Since today’s gamers can’t handle cute without a fair dose of abject horror and violence in their games (“Yes! Blood! I am manly and awash in gore!” is a mantra I’ve uttered once or twice during rounds of Dead Rising), it only seems fitting that a game designed for the express purpose of meeting that need is now on the way. Today Sega announced that the black-as-all-getout comedy Happy Tree Friends is to be immortalized on XBLA this Fall as Happy Tree Friends False Alarm, an action-puzzler that promises to be as bloody as it is cuddly.
So, how does one shoe-horn a property like Happy Tree Friends into a game? Take it, Sega:
Playing unlike any other action title on the market with its physics-based reactive environment, Happy Tree Friends False Alarm is an action-puzzle game that enables players to control one of three characters … Using resources such as concrete, ice, and nitroglycerin to augment the dynamic 3D environments, your goal is to save the Happy Tree Friends from hilarious disaster situations, and their own bad luck.
So, physics-based action-puzzle gameplay starring the Happy Tree Friends, eh? Somewhere in America, an entire Hot Topic staff just wet themselves. Dig the press release after the jump.
SEGA ANNOUNCES HAPPY TREE FRIENDS FALSE ALARM™ FOR PC DOWNLOAD AND XBOX LIVE ARCADE
Game will be Based on the Animated, International, Multi-platform Franchise from Mondo Media
LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (May 10, 2007) – SEGA Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced an exclusive agreement with the award-winning production studio, Mondo Media, to create video game content based on the popular animated series, Happy Tree Friends™. Currently under development by Stainless Studios, Happy Tree Friends False Alarm™ is scheduled for release via digital download on PC and Microsoft’s Xbox Live® Arcade in Autumn 2007.
Happy Tree Friends is a popular Internet phenomenon that debuted as a television series on G4 TV in the U.S and on MTV in several European countries. Selling over one million DVD copies worldwide, Happy Tree Friends continues to thrill audiences online and maintains its position as a top ten most downloaded podcast on iTunes. Now taking the spotlight with its very own interactive game, Happy Tree Friends False Alarm features the furry woodland creatures in a host of dismembering and ill-fated calamities.
“The Happy Tree Friends have a unique and dark type of humour that has attracted many fans” commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director, SEGA Europe Ltd. “We are excited to be working with Mondo Media creating a title that not only captures the essence of this type of comedy, but that will also appeal to gamers and followers of the show alike”
Playing unlike any other action title on the market with its physics-based reactive environment, Happy Tree Friends False Alarm is an action-puzzle game that enables players to control one of three characters. Choose to play as either Flippy, the emotionally tattered war-torn bear; Lumpy, the dim-witted blue moose; or Handy, an amputee beaver carpenter always eager to lend a helping limb. Using resources such as concrete, ice, and nitroglycerin to augment the dynamic 3D environments, your goal is to save the Happy Tree Friends from hilarious disaster situations, and their own bad luck. Play in 10 diverse levels designed exclusively for Happy Tree Friends False Alarm including mine shafts, candy factories and a museum, all of which are filled with outrageous outcomes and plenty of accidental mayhem!
“SEGA is a perfect partner for us because of their rich tradition of creating compelling, character-based games, and true to form they’re developing a truly original game that we think our fans will love,” said Kenn Navarro, the creator of Happy Tree Friends.
