Hippy Hunt 2, by Bigfoot721

[Doan the Nado]

Hippy Hunt 2, by bigfoot721 (added 3/3/05)
Robbotron Studios presents the sequel to Hippy Hunt, its unreleased RPGM1 game. This sequel presents a story about a teenager and some friends who are out to find a bad guy named Gargantua. This game features a well-known RPG character, a secret ending, and visual effects that will "blow your mind".
Downloads: .xps .max

[Jugem]

Review of Hippy Hunt 2, developed by bigfoot721

Well, let me start by asking if bigfoot721 was dropped on his head as a child...repeatedly. This is some seriously sick sense of humour shown throughout the game. Some of it is very immature, yet there are some very mature themes that persist throughout. Dispensing of, er, bodily waste on someone is very crude. And bigfoot721 is not satisfied with this "activity" just once. But despite all of those vile acts, the game carries a genuine undertone of good versus evil (or in this case, perverse versus evil). Yes, it's your basic go up against the immortal baddie before he can conquer the world plotline. Been there, done that...well, not quite. The game somehow manages to stay fresh right until the end. Perhaps this is because of how strange this game is.

Right from the start, the game warns you that this is for mature audiences only. And it means just that. Violence abounds in this game, as well as, ummm...love making. But it seems you won't go more than two minutes without shooting someone or something and seeing what resembles blood shooting out of the wound(s). But Hippy Hunt 2 does not rely on this to carry the game; the game actually has interesting characters that it builds around.

The characters are very fun to listen to. Conversations are full of humerous, back-and-forth dialogue. And unlike many games, where you find yourself tapping the button as fast as you can to speed through the boring text hoping to get to the end of it before you fall asleep, I was thoroughly enjoying every second of the conversations in this game. That is, after figuring out what was being said. Spelling mistakes were too plentiful. For instance, "well" was continuously being mispelt as "will". There were many others as well, and more attention should have been given to this area. Not a major problem though. The characters themselves act plausibly for the most part. However, some characters act inconsistently at times. Scratch that...Their personalities are very erratic much of the time. However, their speech is so entertaining that you really don't care how implausible they act.

One of the strong points in this game is the cutscenes. They are very plentiful, but extremely entertaining. Without them, this game would not be worth playing. At all. But they do a great job of advancing the shallow plot, and making it seem deeper than it is. And there are some big plot twists as well, which make some of the things that had you scratching your head about earlier start making a bit of sense. There is a great tribute to Rocky in there as well; I would have loved to have the Rocky theme music playing there though to add that bit of extra oomph to the scene. There's a strange cameo as well by everyone's favourite superhero that just seemed odd and out of place. Why it was put there, I'll never know. It definitely provides a shock factor, but just leaves me wondering...Why??? (Along with most of the rest of the game I guess!)

But it all adds up to a very entertaining experience; one that kept me playing straight through to the end. That journey didn't last long though, as the game took roughly three hours for me to play through. And had I skipped many of the seemingly pointless random battles, that length could be less. Which leads me to the actual "game" portion of this game. As was mentioned earlier, take out the cutscenes, and you're not left with much of a game. There isn't a whole lot of battling, for one. The game basically consists of: watch a cutscene, advance from point A to point B, fight a boss, and repeat. The areas you travel through have some nice variety between them. But in any one area, there's not a whole lot of diversity within. Each area will have you traversing through environments that seem like they repeat each section over and over again.

Thankfully, they don't last too long though. The battles are just horribly boring. Was this game not play-tested for balance? The game starts out very easy; too easy in fact. The only challenge came in the form of one or two of the early bosses. And even then, they weren't overly difficult. But I suppose when you level up after each battle... Seriously, this has got to be the most levelling up in the shortest period I've ever done. I was sometimes increasing by two levels after each random battle. There was one boss near the end that didn't do more than 1 damage to me in any turn. And after defeating him, I went up eight levels. Why? And after another boss battle, I went up twelve freakin' levels. You know how much button mashing I have to do to scroll through all that text? This was one of the most annoying things in the game, that made much of the latter sections unbearable at times. It's another area that needed more attention paid to, and there's no excuse for not play-testing the game to improve the balance. But I guess the battles weren't this game's priority, and thankfully, the game was still fun to play (if I can use the term 'play') regardless.

