PaRappa the Rapper 2

"I gotta believe!"

Parappa the Rapper is back, better late then never I suppose. The last time we saw Parappa and all his friends was in Um Jammy Lammy, the teaser sequel to Parappa the Rapper. Both of these games were short for the money they cost, let's face it, both games could be completed within one hour on the first run, but how long the game lasts is not a true matter of Parappa, it is the gameplay, the music and the humour.

Everything from the two previous games are back and rolled in to one. This includes all the old characters such as Pj Berri, Katy Kat, Lammy, Ma-San and Sunny Funny, along with new characters like Colonel Noodles and Sunny's father. The legendary Chop Chop Onion Master is back, this time doing romantic karate, characters are given much bigger roles such as Parappa's father and PJ Berri. There is a day-night feature, play at night and the town map is dark, play in the day and the sun is out, magic. The old school graphics are back but with enchancements, cameo's a-plenty, you can sit through a cut-scene for the thirteenth time and still discover something new.

The game does try something new. This time Parappa's master's next line is displayed above Parappa's, You have to complete the game many times to unlock new stuff such as music and different colored hats. There is eight levels rather then six, most of these are easy until level 5, you will probably die once on each level.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Parappa the Rapper 2 is about a rapping dog who goes through levels by rapping. A Bar is displayed and Parappa must copy or out stage his master, for example if the line has three O and two X buttons on it, the player must hit the correct button at the same time as required. If some lines are like 'Toast buns!'. Parappa can change this around by saying 'Buns toast!', correctly doing the line and gaining more points. If P[arappa does bad on one line, he goes down a bit, starting from GOOD to bad to Awful, however you can easily go up a grade by pressing the buttons on the next line. This makes the game fun, you can experiment with your own lines as well as your masters.

The story in Parappa is amazing, it is the best story in such a short game. It sounds a bit silly at first, however tghere arew many plot twists. The story is about Parappa waking up from a dream about noodles, he tells us how he won a year's supply of noodles, his girlfriend Sunny Funny makes him some noddles for dinner, however Parappa storms out with his best friend to Beard Burgers, this is where he learns everything is changing in to noodles (Only japan can come up with hilarious storylines like this), so it seems Parappa must save the day and win Sunny's heart.

I must say that the sound and music is amazing. Parappa's voice has been perfected from when we last saw him, he and the masters sound brilliant (especially Guru Ant). The graphics on the other hand seem bad, but for Parappa, it is an improvement, many more things are made of polygons, but still sticks to its 2D matter.

I would not recommend Parappa the Rapper 2 to buy, I rented the game and completed it within three hours and got all the hats and some CD's by three days. Oh well, it was the best rental I have had in a long time.

Good

- Parappa is back
- Great story, graphics, sound, music and gameplay
- Longer then the first two games

Bad

- A bit on the short side
- Multi-player is a bit poor

Summary:

Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 10/10
Music - 10/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Story - 10/10
Challenge - 4/10
Enjoyment - 10/10
Lifespan - 5/10
Multi-player - 5/10
Overall - 8/10

Alternatives: Parappa the Rapper, Um Jammy Lammy, Vib Ribbon and Music.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/02, Updated 10/30/02