Barry the Bunny Switch Review – Building Bridges Home

Ratalaika loves to pump out these little indie games each month, and usually they price them evenly across the board at $4.99. Barry the Bunny is no different, and what we have here is a nice little platformer with adorable sprites and a lot of levels, surprisingly.

But is Barry the Bunny a game worthy of your Sunday afternoon? Or is this one best left in the hole we found it in? Let’s find out!

Barry is a bunny, but he is also a builder! He builds bridges for others so they can return to their homes. How did these creatures lose access to their homes? Well, the Overalls Gang… I mean, Overalls Inc is in the destruction business, and they love destroying bridges. This leaves all the poor little animals in Barry the Bunny struggling with access to their homes, so our hero is out collecting wood to build bridges and save his friends from the tyrannical Overalls Inc!

I normally don’t care for the stories in these little indie games, but this one is adorable and gives actual purpose to our protagonist and the gimmick of the game. It is nice to know exactly what you are doing and why you’re doing it, even if it feels unnecessary in a game like Barry the Bunny.

Despite, it is an admirable gesture and a little something that gives this little indie title much more depth than it needs.

Barry the Bunny is a pretty standard platformer for the most part. The objective is to collective three logs in a level and reach the little animal trying to get to its house in order to clear and move on. It kind of reminds me of the Super Mario games were you need to collect the Star Coins, but in Barry the Bunny, collecting the logs is a necessity.

Levels are filled with enemies, traps, carrots, and hammers, and each of them serve their purpose. Enemies are obviously out to get you, as they have been hired by Overalls Inc to stop you from being a good Samaritan. These same enemies and bosses have placed these spikes and other death traps to make it even harder to do your job, but you can pick up hammers that add up and are used as a weapon, which is quite effective in making your route to the goal easier. Carrots, kind of similar to coins in Super Mario, reward Barry with protection once you collect 100 carrots.

There are also little P bottles that give Barry protection as well, and Barry can suit up with a construction hat, a vest, and sunglasses that ultimately reward him with a total of 4 points of health. Otherwise, Barry goes down easily without his protection. The game does a simple job exposing you to everything and allowing you to figure it out quickly and easily, which is a very nice touch for an adorable indie title like this.

Platforming can be tricky at times, and it does feel like the ability to jump off edges is a bit restrictive, as I found myself plunging into the treacherous waters more times that I believed I deserved, as I am the resident platformer expert at Nintendo Link. There are also quite a few moments that softlock you and force you to restart levels, which even causes you to lose all of your protection, unfortunately. Still a fun platformer, though, but it does have some hiccups.

Every 25 levels, Barry will come face-to-face with one of the heads of Overalls Inc, and these boss fights are a lot of fun. I mean, they are not really fights, as it is more like Super Meat Boy in the sense that you are running away from the boss until they fall to their own demise. They are relatively simple, but it is a nice change of pace from the standard fair of collecting logs and building houses.

Graphically, the game is adorable, and I love every little pixel model in the game. Barry is a fantastic protagonist, and even the enemy models like the snakes are so cute. The bosses look a bit strange in how stiff they move considering their size, but they are still intimidating and do their job well.

The soundtrack, however, can be a bit grating after listening to the same song on repeat for 20 solid minutes, and the songs do not change until you get to the next area, which just repeats the process. The songs are not bad, actually, but if you were even forced to listen to your favorite song for 10 straight plays in a row, you might get tired of it, right?

Barry the Bunny is a solid platformer, especially at its very welcoming price. You are getting a good gaming experience here with a fun story, adorable graphics, fun boss fights, and a pretty meaty experience overall. There are 100 levels, 96 of which are the standard platform levels and 4 boss fights. The game can easily be beaten in a day for platformer enthusiasts, but it is a good experience from start to finish.

Like many of these Ratalaika titles, this is more about the bang for your buck than it is about the high quality, and Barry the Bunny is definitely a wonderful little package as it checks both boxes. Definitely worthy of your $5.

Barry the Bunny Review provided by Nintendo Link
Review also found on OpenCritic
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developer: lightUP
Release Date: August 13th, 2021
Price: $4.99, £4.99, €4,99
Game Size: 39 MB