PAX Preview: Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit Hands-On
Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is a new, over-the-top action-platformer by Arkedo Studios, in which you play as the prince of darkness himself, Sata… I mean Ash. And he’s a rabbit. A rabbit with a grudge.
For reasons currently unknown, Ash is out to rid hell of its demonic denizens, and he’s got a number of stylish tools with which to do so.
The game is laid out in the classic “Metroidvania” style. That is to say, you’ve got a large map to explore at your leisure, with certain areas only becoming accessible when you’ve collected the proper tools. Ash’s main mode of attack is a huge jetpack/saw blade that whirls around him. You can use it to burst through certain kinds of walls, jump high, and generally bring unpleasant doom to everything in your way. The only other weapon I saw in the demo was a rocket launcher, but it appears as though it will contain quite a few more options than that in the final game.
Every area is populated with monsters, most of which are mere cannon-fodder. However, in order to progress, each area has a number of larger, tougher enemies to defeat. Doing so is generally a simple matter of attacking them like you would anything else, only when it comes time to deliver the final blow, you are presented with a minigame.
One of them simply has you mashing the B button to squeeze the enemy to death. Another one requires you to press the A button at a specific time. Yet another has you answering a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire style question, which ends with a flurry of fiery carrots. It’s an amusing way to finish off an enemy, and it’ll be fun seeing what other wacky death sequences await hell’s more fearsome creatures.
The gameplay feels pretty solid, and though precision platforming isn’t always necessary, the controls are good enough to facilitate it anyway. Likewise, the game puts on a nice looking show, full of vibrant colors, high definition 2D artwork, and comically crude enemy designs.
One such enemy was literally a turd with a face… and a chainsaw on its head. Another bit of art – more of an environmental object than an enemy – is a bouncy, green ass with a heart tattoo, used to propel you skyward when you jump on it. When you visit a health fountain, large breasted nurses shower you with blood. You get the idea.
As you’ve probably guessed by now, Hell Yeah! is violent and crude in a slap-sticky way that some will appreciate and others will abhor. Still, I am a sucker for Metroidvania style games, and this one seems like a solid entry into that particular sub-genre. Look for it on XBLA and PSN sometime this summer.
