Solve puzzles and rescue cute bunnies in King Rabbit
King Rabbit - Find Gold, Rescue Bunnies ($0.99) by RareSloth LLC is a cute and charming action puzzle game that will appeal to anyone. If you were a fan of the original Furdemption, or just like rabbits and puzzles, then King Rabbit is a must-have for your game collection. Even if you did not play the original Furdemption, don’t worry — King Rabbit doesn’t need prior experience to enjoy.
Let’s get a few things straight: I love animals (especially furry ones), and I was born in the year of the rabbit. So I have a pretty high affinity with bunnies and rabbits, though I haven’t had one as a pet yet (no pets here). And if you’ve been following my work here at AppAdvice for the past few years, you also know that I love puzzle games, of course. So when I heard about Furdemption and the sequel, I was pretty excited, as these games combined two of my loves together. I also had a chance to check out King Rabbit at GDC last week, and I’ve been eager for it to hit the App Store ever since. Fortunately, it is now here and has been worth the wait, even though Furdemption only originally came out last June.
Visually, King Rabbit is stunningly gorgeous. The game has a top-down perspective that is reminiscent of classics like The Legend of Zelda, and the pseudo 3-D graphics have a cartoonish aesthetic that is cute and welcoming. The colors in King Rabbit are bright, vivid, and rich, with some interesting environmental effects later on in the game. Animations are buttery smooth (including the death animation) and fluid, and I had absolutely no lag on my iPhone 6s Plus. The soundtrack for the game is also upbeat and quirky, making it a delight to listen to as you go through the game. Sound effects are also a nice and fun little finishing touch. Overall, RareSloth has done an excellent job with King Rabbit in terms of visuals and audio.
King Rabbit, like other puzzle games, currently features six different worlds that have 16 levels each. So at the moment, there is 96 total stages, with more to come. Honestly, for the price of admission, I say that this is a pretty good value, since the game has a lot of replay value due to finding all of the gold coins, diamonds, and getting all of the collectibles. The objective in each level is to help the King Rabbit rescue the queen rabbit, who has been caged up by a devious foe. In order to do this, you must hop your way through and solve some tricky, challenging puzzles to find the gold coins and keys to reach her. There is no time limit or points to score, but if you’re a perfectionist, then you’ll want to replay each stage until all coins and diamonds are found.
Controls in King Rabbit are simple and intuitive. In order to move King Rabbit, all you have to do is swipe on the screen in the direction you want him to hop in. With each swipe, you move one square space since the stages are set up in grid-like fashion. When it comes to objects, like crates, gates, and levers, all you have to do is run into the object to interact with it. This means you can push boxes and bombs one space at a time, unlock gates to progress, stand on buttons to activate them, or push levers to use the machines. These are just examples of what you can encounter in just the first world, but there will be many more mechanics to discover as you advance into the other chapters.
As I mentioned before, King Rabbit has pretty high replay value. Despite not having time limits or high scores, you’ll want to replay stages to acquire all of the hidden coins (explore every nook and cranny) and diamonds, and you can use the diamonds to purchase cool new death animations that give the game a touch of personal flair. If you get stuck, there are also hints that you can use to help you out, and if you run out of hints, you can optionally get more with diamonds, which can be bought through in-app purchases. However, I found that the puzzles are mostly just trial-and-error, so the chances of you going through all of your hints is slim. There is also Game Center support for leaderboards and achievements, which just add to the longevity of the game.
While I did not play the original Furdemption yet (I have the game but just never got around to it), I am in love with King Rabbit so far. The art style is beautiful, the music is fun to listen to, and the control scheme is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to play the game with one hand if necessary. The puzzles can be rather challenging as well, which is always welcome, but it’s not incredibly frustrating since you just have to do a lot of trial-and-error testing to solve them. The replay value is high due to the collectibles, and honestly, who can resist cute rabbits as the main characters?
I highly recommend checking out King Rabbit for yourself if you’re a fan of action puzzles and like cute rabbits. You can find King Rabbit on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $0.99.