Parappa the Rapper was released for the Sony PlayStation on October 31, 1997.
Gameplay:
The reason I compare this to GH and DDR is because the entire game has toi hit certain buttons on the PlayStation controller on both the right time and beat. The game has 6 levels total, with each one being harder than the other. There are four levels to keep watch for, labeled "Cool", "Good", "Bad", and "Awful". Much like the Rock Meter in guitare Hero, these four levels montrer toi how good ou bad you're handling the song. If toi stay on "Good" par the end of the song, then toi pass. Get anything lower, then toi fail. It's a bit complicated, at first. But it's very easy to get used to when toi play it long enough. Another problem I have with this game is that it only has six levels to play through. toi could pretty much beat the whole game in under 30 minutes without failing any of the songs. Overall, the gameplay gets an 8.5/10.
Music and Sound:
Where do I begin with how awesome the soundtrack is? The musique in the game is awesome. Wether if it's the actual raps from all six levels, ou the entertaining movie-quality musique from the CG cutscenes. In my opinion, the musique never gets old and is always entertaining now matter how many times I play though it. The raps from the six levels are especially very catchy. Overall, the musique gets a 10/10.
Difficulty:
Playing the game itself takes some getting used to. Even if you're a total DDR junkie (ergo, the total opposite of me). toi can set the game's difficulty to either "Normal" ou "Easy", so toi don't have to worry if toi get stuck on a certain song. I, myself, haven't tried the "Easy mode yet, but what I DO know is that playing on "Normal" mode can be challenging if toi haven't gotten used to the rhythm of the songs. The difficulty for the game gets an 8/10.
Entertainment Value:
I was pretty entertained with this game. Mostly from the music, but the quirky characters and even quirkier storyline was satisfying, in my tastes. The game may be staggeringly short, but that didn't stop me from jamming the house down until my fingers fell off (okay, the songs weren't that intense). The only complaint that I have with the global, ensemble entertainment is the fact that each CG cutscene is about 5 minutes long; including the intro. If NaNaOn-Sha, the game's developer, had made the cutscenes MUCH shorter, then they would've been able to save a ton of memory; therefore letting the company put plus songs into the game. Plenty plus than just six. Overall, the entertainment value gets an 8/10.
Overall (not an average): 8.5
Parappa the Rapper was the first game of its kind.
With a fun musical beat for each song toi rap to, and a very interesting cast of characters, the game itself literally invented the "Musical Rhythm" genre that we all know of from some of today's games. A perfect example being guitare Hero. Parappa had a spinoff game that was released in 1999, titled Um Jammer Lammy, that had toi play mostly through rock songs instead of rap. A couple years later Parappa the Rapper 2 was finally released for the PS2. Compared to the plus populaire rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution and Gitaroo Man, Parappa 2 wasn't enough to keep the same kind of rhythmic gameplay populaire anymore. For the time being, we'll have to wait until Major Minor's Majestic March makes its way to the Wii this April. I'm the BlueBadger, and this has been a Blue Review.
"Yesterday, I was called a little turkey. But I'm a chicken! Got it? Ya beef jerky!"