Presentation (7/10):

The default menu is used, so not much to say there. It works, as we're all familiar with it. The cutscenes are well done. Nothing too special in regards to their execution. Decent stuff. The only problem is not knowing who's speaking. The name will appear in the message window, but you'll have no idea which character on screen that name belongs to (until you're able to figure it out at a later point). One thing that shines though is how the characters are brought together. The story is shown from various characters' viewpoints, and eventually the story brings these characters together. This was handled very smoothly, and made for some great entertainment.

Graphics (7/10):

The best aspect of the game from a graphical perspective are the visual effects. They are used often, and have been created fairly well. Weapons, blood, other "disgusting things"... The one complaint I have is with the weapon VFX placement. When weapons are used during cutscenes, they often appear as they are just floating there. It's humerous, but it detracts from the experience a little bit. On the other hand, level designs were flat out boring at times. Little to no variety in many of the areas resulted in the "when does this end?" complex. Thankfully, the answer was "very soon" in many cases. However, there were some environments that were very well put together. It seems these areas were relegated to the cutscenes for the most part though. Also, I did find some slowdown for one or two areas. Nothing that made the game unplayable or anything, but it was there nonetheless. And there was one area early on where large trees kept blocking the view. In fact, in a few instances, the view of the main character was obstructed by large objects when they were about to become playable. The camera should have been shifted so the character could be seen. Minor complaints though.

Audio (6/10):

The music seemed to fit for the most part; it almost never seemed out of place. And although I would have preferred to have some custom music in there, what's there was sufficient. But it only just "did the job". Music has the remarkable power to bring out one's emotions and make an event memorable. However, that is something that was lacking in this game. And that brings me to one event in particular near the end of the game. This was a tragic event that had the potential for so much more. But the music just didn't work for it, and when I should have been shedding tears, I was thinking more along the lines of "ho-hum". Sound effects on the other hand were done well...no complaints here. And while I can't seem to remember much about the SFX in the game, often times that's a good sign.


Gameplay (1/10):

This is where Hippy Hunt 2 falls flat on its face. Not a whole lot of gameplay, and what's here is unbalanced -- mostly to the point of being overly easy. And the gameplay is simply limited to walking and battling enemies. Not much else, if anything. I can't even remember talking to a single person. If I were to have kept track of the ratio of gameplay length to cutscene length in my playthrough of the game, I wonder if cutscene length would be almost as long as the gameplay. And that would be a good thing in this case.

Length/Replayability (4/10):

Say what I may about the gameplay, this game is still very fun to play through for the little time it lasts. Maybe because I've never seen a storyline with characters this vulgar before. I don't know. What I do know is that I was hooked from start to finish. It's a short game (about 3 hours or so in length), but any longer, and it may have worn out its welcome too soon. However, this game is entertaining enough to consider the prospect of playing it again. It's just that, er, strange.

Challenge (Very Easy):

No major challenges. Not even many minor challenges. No puzzles to solve. Not much to play either.

Major Bugs:

The only major bug I stumbled upon was in the ship. I could walk out the back into the blackness. And once I wandered around too far, I got lost. I had to randomly walk around for a few minutes until the ship finally came back into sight. Not very fun, I tell you...and I was less than impressed that something so simple to fix was left like that.

Overall (7/10 - Great):

This is one of those games that are hard to rate, because it's the non-game aspects of it that make it fun to play. It tries (not very hard mind you) to be an rpg, but it's this part of the game that drags it down. But as bad as the gameplay is, the game somehow manages to be quite addictive. And that's a testament to the game's creator that he can pull it off like that. I guess sometimes it is the final destination that counts, and not the actual journey. Most of the time, you'll traverse through the rather dull gameplay sections just to see the next cutscene. Ultimately though, the good outweighed the bad, and I was left with more positive impressions than negative. And thankfully, the gameplay sections were never too long.

