Zepetto's "Flying Bunny" is one game that nearly flew under my radar. Pun intended. I didn't see it announced until the day before launch, and little to no information was given on it. All I was able to gather is that it was a shmup (shoot'em up) of some sort, and that it kind of looked like "Parodius". Being a fan of both shmups, and the Parodius series I really wanted to review this game. In fact I really wanted to just play it. Upon getting my hands on it though I was slightly disappointed to see that it was less of a traditional side-scrolling Gradius style shooter, and more like a mobile game akin to "Flappy Bird". I do get it though. The title is fitting in accordance to the gameplay as you have to tap/hold/release the "X" button to get your bunny guy or gal to fly through strings of sweets, and enemies as they come into view for that retro high scoring opportunity. Much like a bunny would hop along, but more so in the flying plus hopping sense. The idea is actually very interesting as is the setup.
When it comes to plot, and story elements nothing is really fleshed out in "Flying Bunny" though. While there is some character flavor text hinting at a school, and something called the "Candy Core" the game comes off as being one of those pick up, and put down arcade style mobile games that you'd play on your mobile device during a break. You basically have a given selection of characters to choose from, and some setup options beyond that as well as a stage by stage gameplay mode where the point is to get the highest score for the bragging rights ...
As one of the three initially available characters (Bunny, RingRing, Fey) you start off with a selection unique character specific stats including varying life, attack, and speed attributes as well as a base perk that allows for things like magnetism, quicker bomb refills, and a longer giant state among other things. This allows the gamer to experience their singular playthroughs in a variety of different ways. Being there's a total of thirteen characters, some of which require certain in-game feats to unlock, it gives the gamer different ways to make it to the top of the global or local leaderboards. You could say that for each character there's a different play style, or even difficulty in regards to how easily or difficult the character is to manage.
