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[Jb]

PSN NA: Out now - 15$, Europe: October 3rd
XBLA: NA: Out now - 1200 MSP
Steam: October 3rd - 13 EUR

Published by Sega and developed by Arkedo Studio, the makers of such acclaimed titles as the Arkedo Indie series on XBIG, Nervous Brickdown and Big Bang Mini on DS.

The pitch

Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is a metroidvania-style platformer and dual joystick shooter with gorgeous 2D art in which you control Ash, the jetpack-propelled Oryctolagus Cuniculus prince of the underworld, hellbent on killing the 100 monsters who caught a glimpse of photos leaked on the internet exposing Ash's intimacy. The game also incorporates elements from Wario Ware (dozens of silly mini-games) and XCOM (force your minions to research upgrades for you). Numerous customization items and other stuff can also be bought from stores.

A demo is already available on PSN and XBLA, alternatively check out Giant Bomb's Quick look or Gameinformer's Test Chamber for some uncut gameplay footage.



Screens

What critics say

Gameinformer

Hell Yeah is an enjoyable 2D sidescroller that waxes nostalgic about classic games just as much as it establishes its own identity as a “how-to” guide to murdering monsters in ridiculous ways.

One look at this game in action brings about comparisons to Metroid or Castlevania. World navigation is reminiscent to these classic titles, allowing players to leap to hard-to-reach areas for secret collectibles, and backtrack with different powers to open up new zones.

Joystick

Still, I strongly feel that, while these complaints get in the way of making Hell Yeah a perfect game, they don't stop it from being a worthwhile one. The effervescent and copious presentation, the silly minigames, and the joy of shooting rainbows from a magic octopus to make a blissed-out cloud disappear (for example) make it worth taking Ash's giant wheel for a spin.

OXM

Hell Yeah!'s cheery approach to slaughter and its goofy riffs on nerd culture make this gorgeously amusing version of Hell worth a visit.

Eurogamer

The important thing, really, is that you like the sound of it. If you enjoy impish cartoon worlds that mask their pristine internal consistency under a measured low brow, and you can put up with falling in a pit occasionally and having to go back to a checkpoint, then Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is probably exactly the game about Hell that you've always wanted. If not, I suppose there's always Dante's Inferno. Tits.

 

[ArjanN]

Nice OT Jay-B.

Will pick up the PC version next week.

 

[Hoo-doo]

The Giant Bomb quicklook for this game has convinced me to pick it up ASAP.

 

[famousmortimer]

I am real torn over this game. I hate the humor and the art style, but I love the gameplay and how smooth the engine is (and colorful... even if i'm not a fan of how its drawn).


I have fun playing it and I guess that's all that matter.

 

[Salsa]

gonna kill the shit out them monsters

 

[Coconut]

So juiced
Can someone make me an avatar out of the fourth face on the bottom?

 

[The Wizard]

I'm all over this, pretty sure it'll be free next week for PS plus users in Europe too.

 

[PixyJunket]

I really wanted to DAY ONE this, but Boarderlands 2 is consuming my soul and some jerk gifted me Torchlight II.

I think I'll give it a try this weekend though.

 

[ActStriker]

Yes! Will get as soon as I get home.

Loved this at PAX East, but still need to play through Dust too...

 

[cj_iwakura]

Go on Bors, chop its head off.

 

[Carl]

Dont forget this is European PSN's Game of The Month in October, meaning it is completely free to EU PS+ subs.

 

[inanutshell]

Have the game preordered on Steam for the genesis games. Looking forward to playing this next week despite the mixed reviews.

 

[Pranay]

Dont forget this is European PSN's Game of The Month in October, meaning it is completely free to EU PS+ subs.

Yup waiting for the Free PS+ Version

I think it should be in the op anyways cant wait

 

[Captain_Spanky]

Holy shit this looks incredible. Did not realise it was from the Big Bang Mini and the Nervous Brickdown devs. Now it's a must buy.

 

[Mejilan]

I'm in.
My new PS3 comes in tomorrow (supposedly) and I'll preorder it for Steam as well.
Boom!

