'Bullistic Unleashed' slings itself by the balls into the App Store

Millipede Creative Development release Bullistic Unleashed.

It's not every day a game you made as a joke gets featured in the App Store, but that is exactly what happened to Millipede Creative Development.

Several years ago the studio, which specializes in creating apps and games for advertising and digital agencies, made Bullistic as a gift for their clients. The iOS title was intended as a joke in response to the frequent requests they received from clients to make their games "more like Angry Birds".

"We were asked this so many times, we started keeping a score on the board," says Millipede Creative's director, Wil Monte.

"Then it got ridiculous so we stopped counting. Bullistic was a clone of Angry Birds, [but] we changed the theme to reflect a bit of our studio's personality.

"We played on the ‘Bull in a china shop' expression, included an intrusive metal soundtrack, and had the bull's balls jiggle in your face at the end of every level - of which there were only five."

The game was never intended for the general public, but to the studio's surprise Bullistic received a stack of downloads as well as attention from reviewers and players.

"We'll never shake the Angry Birds clone comments."

"There were a lot of terrible reviews because the game was really rough and never really intended for the public," says Monte.

"However, there were some really positive reviews, which made us see the potential in the idea."

With the help of the Australian funding board, Film Victoria, the team who whipped up the Angry Birds clone for a joke decided to create something original based on a similar theme: Bullistic Unleashed. They trimmed everything that Bullistic had taken from Angry Birds, keeping only the launch mechanism - a slingshot.

"We'll never shake the Angry Birds clone comments," says Monte.

"When a game [like Angry Birds] is that big and there is one similarity, it's impossible. [But] our levels are huge and are a cross between a pinball machine and a platformer. Your shot doesn't simply last 10 seconds, it can go for over a minute if executed correctly."

"I think this game has its place. It's a naughty release. You laugh, even when you feel you shouldn't, and you'll really enjoy it."

Set in a mall, the player's aim is to sling the bulls by their (literal) balls through platforms to cause as much chaos as possible, smashing everything from people to store merchandise to the platforms themselves. The game is tongue-in-cheek, cartoonishly gory and features pretty lady cows that often distract the bulls (note: Bullistic Unleashed is not intended for children).

"We really hope people have a good laugh while playing this," Monte says.

"Sure, we may have gotten carried away with the violence, crude humor and cow humping, but I think this game has it's place. It's a naughty release. You laugh, even when you feel you shouldn't, and you'll really enjoy it."

Bullistic Unleashed is Millipede Creative's first full production and original release and goes on sale today.