Super Bunny Man Impressions: Hopped Up

If anything, I’m more a barely hopping by bunny man than anything approaching super but it’s so ridiculously fun to fail in Super Bunny Man that I wouldn’t have it any other way. Physics-based shenanigans are the name of the game’s 1.0 launch as I attempt to guide a delightfully unruly, bunny-suited humanoid through a series of challenges. But the real fun come from the plentiful multiplayer offerings, as watching your friends bound confidently off a cliff is always a gleeful spectacle.

Opening the game, I’m confronted by a gang of aggressively cheerful human/rabbits dance-hopping. The game encourages me to press start to get going but, staring at the intimidatingly mesmerizing figures, I hesitate to reflect on my life choices. But there’s no time for reflection when there’s hopping to be done and I jump down the rabbit hole.

I have three options to pick from: Story, co-op, or party mode. Going with the solo experience, I attempt to get my rabbit feet under me before taking anyone else on. The starting world features green hills and relatively simple obstacles to navigate as I strive to get to the end of a level — represented by, for some unknown reason — a swirling vortex.

But that’s easier said than done. My only mode of transportation, hopping, is a complicated matter of pushing a button to pump my legs as I manipulate my character’s body in the correct direction. Imagine, if it’s not too unsettling to picture a overgrown pink bunny in this situation, an enormous pin piercing my rabbit’s torso which makes it so moving the joystick rotates my body around this point.

With this scheme, I sometimes manage to bounce a couple of feet forward before exploding backward or headfirst into a deadly trap. I can also try to pick up objects like a my-size carrot along the way for extra points if I want to make it that much harder.

The absurdity of it all means failure is almost always a laughable, rather than frustrating, experience. That’s compounded as you watch a local or online friend mess up over a series of courses that range from snowy mountaintops to sunny beaches.

Party mode moves away from platforming and instead introduces slightly trickier objectives. There’s the classic Deathmatch, in which I’m more likely to do myself in than kick the other three players into spikes or push them off the edge of the world. Sports-minded groups can attempt to play an ungainly game of Basketball and chaos lovers can strap their bunny-suited people into a rocket to collect veggies in Carrot Grab.

Super Bunny Man is terribly good entertainment. If you are looking for a fun multiplayer for get-togethers or online gaming nights, consider unleashing its hare-brained chaos on your friends.

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