BBM is fucking awesome, btw.

 

[patrickthehedgehog]

I preordered this on Steam, but decided to download the PS3 demo just to check it out.

I had to force myself to turn it off because it was so awesome that I wanted to save the fun for the full version. Really looking forward to this. This is how vector (is it vector?) or non-dot based 2D should look!

 

[Coconut]

I am real torn over this game. I hate the humor and the art style, but I love the gameplay and how smooth the engine is (and colorful... even if i'm not a fan of how its drawn).


I have fun playing it and I guess that's all that matter.

What are you talking about? The art style is awesome, looks like some one took a bunch of Lisa Frank school supplies, and beat the fuck out of'em.

 

[Dog Problems]

Pre-ordered on Steam. I've been looking forward to this for awhile.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Curse the EU delay, I love how colourful this game looks, should be an interesting experience but that will have to wait until next week *grumble*.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Demo was more fun than I'd imagine from previews I'd seen. Will buy after clearing some other stuff out.

One rabbit stew coming right up!

 

[Carl]

Yup waiting for the Free PS+ Version

I think it should be in the op anyways cant wait

Yeah same. Lookslike great fun, so being free is a nice bonus.

 

[PixyJunket]

I just played the demo, I'm sold. Not that I had any doubts.

Now the issue is finding some time to squeeze in a chance to play it.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I guess this is where all the colours went this gen

 

[KevinCow]

I just played the demo.

...This is a really weird game.

 

[Tansut]

Does anybody know how long the game is? I doubt it's much more than a handful of hours, but I try to find out how much I'll get out of a game before plunking down for one.

 

[Adam J.]

I just put a couple hours into this crazy ass game and says I'm about 25% done. Insanely fun, but can be frustrating--demo doesn't give an accurate feel for how tedious and difficult some sections can be. The WarioWare style boss-finishers are amazing, but some are so WTF that you'll have to fight a tough boss all over again because you couldn't figure out the mini-game in time. The checkpoints are good half the time, others sporadic-- often it feels like Arkedo is trolling you, which sucks, but kind of amazing at the same time.

 

[S1kkZ]

wth is up with the reviews? 4.0 from gamespot and 5 grom gametrailers? the game seems amazing (played the demo).

 

[Shearie]

Played the demo and really liked it but was the gameplay and audio stuttering really bad for anyone else besides me? This hasn't happened to any other game for me but since no one else seems to be experiencing this with this game, maybe something's up with my system.

 

[texasairhead101]

Anyone know if the soundtrack is available anywhere?

 

[MightyHedgehog]

So, before I pull the trigger on this, is there some great reason for the disparity in data size between the X360 and PS3 versions?

 

[Adam J.]

Having played through about half of the game, I'm really shocked at how low some of the review scores are. I understand that the humor/flavor isn't for everyone, but claiming that it has poor controls/repetitive mechanics is quite a stretch.

 

[Raptomex]

I have this pre-ordered on Steam, it would be nice if they brought it to portable gaming devices.

Having played through about half of the game, I'm really shocked at how low some of the review scores are. I understand that the humor/flavor isn't for everyone, but claiming that it has poor controls/repetitive mechanics is quite a stretch.

I was actually a little nervous reading those reviews but it's good to hear people actually enjoy it. Can't wait.

 

[FrostuTheNinja]

Played the demo and really liked it but was the gameplay and audio stuttering really bad for anyone else besides me? This hasn't happened to any other game for me but since no one else seems to be experiencing this with this game, maybe something's up with my system.

Nah, you're not the only one. I had some horrific audio stuttering. Hopefully it's something that can be easily remedied.

The only thing that really grates at me is the animation. Design wise, it's rainbow overload, which is great. But I can't help but feel the way that everything in the game animates reeks of laziness. I can't wait until developers stop using inbetweening tools or rather, learn how to make proper use of them and stop using them as a crutch. It was something that bugged me in early videos but I kept telling myself, "Oh, it's awhile before release, it'll be cleaned up." Oh God, how I was wrong.

