends you want to use (in the beginning only starting off with Lammy the Lamb and her Airplane), and then one of the six levels (again in the beginning you only have the park available) you wish to play. Once you start the game you dodge dangerous obstacles like red barrels, lawn mowers, traffic lights and other hazards to collect as many buns as possible and get as far as possible. The moment your character dies or hits a hazard the number of buns you have collected is multiplied by the number of miles you traveled and there you have your score.

Now buns aren’t only used to get points they are used to but new characters, levels and upgrades. But here’s a gameplay hot tip, don’t. There are six various upgrades that can be bought with buns and they have great effects like the atomic buns that destroy all obstacles on screen, and bonus buns which make buns bigger and worth twice as much for a short time. But the buns (these two in particular) already appear in the game so it would be a waste of 300 buns to buy just these two upgrades. The more costly upgrade buns aren’t that much helpful like the buns of steel bun makes you invulnerable sure but in the store you have to spend another 300 to get it. Just in short focus on just collecting them to get the levels and new characters.

Each character as I’ve discovered throughout playing has a slightly different play style. For example when you start with Lammy her plane descends and rises the slowest but is very controlled, Disco Bear has roller skates so you have to click multiple times to keep him jumping in the air and gravity on him is doubled because as soon as you stop tapping he plummets back to the ground again. I like this diverse playstyle as it adds variety to the game that could have just as easily been left out by any lesser game designer. Just the curiosity of how the next character functions kept me playing for quite some time.

Next the levels. I can say straight away they are designed well, with suiting obstacles for each one and incorporating a colorful palette. But it also incorporates an element that I wished was in the 3DS game BearShark The Game. For those who didn’t read my review of it BearShark was another bare bones (pun unintended) impossible running game based on the Harry Partridge series BearShark. One of my main gripes with the game was that other then having the BearShark name and characters it didn’t have any of the originals charm or humor. I suggested that the designers could have implemented Dragon’s Lair-esque death scenes to inject some of the original series’ charm and Bun on the Run demonstrates that idea to a fantastic degree. It isn’t however a death scene like in the traditional Dragon’s Lair but whenever you hit an obstacle there is a specialized animation for each obstacle. Sure there is the stock animation of the character just bonking his head but they also implemented hilarious dust cloud animations with blood being sprayed. There’s even an animation where the blue moose character from the show gets shopped in half. You gotta give the developers credit they didn’t just slap the likeness of Happy Tree Friends on an Impossible Running game and just called it a day. They truly made this a real Happy Tree Friends game.

I really do love this game. It’s been a lot of fun to play but there is one thing that really ruins it but I guess I should have expected it from a free to play game. Simply put you need an Internet connection to play the game. Yep it’s the old always online DRM problem again and now it’s invading handheld gaming. But here’s the odd thing. Last weekend I was playing this game non-stop for the review while driving up north to visit family, so that I could get as far in as possible before writing it. But I eventually got bored and switched to the Fish Hooks game and played that for a bit instead just to give myself a break. Once I turned back to play Run and Bun again however I needed an Internet connection to play. I had been in the car for two hours playing Run and Bun with NO Internet connection but as soon as I switch games I suddenly do. Probably just a programming glitch but it’s still valid to say.

Other then that stupid DRM, Run and Bun is a fun game. I don’t think I’d ever pay money to buy buns so that I can get the rest of the characters and levels. I just find the challenge of accumulating the buns is fun on its own and buying them seems like cheating. But anyway because of its diverse game style, great artistic aesthetic and addicting gameplay I say get this game. It’s free after all so what are you waiting for?