On this edition of Play It, we look at a sequel to a cannon launch game that sets itself apart with style and execution. Burrito Bison Revenge is a new Adult Swim game from Juicy Beast Studio. It is a sequel to Burrito Bison, a cannon launch game where an evil band of gummi bears kidnapped a luchador and forced him to wrestle against their strongest candy opponents. Burrito Bison used the ropes in the ring to launch himself to freedom, bouncing on the terrified gummi bears and acquiring power-ups until he smashed through the walls to freedom.
The sequel picks up right where the last game ended. Burrito Bison realizes that his wallet fell out during his epic escape from Candy Land and now he must return to claim his money. The gummi bears have regrouped, acquiring amazing new technology, such as Nyan Cats, propeller hats, and open top police cruisers. You launch Burrito Bison again and again, earning money to purchase upgrades to speed, bounciness, and overall toughness. Along the way, you take down as many villainous pastel candies as you can.
The controls are the same as almost every other cannon launch game: one button. Here, it's the left mouse button. You click to launch Burrito Bison in the ring and to activate his powers. When you add on rockets, you click while he's descending to activate. When you catch a bouncing gummi or propeller hat gummi, you click at the right time to send Burrito Bison skyward.
For a cannon launch game, Burrito Bison Revenge has a lot of replay power. The further you go, the more madcap it gets. Police gummis with red and green hats start swarming the stage trying to thwart your escape. Gummis filled with cash float lower and lower. And if you build up enough momentum, you might rise above the clouds, where you plummet to the earth as a bomb of cotton candy, destroying everything that comes close to touching you. All of these actions can trigger achievements that have to be unlocked in a certain order. Just because there's an achievement for breaking through a wall doesn't mean you earn it the first time if it's not one of the active achievements.
What Burrito Bison Revenge has going for it is a lot of style. It's cute and funny. The sound design is just right, making the destruction of the gummis sound innocent and cartoonish. It's a sweet game built on a random stage engine that requires more strategy than random clicks on the screen to do well.
Burrito Bison Revenge is a fun time killer. You can play it for one launch, a handful of launches, or hours of launches. Once you recover you wallet, you unlock Survival mode, which is an endless nighttime stage of gummi destruction. The more you play Survival mode, the faster you can go in the Start! mode. The faster you go in Start! mode, the more achievements you unlock. The more achievements you unlock, the more money you earn for upgrades. It's easy to see how you can be sucked into a cycle of playing.
For clean, stylish, and family friendly gameplay, Burrito Bison Revenge is worth playing.
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