Those damn bunnies

Every now and then I will find myself just completly not bothered about playing games and yet, at the same time, will want to play something, ANYTHING. In those circumstances I usually fall back on games I pretty much deem as impossible completions - any kind of music game (damn you Guitar Hero) or arcade titles like Geometry Wars or Boogie Bunnies.

BOOGIE BUNNIES?! Why sir, surely that is a game for mere children? (I'm assuming that is the thought that would go through the mind of most people).

However, rest assured that it is one of the toughest games (in my opinion) on XBLA. The game has actually been completed by far fewer people than Geometry Wars, though has probably been bought by far fewer people too, and is fairly brutal.

The idea is simple, match up three or more similarly coloured bunnies to score points, earn enough points and you move onto the next level. You fire bunnies at a wall of their counterparts in order to make chains and combos. On Classic mode the line of bunnies moves forward a step after you fire every third bunny, if they move forward too much then they will topple into the water costing you points and, ultimately, the game.

The problem is that the further you get then the more colours of bunny you see, and linking them up becomes a nightmare. The latter achievements see you having to clear ten levels in a row without losing a single bunny - which is a nightmare. I actually got to the last beach level over the weekend without losing one of the critters but then, well, I'm sure you can guess. Assuming I did get through that level then I have to repeat the trick on the Hollywood missions. After that I would then have to clear Arcade mode, where the pesky rabbits move forward at a steady interval so you have less time for planning. The horror.

Despite the nagging feeling that I will never quite manage the full 200 points, I do still enjoy falling back to the game to relax and just pass a bit of time. It is fairly relaxing, and just a bit of fun as most old school puzzle games usually are. It certainly makes a refreshing change to the constant pursuit of points or playing the next dubious review title.

It reminds me that, before my Xbox and all those crazy achievements, I regularly used to have a game that I would play just for fun. Something that I could spend some time on without a specific goal. Usually it would be Pro Evo on the PS2, or even the original Ghost Recon on the XBox (just tackling missions solo with a sniper rifle or similar). I think it's a good habit to have and certainly stops me playing games that could possibly frustrate me just for the sake of it.

In other news, I have my first retail completion of 2011. As I finished up the original 1k in Borderlands, not to mention most of the DLC, so I'm finally up and running. I still have one mission left to complete on the Knoxx DLC and then some time consuming (apparently) collecting on the Claptrap DLC before I have the full 1750, but that should just be a matter of time.

In fact I have a number of games on the 1750 threshold now, which is weird when I'm basically getting two games worth of points from one title. I've already knocked off Lips, Halo 3 and Dragon Age (finished up the last of that DLC over the weekend too) and I have Borderlands and Gears 2 on the cusp. To be honest, more and more games will probably hit this mark and I'm still not sure that the quality of DLC matches the investment required. Time will tell, but I feel that the 1750 mark has been, and will continue to be, a purely money making scheme rather than one promoting quality content.

I hope I'm proven wrong in the long run though.

The only other gaming activity I've taken part in revolves around Planet 51. It is a game I reviewed a while back, but it was such a drag that I didn't put it on my main account. Sadly my wife decided to play the game while I was out at Gamescom last year, unlocking that dreaded ONE achievement that meant I could not delete it. So now I am slogging through the game again, trying to do all of the tasks and snag all of the collectables. If anything I hate it more the second time around as it all feels like such a chore - but I suppose that is an argument that could be levelled at most achievements.

Hopefully I'll have it done this week and then I can move onto something far more enlightening. Though I still have more than a few games still demanding my attention in the back catalogue.