[Doan the Nado]

For more information on my review format, see this post.

As Jugem stated, this game took me a little over three hours to beat, and it is definitely meant strictly for mature audiences (though certainly not due to the difficulty, which comes in at just below Very Easy). And by mature audiences, I of course actually mean immature audiences . That doesn't mean to say that Bigfoot is immature, because he was able to keep a strange brand of very crude yet somehow slightly sophisticated humor ("Everybody gets one"? I was laughing a lot at that one). Well, on to the Review.

Gameplay - 2
I really hate to start off with this element in my review because it's easily the worst part of Bigfoot's game. If you're looking for a game that you'll want to play for hours, try scraping your fingernails down a chalkboard. I do have a bit of a bias against the unmodified DBS (didn't like it in Fu'Ma, don't like it now), so that aspect didn't appeal to me at all. I was quite thankful that Bigfoot kept the battle frequency down so that I didn't have to endure a large number of battles. I think a little more time could've been spent in this area to really improve this game. Some pitfalls were that there were only about 5 unique random enemy units in the whole game, leveling was ridiculous as Jugem mentioned (Was experience not scaled, so that it takes more experience to level up the higher you get? It sure didn't seem like it.), there was very little armor and items in the game (although you can argue for the realism of having less items), there were no puzzles, and the actual gameplay suffered from a severe lack of variety. On the plus side, the controls were easy to use since they were mostly default, there was a nifty little []-button map for map editor areas, and I didn't run into a single bug.

Characters - 6
I have to go into this category with a bit of ambiguity. The majority of the deduction is based on the fact that as far as battles go, the involved characters are mostly the same. They level up almost identically, and the main differences arise basically as a result of a character being a lower level when he joins the party, making him more suited to use items on other members when necessary. Other than that (and the occasional use of a single ability which each major character had), battling is mostly Auto (or better, Flee). But I am getting away from the character aspect. When not in battles, the characters were very well done. While they may have acted absurd at times, they were very true to themselves throughout the game. The appearance by known RPG characters and the superhero mentioned by Jugem added some variety to the game. As far as the villians, the main one's motive was a little shallow, the second-in-command had no apparent motive, but the Thug character was very well done and quite believable. Unfortunately, his angle of the story was left unresolved. So in review, the good guys were deep and interesting (except when controlling them), and the bad guys were decent, but could have used a little bit of improvement.

Plot - 10
This game was absurd, ridiculous, crazy, vulgar, immature, and everything else you want to call it, but I still say that the plot was good. There was a main plot that was followed quite strictly throughout, and it was broken up very well with scenes of comic relief. The outhouse scene? Funny. Unexpected hero? Loved it! The Dean scene? Well, it was a bit of a miss with me, but there were a few funny parts in it. The very end? Unexpected and well done. By far the best thing however: It had a freaking montage! How many RPGs can you say that about? Another thing I loved was how it jumped around at the beginning and I controlled separate parties. Other than one unresolved plot string which blemished it somewhat, this game made perfect sense in Bigfoot's ridiculous, nonsensical way, from beginning to end. For the gameplay to be as bad as it was and for me to want to keep playing, you know the plot had to be good.

Environments - 6
Toward the beginning, the environments were awesome. The car whizzing through the trees looked great, the prison cell and escape areas were very good, and the first area where you controlled the play had nice rain effects. The end also had pretty good environments, and as Jugem mentioned, where there were cutscenes, the areas were well put together. I also liked the music selection and didn't get annoyed with a song until near the end when I kept fighting the same random battle over and over. The problems came in the middle, when I mostly found myself running along very rectangular paths with drop-off boundaries and very sparse object placement. The only neutral character there was to talk to was the Save Turtle, so that kind of took away from the Environment, too. Another pitfall was that there was absolutely no interaction with anything around the player. No chests, puzzles, people, nothing. Just go from cutscene A to cutscene B and fight some random battles in between. So you'll see some good-looking stuff, but at least half of the areas looked rushed, and there really wasn't a whole lot to do in them. After becoming used to a Custom Camera in my game, I constantly found myself wanting to adjust the camera lower, and I think many areas of this game could've benefited from a lower camera angle.

