Ioo’s Web Game of the Week: Bunny Edition

In honor of Easter, this week's Ioo Web Game of the Week is a strangely addictive flash game from GPstudios.  Tom Wilson, an 18-year-old from England, writes and programs the Bunny Invasion series.  AbleGamers sat down with Mr. Wilson to talk about some of the more controversial issues surrounding his games.

You play the role of Mr. Frost, an "angry middle-aged 50-year-old guy" modeled after a physics teacher at Mr. Wilson's former school.  In Bunny Invasion, the earth has been overrun by monster bunny rabbits from hell.  Mr. Frost is the only one that can stop the invasion by blasting away at the menacing vermin.

{sidebar id=3}There are some things to consider before jumping into slaughtering the not so innocent bunny rabbits.  The game is the epitome of the cartoon violence and uses foul language; consider this before allowing a young child to play.  Another issue is that the game makes use of an optional weapon named "Aids."

"It never really crossed my mind that a reference to AIDS would be considered offensive," says Mr. Wilson.  He goes on to say, "Once the game was released I had one particular email that made me realize that it wasn't really something to joke about... Then again I didn't try to offend so I believe it's OK to leave it in; I just tried to think up of some fatal diseases and AIDS was the first to come to mind."

The ultimate weapon named "Aids" is not the only sensitive issue tackled by the videogame.  "The Jesus-Bunnies, if it did offend I wouldn't be too bothered," said Wilson.  "If anything, it was a slight attempt to offend people. Another example of this would be the pregnant bunny, a brilliantly sick idea in my opinion."

Whether these items are actually offensive will be up to the individual playing the game.  We discussed the issue here at AbleGamers and determined that we should allow individual people to decide for themselves if the material is amusing or offensive.

Bunny Invasion 2 stars Mr. Frost defending a local pub from 60 waves of bunny rabbit madness.  Initially, you are given a week weapon with infinite ammunition.  As you slaughter bunny rabbits, you earn money for each kill.  The weapons dealer inside will sell you upgrades for the right price.

Your weapon choices include single shot weapons, automatic weapons, shotguns, and grenade launchers.  There are also multiple upgrades to each weapon, which makes them more powerful.  Of course, weapons are not the only place to upgrade.  The game features a second upgrade tab that holds various features such as upgrading the amount of money you get for each kill and other useful abilities.

Bunny Invasion Easter Special is the sequel to Bunny Invasion 2, although Wilson admits a Bunny Invasion 3 is in the works.  The Easter edition is more of the same Bunny slaughtering action, only this time the ultimate Bunny is the Easter Bunny.  The weapons and upgrades are all basically the same but the bunnies are completely new.

Wilson says, "It wasn't a master plan to create a series. It was just something to do for fun."  "With Bunny Invasion 2, the interface was designed in a bit of a messy way. I never drew it out on a piece of paper; I just made it up as I went along," he said.

"With BI:ES though, I knew exactly what the interface was going to include, so I put some more time into creating a color scheme and layout that I was happy with. Pink, white and black - strange choice but I think it works," adds Wilson.

Both games feature several cut scenes and the opportunity to kill an amazing amount of bunny rabbits.  The games are accessible for the most part.  The original reason this game caught our attention is because many shooters are inaccessible.  This videogame involves the targets coming to you, which makes the game easier to play.

Shooting is controlled by left clicking repeatedly until you get an automatic weapon.  Those with mobility issues should have relatively no problems but those who cannot click for an extended amount of time may have trouble.  The game is completely subtitled with no important sounds.  Colorblind individuals will have no problems, as there is no difference between the colors of this game as far as importance.

Mr. Wilson told us that there will be a sequel but that the series is being placed on hold for an undetermined amount of time due to a new RPG in the works.  AbleGamers wishes Tom luck with his programming; you never know where the next famous developer will come from, so doing these early interviews are important.

Again, we underscore that this game is rated T for teen.  Extreme cartoon violence, foul language, and sexual situations will occur during gameplay.  If you are old & mature enough to handle semi-adult situations, check out this mostly accessible game from GPstudios on kongregate.