Review: Playstation - PaRappa the Rapper (I Gotta Believe!)Hello, everyone! It’s AwesomeTrinket once more, but today,instead of reviewing a game that’s part of my childhood (Like what I did wit hPenguin Brothers and Rabbit) instead, we’re reviewing a game that I just found out about, called PaRappa the Rapper!This is a rhythm game about rapping. Unfortunately, the Vizzed version of PaRappa the Rapper doesn’t have the full version of the game. After stage three or so, the game loops back to stage one over and over again; and it never gets to stage four.
However, through lots of magic and love (AKA tens of hundreds of hours Googling stuff left and right) I’ve finally figured out what the problem was. I was in easy mode the whole time! So, guys, you have to switch to normal mode if you want to play all six stages. But with that little tidbit, let’s begin!
Also, I'm submitting this in for English tomorrow in school. If you guys could give me some tips on how to improve, I'd be eternally grateful to you.
Graphics – 8Oh, I love how original the graphics are! They’re so bright and cheery! I’ve never once seen an art style like PaRappa the Rapper! I’ve compared it to many other games on the original Playstation and it really stands out. Most Playstation games that I’ve looked at (Ghost in the Shell, LSD Dream Emulator, Clock Tower (NOT THE FIRST FEAR), etc.) are the same old 3D graphics, but not this game! However, this game is a fresh and new approach to the graphics when compared to the games I’ve looked at. It looks so advanced and original that it looks like that it belongs on the Playstation 3 instead of the original Playstation!
While I am constantly giving this game praise for thecolorful beauty and ease on the eyes that it is, I must criticize that I don’t like how all of the characters are as thin as paper. If everything else isn’t basically a paper doll, (The cakes in stage 4, Joe Chin’s super stretched out limo in stage 2, and the earth in stage 3, to give you some examples) then why are the characters, might I ask?
Sound – 10The sound has to be good on a rhythm game, especially one about rapping. Thankfully, though, this game does the songs right. They’re meant to be extremely catchy (Which it is) and the lyrics easy to remember (Which it also is) Many times when – actually, every time – I play this game I find myself rapping along to the music. I can’t control myself! The music is just so catchy that, no matter where I am, I end up singing along!
My personal favorite songs are the songs in Stage 2 and Stage 4. I really love Stage 2 because the music is upbeat and happy and the lyrics are super fun to sing along. ( “When I say boom boom boom, you say bam bam bam! No pause in between, come on, let’s jam!” ) Instructor Mooselini, the teacher in this stage, might also be my favorite teacher, which is another reason why I love this stage and its song so much.
I like Stage 4 a lot more than Stage 2. The music sounds like a real rap song that would be played on the radio, and Michele Burks, the woman who voiced Cheap Cheap the Cooking Chicken, is really good at rapping. The way she raps makes it sound, again, like a song that would be played on the radio ( “My style is rich, dope, phat in which, we’ll make a cake today that looks rich!” ) So, kudos to you, Michele, for being a great rapper.
P.S. I’m amazing at rapping, if you’re curious.
Addictiveness – 10So. So. SO ADDICTIVE. I can’t stop playing this game! I’m trying to beat stage 4, and it’s so hard! However, stage 4 does make up for its extreme difficulty by having the best rap in the game. I don’t know how many times I started playing this game at 4 P.M. and next thing I know, its dinnertime (9 P.M) and I didn’t even take a bathroom break or to turn on my room’s light! I can literally spend hours doing nothing but playing this game, it’s so addictive.
Somehow, Penguin Brothers, which is a childhood game that I love, isn’t as addictive as this, a random game that I found out about only a week ago, so that says a lot about how good this game is.
Story – 6
Despite what you might think, this game actually has a really decent and original story. I’ve never seen any story that implements rapping into each adventure that the main character faces. The story is that PaRappa has a secret, but massive crush on the beautiful Sunny Funny. However, Joe Chin, a seemingly “perfect” character, who does almost everything better, is also trying to win the heart of Sunny, and seems to be doing it quite well!
PaRappa decides that he needs to gain more confidence to become a hero and make Joe not have a single chance for Sunny’s heart. But how will he do that, you may ask. Well, I’ll tell you, my esteemed reader: He’s GOTTA BELIEVE! For each stage, through the power of rapping (what.) he will have to learn how to drive, how to sell stuff at a flea market, and, yes, he even has to learn Kung Fu through rapping to get Sunny, all while fulfilling his dreams of becoming an amazing rapper that’s even better than me.
Depth – 5
There’s not much to do in this game, to be honest. You press buttons at a certain time. It’s a rhythm game. However, you better make sure that you’re pressing the right buttons on time! This game has a gauge to show if you’re rapping is perfectly fine, or if you need to improve. The gauge has four levels: Cool, Good, Bad, and Awful. If you finish the rap on Cool or Good, then you can move on to the next level.
However, if you mess up one too many times, then you’ll drop down a level. If you drop down to Bad or Awful by the time you finish rapping, then you will have to restart the level and do it over and over again until you end up finishing the stage when the gauge is at least at Good, so you better make sure that you're good at pressing buttons at the right time!
Difficulty – 10
Ohhhh, this game is so hard! Often I have problems completing Stage 3 on normal mode, and Stage 3 is, by far, the easiest stage in the entire game, but that’s what makes it more addictive. You want to play, over and over again, to get to the next levels. The most frustrating level, by far, is Stage 4, Cheap Cheap the Cooking Chicken’s stage. While she does have an amazing rap, I constantly fail at her stage!
Somehow, at the last moment before I win, I go from “U rappin’ GOOD!” to “U rappin’ AWFUL!” all the time, no matter what. It’s frustrating, I tell you.
Overall – 8.1
Overall without Difficulty – 5.1 (What?!)
Because the overall without the difficulty is 5.1 and this game is way more than a 5.1, we’ll just let the overall score be 8.1. I would seriously recommend playing this game if you’re looking for a fun and challenging game to play with good story!
Graphics
8 Sound
10 Addictive
10 Depth
5 Story
6 Difficulty
10
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