Graphics - 10
I have to give this area a complete 10. From a custom car with screeching sound effects to a few different guns and some pretty good in-world battle sequences, this was a shining examples of Bigfoot's VFX talent. His attention to detail was awesome, as swordfights showed sparks where the blades met, firing weapons expelled shells, and VFX text was even used actively in certain key scenes. The Battle animations of the Power skills were good (I especially liked the RPG-7 bazooka), and events such as enemies teleporting were accompanied by logical effects. The graphics of the maid scene were, well, a bit unexpected, but the creativity to make such a scene with RPGM2 does deserve some kind of credit. Definitely a 10 for graphics.

Themes and Replayability - 3
The theme was pretty basic: good vs evil. This of course involved the princess saving theme, as well. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot in the way of themes, except for general absurdity. Because of the weak themes and gameplay, and I really don't see a need to play this game again, except to let my roommate see some of the funny scenes. Once you've seen the entire plot unfold, it's pretty much over, but that works okay for this game. I don't think Bigfoot set out to change the world, and other than putting a smile on our faces, he really didn't, and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Custom Elements - 6
This was another weak area, as the battling and menus were all default. He did change the function of the [] button as I mentioned above, and of course there were the custom VFX, but those already received huge points in the Graphics section. The opening title sequence was pretty good and did help this rating a bit, but the main reason that it's moderately high is due to his extensive use of cutscenes. He had so many well-thought-out scenes done from good angles that I have to include it in the custom elements. If any one thing makes this game so that it is unlike any other RPGM game I've played, it is the plethora of good cutscenes.

Extras - 1
There really weren't any to speak of.

Intangibles - 8
This game was sincerely fun to play. Well, maybe not so much to play as to watch the plot unfold. I guess it was kind of like watching a great comedy movie, but the person sitting next to you has the most annoying laugh ever. The plot twists kept you wondering what was coming up next, and it was all brought together quite well. I guess they're called intangibles because they defy description, so I'll just stop here and ask you to trust my rating of 8.

Overall - 7.5
I would recommend this game to anyone. It was bug-free (from my experience, although apparently Jugem found one), unique, funny, witty, disgusting, and pleasing to witness. The gameplay aspect certainly brings it down, and in my opinion, Bigfoot could have added some crazy mini-games, modified the battles a little to balance the leveling and add more enemies, improve the intermediate maps, and add a little more substance to the environments. If he was to update this game with those things fixed, as well as tying up the one loose end, this game could easily have received a 10. At any rate, if this was Bigfoot's first stab at making an RPG, I am certainly interested in seeing what he has come up with since then.

[MC Solidus]

When I first sat down to play Bigfoot's first RPGM2, I must say, I was excited. I had watched the title grow from the very first day he had the game, and to finally get to see the "game" in action was awesome. Though this may not happen for everyone, Hippy Hunt 2 is a game everyone must experience once, if they can handle the contents.

* Gameplay: 1/10
I hate to start the review with gameplay, but I figure I may as well get it out of the way. What little gameplay there is ends up being pretty terrible. Though the battles aren't necessarily tough, they are boring, and because of this, the occurrence of random battles got very annoying, very fast. Fortunately, other elements of the game picked up the slack and carried the game.

* Characters: 9/10
I guess I'm a little biased here, as I myself am one of the characters in the game, and I have a connection with all of the characters who are based on people I know in real life. But, even if you don't know these characters, you'll be glad you got to know them for the 3 hours Hippy Hunt 2 will take up. Each plays some significant role, and each has dialog that may not consistently match their character, but is consistently hilarious and entertaining.

