| Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm |
| Posted on 5th July 2008 by Sean Evans |
Happy Tree Friends, apparently, has quite a "cult following". A throwback in all but name to The Simpsons' 'Itchy & Scratchy' shorts, characters such as Cuddles, Flaky and The Mole from the popular Internet cartoon have managed to get a slot in the ever-growing Xbox LIVE Arcade Wednesday timetable. In case you're unaware of the gang, Happy Tree Friends' concept is placing the show's colourful and cute teddy-bear-like things into situations of extreme danger, thus completing the circle of accidental violence a la Itchy & Scratchy with a head-rush of gore, dismemberment and buckets of blood. So what better choice of design for a game based on this simple premise than a Lemmings clone? Hurrah!
Because the veins of the once-pumping Lemmings franchise has been well and truly cut and left dead on the floor, the decision to base the over-the-top cartoon on a ritual such as trial and error platforming does, to a degree, makes sense, but still seems a little arbitrary. To rewind a second, the idea of the game is to guide the little HTF characters past deadly obstacles (including meat grinders, electric bolts and some sort of mechanical pulverizer) and safely reach the luminous finish line at the end of each level. By aiming a cursor at objects preventing you from reaching your goal, you can afflict different effects such as fire and ice that can manipulate scenery to your benefit.
You're scored by how well you keep the critters out of harm's way – they have health bars, but the poor suckers aren't that tough. Keep them all in perfect harmony throughout, and you'll be awarded a coveted Gold rating. It's simple stuff, but you'll feel a sense of attrition as the idea often shoots itself in the foot with spotty A.I. that has a strong tendency to frustrate and result in caustic situations that will drive you nuts. Despite the series' staple of goofy gore effects, the game looks cute enough and keeps faithful to the style of the cartoon, but it's a fairly standard cel-shaded look overall.
The game is fairly short, which is probably a good thing rather than bad. You're given one segment of a two segment "exclusive" episode for the game, the first of which is introduced at the beginning via a brief cutscene that concludes when you beat all the zones. If you're a fan, this should please you, and if you're not, you probably will crack a smile at the visuals if nothing else. On the achievement side of things, the majority of the points are fairly easy to acquire, plus there are leaderboards to compete in for you high-score hounds out there. There is no kind of co-op or versus mode online, which seems like missed potential.
In summary, to come back to my main point, the Lemmings-inspired style of gameplay seems somewhat archaic at this point. Seeing as Lemmings originally came out a gazillion years ago and delivered an experience that was less unfair than that of a downloadable game's in 2008, my ability to recommend a purchase proves difficult. Furthermore, the price of admission when purchasing Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm warrants admonition, at a somewhat steep 800 MS Points. For hardcore fans, however, this may seem like an easy choice, but for the rest of us (see: 'sane'), your best bet would be trying the demo and going from there.
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Single Player Score: 4/10
Multiplayer Score: 0/10
Overall Score: 4/10 |
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