Thanks to Ratalaika Games for the code to review this funny game!

Paw Paw Paw is a 2D adventure platformer. The title of the game comes from the name of the kingdom in which the game takes place. Paw Paw Paw is a peaceful kingdom governed by animals that was a paradise until one day an asteroid falls, and the evil King Bunnylord III loses his sanity. What does he do that’s so bad? Well, the king decided to pass a law to make everyone wear pants! The nerve of that tyrant! How dare he! So, you, the player, decide to join THE ANTIPANTS resistance against the evil King BunnyLord III!

Paw Paw Paw opens with an introduction that explains the storyline above in a creative and clever animation. The graphics are well done and it looks like a cartoon. From this introduction, you are then thrown into gameplay. You progress from the Introduction to the Antipants HQ, where a character laments that they knew the resistance was doomed from the beginning. At the Antipants HQ, you can buy equipment, train against other players and also buy recovery items. An interesting feature of this game is that you purchase items and armor with food as opposed to cash, but that’s appropriate considering you are, after all, role playing an animal.

Paw Paw Paw has you progress from one area of the game to another after completing a certain amount of quests in each area. In the Intro, you just watch the story and enjoy it. Antipants HQ is really just a base. From here, you go on to each area and hack and slash a variety of enemies to make your way through the kingdom. The next area is a tutorial that shows you the ropes and controls. It is a side-scrolling game, so as you progress, it moves this way. In the tutorial, you are taught how to fight various enemies and different signs show you what each control does, depending on which character you pick. You can pick from up to 4 different classes in this game: archer, botanist, barbarian, or warrior. As I picked warrior, that will be my frame of reference (you can go back to the start and change if you don’t like your choice though.) At the setup, the game will show you the pros and cons of each class you pick and each special power held by whichever character you picked.

The controls in this game are pretty simple. B allows you to either read, jump or talk to a character, X swings the axe horizontally, Y vertically and A allows you to use recovery items. You gain food and items by killing enemies.

There are no check or save points in PAW PAW PAW If you die, it’s back to the start of the level. Fortunately, not back to the start of the game though. However, this is still frustrating, so keep that in mind if you are playing. The game does have an autosave feature, like most new games do, but there’s really no check or save points. This is, however, a common feature to the beat 'em up genre.

The music can best be described as a combination of club dance music. It is one of the things that kept me going in this game. The first track in the game isn’t really well heard because it is narrated by a voice actress, but it is basically a bunch of monotone bleeps and blips with dance music put over it. The voice acting is quite good. It is done by a lady and she sounds very passionate about her work and into the game, not just a monotone reader. She added life and made me want to learn more. It’s a shame she wasn’t featured in more than just the introduction.

Morally how does the game hold up? There is blood when you defeat enemies and as a hack and slash game, there is violence, although not a lot of gore since these are cartoon characters. I guess you can also deduct points for partial nudity, since these frisky animals don’t want to wear pants. There is also fantasy magic. To get really picky, this game does involve a rebellion against the authority of King BunnyLord III to wear pants.

To conclude, Paw Paw Paw is a lot of fun and silly at the same time. The premise is funny and welcome in a world where things get gloomier and gloomier all the time. If you want to forget the world and not have its evils rubbed in your face, Paw Paw Paw will bring a smile to your face and hopefully some laughs.