* Plot: 6/10
While the characters, dialogue, and overall feel of the game turned out well, the plot can be surprisingly shallow. It is a generic "baddie out to conquer the world, must be stopped" campaign, but thanks to great dialogue and cinematics, Bigfoot manages to take the barebones plot and twist an intriguing tale.

* Environments: 5/10
Another bland element of the game. The environments in cinematics are often well done, and do add to the game's feel and cinematic nature. However, once you gain control of the party members, the environments you find yourself in fail to impress.

* Graphics: 10/10
Bigfoot's impressive work with the VFX system shines in this title. From chainsaws to assault rifles, the VFX objects add a great custom flavor to the game. The cinematics themselves benefit greatly from the inclusion of these items. Even the battle system, which is otherwise quite bland, is benefited by some well modeled weaponry, adding a little bit of character to an otherwise lackluster battle system. Overall, Bigfoot's mastery of the VFX editor and Objects sets up an unprecedented graphical prowess which definitely ranks among the greatest seen with RPGM2 to this point.


* Themes and Replayability: 5/10
Hippy Hunt 2's themes are very basic. At it's core, HH2 is a typical "hero vs. villain", and includes two relatively generic concepts -- a villain with almost no motive, and a hero out to save a damsel in distress. Because of this, it's hard to say that this game is very replayable. Since the game is almost like a movie, it's hard to imagine playing through it three or more times.

* Custom Elements: 5/10
The game contains almost no custom elements. HH2 uses the default menus, and the battle system is almost entirely default as well.

* Extras: 4/10
The game does include a hidden ending, which is awesome and definitely worth pursuing. However, other than that, there is no extra content to be found.

* Intangibles: 8/10
Though you can definitely argue that the gameplay intangibles are very bland, the game finds a way to shine through and consistently pushes you to continue your way through the story, if for nothing else than to see more of the hilarious cutscenes and well designed effects.

Overall: 8/10
Despite some severely lacking gameplay elements, Hippy Hunt 2 is a successful title. You may not find yourself playing the game more than once, but the one time you do play the game will leave you satisfied, and will definitely bring a smile to your face.

[christi]

REVIEWER'S NOTE: I have tried to come up with a uniform rating scale that will apply to all games, regardless of genre. The maximum amount of points a game can earn is forty, plus five potential extra credit points. A percentage will then be calculated and games will be assigned a letter grade as follows based on their score.

100-105%: A+
99-90%: A
89-80%: B
79-70%: C
69-60%: D
59% and Under: F



HIPPY HUNT 2, BY BIGFOOT/ROBBOTRON STUDIOS:

Packaging:

-Visual (4 out of 5)
(How does everything look? Overall, is the game pleasing to the eye?)
With a few small exceptions, environments are very well put together. Cutscenes have an almost cinematic feel, and high-quality custom VFX abound. The only thing preventing this game from receiving full marks in this category are a couple of long, visually monotonous environments in the middle section of the game.

-Sound (4 out of 5)
(Are songs used to reflect, or better yet, enhance the game's tone? Are sound effects utilized to heighten realism?)
The songs chosen to accompany this title seemed to reflect the general mood of the game at any given time, and sound effects were well-placed.

-Professionalism (3 out of 5)
(Could this title pass for a "real" game, or do creator errors constantly detract from that illusion?)
As I stated above, cutscenes in this game were very well executed, and the opening closing had a fairly professional air to them as well. Unfortunately, there were a number of spelling errors, and I encountered a couple of technical problems (which will be addressed in a later section) that would likely not be present in a "real" game.

Mechanics:

-Learning Curve (5 out of 5)
(Are the controls logical and easy to learn? Is the player provided sufficient direction when necessary?)
The majority of the controls in this game are default; nothing out of the ordinary for anyone familiar with RPGM2. The square button triggers a map in some areas, which is convenient, well explained and easy to read. This is a very linear, very straightforward game that leaves the player with no question about what to do next.

