Barry the Bunny from Ratalaika Games and lightUP is a 2D colorful platformer on PlayStation 4. Learn more in our Barry the Bunny review!

 

Barry the Bunny from Ratalaika Games and lightUP is a 2D colorful platformer on PlayStation 4. You’ll be controlling the titular rabbit who, as expected, really loves carrots, but he also loves building wooden bridges. Because of this, in each level, while you can get from point A to point B and exit the level in one piece and carry on, you sorta do need to help the small rabbit in each stage by collecting three pieces of wood so that you can then build a bridge over the gap that is keeping it from returning home. Do this, and you’ll be rewarded with carrots and axes.

Why carrots and axes? Because, as I said, Barry really likes carrots, and every time you collect 25 carrots, he will level up and get one piece of protective equipment that will grant an extra hit to survive the enemies and hazards you’ll find in each level. This upgrade can also be instantly obtained by collecting a potion. Barry will get to wear a construction hat, protective gloves, and glasses, with each one representing an extra hit in case you fall down on a pit full of spikes or can’t get rid of a bee that is following you.

 

The controls are easy since you’ll only need to use the left analog stick to move, the X button to jump up or down from platforms, and the Square button to attack. The issue is that, for some reason, sometimes your axes won’t be thrown in front of you and will instead fly out at an angle after hitting the floor. This happens at random times and leads to some cheap hits, especially when dealing with flying enemies. The game is easy enough for you to overcome this, but it’s far from ideal.

The game does have a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy, which is something we’ve come to expect from Ratalaika Games. The list is very straightforward, and the good news is that none of the trophies are missable since you can replay any level in the game. It’s a list that has 11 Gold trophies, asking that you complete levels 1, 5, 7, and 26, that you save 5, 10, and 25 bunnies, defeat a hedgehog enemy, defeat a bee enemy, collect a potion, and collect 25 carrots so that you can get that defense upgrade I mentioned before. Depending on how long you take to save each bunny in the first 26 levels of the game – since level 25 is a boss level – you could have a new Platinum trophy in less than an hour.

 

Barry the Bunny is a colorful 2D platformer that is missing something. The gameplay loop is too simple, your character does not have much of an invincibility window, so you’ll end up dead in no time if you make one mistake, and how your axe just likes to go out flying up in the air instead of flying forward when attacking enemies does get in the way. This is a budget release at $4.99, and it’s also cross-buy, so trophy hunters will get two separate trophy lists by playing the PS4 and the PS5 versions of Barry the Bunny.

Disclaimer
This Barry the Bunny review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Ratalaika Games.