Otherwise, the controls are snappy, the soundtrack seems cool and there is some great character design work.

 

[BroggieDoge]

Seriously underrated fun. So much good stuff out at the moment I'm not surprised its getting overlooked. Hopefully once every gets time they will give this game a shot. I'm actually using it to end my gaming sessions. I Throw it on for 30 mins to 1 hour after long sessions of Borderlands 2 and Sniper Elite v2.

 

[Candeldandel]

O god, so many cool games coming out and so little time The colors in this alone are enough to make me want to play it. I'll definitely put it on my "to play" list!

 

[gunstarhero]

Having played through about half of the game, I'm really shocked at how low some of the review scores are. I understand that the humor/flavor isn't for everyone, but claiming that it has poor controls/repetitive mechanics is quite a stretch.

Yeah - the reviewers who can't get a handle on the controls either:

- Not too keen on 2D platformers
- Suck

The game controls perfectly - and have a great feel. You just need to take a nano second to learn it - and once you do, you appreciate that it has something a little different in the gameplay department.

I'm not one for this type of humor all the time - but I think it's rare that we see this type of "Ren and Stimpy" style, so it's a whole box of freshness imo.

Anyway - hope word of mouth spreads quickly, because the reviews aren't exactly helping. I think the GB Quick Look does the game justice.

 

[bock]

I'm 4~5 hours in the game and loving it (*)
The gamespot review is absolutely ridiculous it makes me angry only to think about it.

(*) apart from that @#$ honey bee queen monster thing later in the game which made me throw controllers all around the room.

 

[perryfarrell]

From listening to Giant Bomb, it sounds like this game is a MUST PLAY. Will buy.

 

[Duffyside]

Giant Bomb's Quick Look convinced me to get this game and not write it off. Glad to see there's at least an OT. People really should give it a shot. I had written it off initially after seeing a trailer, but that doesn't do this game justice. Tight controls, lots of variety, TONS of personality, tons of art, music; what a wonderful surprise.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

So, before I pull the trigger on this, is there some great reason for the disparity in data size between the X360 and PS3 versions?

Answering my own question with a response from Arkedo's own Pharoah in the other Hell Yeah! thread:

That has been puzzling us for the past weeks too.

It's the same content. But after compression and installer wrapping, this (rather huge) difference appears (XNA-related?). We've been working with SEGA and Sony on this, and what came out was that it was pretty much "normal".

We'll bug them again

Same content, just strangely large data size.

And, yes, this game is pretty damned cool! A definite must-try for retro/16-bit 2D action fans.

 

[gunstarhero]

Just finished the Casino level (Zone 4) and my first Mission. God, pulling off the last piece of the first mission was a pain in the ass... but in a good way.

I'm addicted to this game.

Just took a look at my Monsters stats and I've only captured 35...out of 101! O_O

Good to know this won't be too short of a game - I can see myself sinking a ton of time into this one.

Great work again, Arkedo.

 

[Roq12]

Seems like a sweet game. I'll try the demo as soon as i get my internet connection up and running.

 

[ROBOKITTYZILLA]

TotalBiscuit did an extremely positive WTF of the game: http://youtu.be/iOfTaSDW-zs?hd=1

I was planning on getting this anyway but this is definitely a day one purchase now.

 

[KenOD]

I love this game as much as I loved Earthworm Jim when that first came out, sprinkled with Drill Dozer. It's odd, weird, but well made fun game play that I love seeing what comes next.

 

[Salsa]

made some custom steam icons to have something to look at on that "hell yeah pre-order" button for now

 

[Noogy]

Long time fan of Arkedo <3 Will try to give this a try once my schedule lightens up.

 

[Doogington]

This song is so great.
The game can be amazing at times. Also tedious and frustrating but well worth playing.

 

[shaowebb]

Dear God Terry Bogard's hat and hair are an accessory in this game.

 

[Community Forum]

What an amazing and fun game. Every time I get to a boss I have this huge smile on my face.

 

[Riptwo]

Dear God Terry Bogard's hat and hair are an accessory in this game.

Okay, I'm sold.