-Functionality (3 out of 5)
(Does everything function as it was intended to, or is the game full of programming glitches?)
I did have a couple of problems getting everything in the game to function... whether or not they would be considered "glitches" is debatable; simply put, although they are things that I had problems with, that might not be the case for everyone.
The first problem I had was that when I tried to use the "Waffle" item (which I initially assumed was supposed to restore life), nothing ever happened. I tried using it both in battle and out, on dead party members and live party members (in case I somehow misunderstood its intended function) but, never to any avail. If the Waffle has a use, I definitely couldn't figured out what it was.
The second problem came near the end of the game, and involved Dean's characteristics in battle. I found, through a bit of trial and error, that if Dean is not equipped with his weapon (which is the case when he joins your party), he does not function in battle, by which I mean he isn't given the option to attack, defend, or even use items. As soon as he is equipped, all is well again, but since all of the other party members are automatically equipped with their weapons when they joined the party, it took me awhile to realize that this was the problem.
The only other problem I really encountered occurred the first time I was given control of a character; I couldn't see where I was supposed to go due to trees constantly obstructing my view. Adjusting the camera angle helped, but it was a bit frustrating nonetheless.

-Programming Complexity (3 out of 5)
(Did the creator push RPG Maker 2's software to its limits? Any custom elements will be addressed here.)
As I stated before, virtually everything in this game is default, so there were no complicated battle system or menu scripts to speak of. However, the cutscenes showed definite scripting talent, and I can only imagine how much trial and error went into getting the VFX to look and function properly.

Interest Factor:

-Originality (3.5 out of 5)
(We are all given the same presets to start with; how creatively were they utilized in this title?)
This was a difficult category for me to score. In spite of the use of almost entirely default presets, I felt that there was enough originality in this game to merit the score it received. There were definitely many instances where objects were used in ways I'd never even considered.
As far as the storyline goes... on the surface, yes, it's another "Save the World" quest, but the path it takes get there definitely earns this game high marks in the "Originality" category.


-Entertainment Value (3.5 out of 5)
(Will this game be fun or frustrating for its audience?)
Once again, another difficult category to score. The Default Battle System isn't much fun, and would have greatly been heightened by a little variety. The environments, while well-constructed, would have benefited from some interactivity... a few NPCs to talk to, an intermittent treasure chest here and there... but, I digress. The cutscenes are a blast to watch, though, and were, in most regards, my motivation to continue through this journey.

-Replayability (2.5 out of 5)
(What, if anything, about this game would make the audience want to play it again?)
If one were to replay this game, it would more than likely be to get a second dose of the creator's sense of humor. I would have loved if the option of just watching the cutscenes was unlocked upon completion of the game, but it would have also lowered the replayability factor. There's also been mention of a secret ending, which might warrant a replay, but unless someone tells me how to get it, I probably won't try for it on my own, as I wouldn't have any idea where to start looking for it.

Cumulative Score: 31.5/40

Extra Credit: (3 out of 5)
(It isn't always entirely possible to hold all games, especially those of different genres, to the exact same standards. In this category, a game has the opportunity to pick up a few extra points, and possibly redeem itself for areas in which it might otherwise be lacking. Was it the first to incorporate a certain concept? Will it change the way you look at RPG Maker 2? Does it manage to shine despite its shortcomings? If so, it deserves a bit of extra credit.)

1 Point Awarded: For mastery of dialogue.
This is a skill that many people seem to never get the hang of, but it definitely wasn't a problem with this game.
1 Point Awarded: For mastery of acceptable vulgarity.
Constantly toeing the line, but never quite crossing it completely. At times, I felt as if I were watching an absurd episode of South Park.
1 Point Awarded: For impressing my friends.
A couple of friends stopped by randomly, and managed to catch the "outhouse scene." They loved it, and were dying to know what I was playing.

Total Score (Including Extra Credit): 34.5 out of 40
86% - B