Radical Rabbit Stew is the newest action-arcade game by developer Pugstorm. The game provides plenty of nostalgia for the 16-bit era with a unique style and a stellar soundtrack. And while its gameplay is well-paced and entertaining, the wack of its spoon sometimes misses the mark.
Blasting Into Space
The plot of Radical Rabbit Stew surrounds the invasion of a space diner by the Rabbit Queen who was jealous of their superior cooking. The only one to escape the diner was the cleaning boy and it is now his mission to rescue the missing space chefs. The gameplay that follows has the player whacking the rabbits that stand in their way into stew pots with our protagonist's trusty spoon. But, of course, it's never that simple. Developer Pugstorm brings in plenty of puzzle elements that keep players on their toes, providing lots of new ways to cook up those rabbits.
A Nostalgic Flavor
The style of Radical Rabbit Stew is quite charming. Its sprite design provides a classic look and feel throughout the game and its soundtrack is too catchy not to dance around to. Where the game suffers, however, is its level design. Near the start of the game, each level is packed into a small space and doesn't allow the player to fully grasp the situation before beginning. On the other side, as the game progresses, the levels become enormous. Each goal is spread out to such a huge degree that I spent more time looking for each pot of stew than knocking rabbits into them. It felt like a drag looking around for what to do instead of the game subtly guiding you towards each task.
The story is also a bit nonsensical. While the game doesn't need a compelling plot to push you forward, it would've been nice to see it come in to play more than as transition scenes between worlds.
Stir The Pot
The gameplay itself provides a nice challenge, adding new mechanics steadily as the game progresses, whether that be through additional health or new spoons that attack differently. As you move forward, the levels will becoming increasingly difficult and require the use of these additional weapons.
In terms of encounters, while a normal level is pretty simplistic, Radical Rabbit Stew finds variety in its boss battles. This allows players to take the skills they've learned and use them in new situations. Some require you to destroy a much larger enemy while others put a spin on the puzzle variations throughout the game. This can be fun, but I found myself with large amounts of sensory overload whenever it was time for a boss battle. While this does make the encounters more difficult, I didn't enjoy the times when there was too much on-screen and no clue what to do with it.
Overall, Radical Rabbit Stew is a good time throughout its short run, but its level design and gameplay leave a bit to be desired. It still shines with its progression, art style, and music, and can be a welcome play for those missing the classic arcade games it's inspired by.
A PlayStation 4 copy of Radical Rabbit Stew was provided to TheGamer for this review. Radical Rabbit Stew is available now for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.
Radical Rabbit Stew