HAPPY TREE FRIENDS Posted by Dan Pearson on Jul 8, 2008 12:43 (Jul 8, 2008 12:43) |
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I have been a fan of the Happy Tree Friends show since stumbling across it on MTV a while ago, the mix of Itchy and Scratchy / Tarantino humour and violence really appealed to me, so when a game was announced for Live it was one of the few that I was interested in and would save my points for. From the off False Alarm has some great presentation, the menus have the same look and feel as the show and once started you are treated to half an episode, the other half is unlockable upon completion of the game and that is where the problem lies. Why would you want to complete this game? Once past the pretty intro you then have to play the actual game. My jaw dropped when first introduced to the main game, OK, the idea is just a rip of Lemmings, you have to guide your little animals to safety using whatever means necessary across a long corridor of traps and death devices. But even with very simple controls the game still gets it really wrong.
The look of the game is simply appalling, they have tried to make it similar to the show but it looks like it has been taken from a NES game with just a bit more colour, the levels have very basic 2D models of doors and backdrops and moving crushers but at least the characters look OK, but again are let down by poor attention to detail. As you would expect in a Happy Tree Friends game there is a lot of violence, however once you have squashed or burnt you first animal, there is no need to see it again as it is just the same, over and over again. In lemmings you wanted to save your critters, in this game you really do give up wanting to save them and just let them walk into the steam vents without much care for their existence.
You have 4 powers available to assist with getting the animals to safety, fire, ice, nitro and an interact button. The ice is used to freeze the animals, allowing you time to investigate the rest of the level, the fire can be used to speed up the animals and also thaw them, the nitro and action buttons are used to interact with traps, like opening doors or blowing up a hazard. It’s here that the game really falls flat, your cursor is not sensitive enough and you also have loads of trouble of selecting the right character at the right time and juggling all of the special moves at once. There are not many levels to play through, and with each one taking a few minutes to complete you will not have much time invested in this game before completing it, there is the small replay value of getting the gold medals but that is really no reason to go back and play the game.
Happy Tree Friends adds up to one big mess. This is really one of the only times I have to advise avoiding a game. If you need to play this game do try the demo first to get a feel of what is on offer because essentially you are paying all of you Live points for an exclusive episode and a really poor game.
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