PaRappa the Rapper 2

"A quirky title, but not worth much more than a weekend of your time."

One of my friends was returning some of my games, when in the pile was “PaRappa The Rapper 2.” I've heard about the series before. It was a rhythm game, and it was Japanese which meant it was pretty wacky. I knew the game was a underground, sleeper hit, but I was disappointed when the game did little for me.

Gameplay: (4/10)

Parappa‘s weakest aspect is, unfortunately, the gameplay. The premise is simple: The teacher will sing lyrics, which are represented by buttons on a timeline, and you must match them.

Problem one: Has anyone ever learned the wacky buttons on the PS2 controller? If you told me before I played this game:“ Where is the Square button?” then I couldn't tell you.

So when I started playing, I kept looking at the controller, thus, missing my cues. After playing wonderful rhythm games like Amplitude, it was hard to get rhythm going when I don't know what buttons to press. The game humorously punishes you for missing beats (Parappa will say the wrong thing and bad things will happen.) The more you mess up, the worse the song begins to sound. So it makes you look silly if your not doing well.

The rhythm in the game is also awkward. It all comes down to random buttons it seems. Buttons don't' have a certain quality to them as far as I could tell, such has high or low. It's just whatever pattern the designers picked.

More on the songs in the Sound section.

By the end of the game I was getting pretty good at it. But by that point, it didn't matter. It was over. Which leads to:

Problem two this game is short. Short, with little replay value.

In-between the goofy cutscene that make up the silly but charming story, you'll face off against one of your rap teachers. Sounds ok right? Well, there's only 7 songs total. They didn't need any more to tell the story really, but they could have benefited from one or two more stories with more songs.

After you beat a level, you'll open it's 2 player mode and ranking mode. I wasn't able to try the true 2 player, but its just what you'll expect: two players try and have the best rhythm.

Graphics: (5/10)

Parrappa's graphics are highly stylized. All the characters paper cut outs that move in 3D, with bad lip syncing. (like they never changed it from the original Japanese)

In the end its charming, but it doesn't stop the fact that it looks cheap.

During songs, the characters dance and do silly things, so it's entertaining for people watching.

Sound and Music (7/10)

Like the rest of the game, the songs are silly. They're all original, and are about whatever going on at the time. Like making hamburgers, cutting hair, doing karate.

The songs are decent, but only a few really stand out as being catchy. They're all forms of rap, hip hop or something similar. So you'll like it or hate it.

This is kind of a gameplay thing, but even if you ARE on rhythm with the songs, Parappa's words don't seen to flow very well. He's not a great singer either.

Story (6/10)

Its hard to rate the story, because it's pretty dumb. But he characters are charming, and the going ons are humorous. Parappa and his friend are little animal (or something else) people, and appropriately cute looking. He also has a cheesy and fun catch phrase: “I gotta believe!”

The story involved Parappa winning a lifetime supply of noodles… and soonh es sick of the stuff. SO when he and his friends go to Sunny house (A sunflower Parappa has a crush on) what does she serve? Noodles of course.

Obviously Parappa feels sick and runs out of the house. “I didn't know you we're such a baby Parappa!” says Sunny. So this puts Parappa in the state of mind he needs to grow up.

And then there's more noodles. And burger ghosts. And homoerotic kung fu. And gangsta roaches. And… so on.

Ok, so the story is silly, but it's worth watching just for its cheesiness. There's only two parts I truly thought was funny though. Which is sad.

Replay (4/10)

Aside for replaying the songs or see the story, there's really no need to replay this game. There's little incentive to try and get better with the songs except for one or two unlockables. So that means after a couple hours of play, you've seen just about everything there is to see. The game would have benefited from at least a additional story with more songs.

Overall (5/10)

Given if you find this game it'll be pretty darn cheap, (my friend got it for 5 dollars) it's a ok title to have around if your into obscure games. There's a lot of potential here for something a bit more involving, but it's wasted on a 2 hour game with little replay value. Your time is better well spent on games like Amplitude. But still, it has enough charm to be worth a afternoon of your time.

Now if you excuse me, I need to find some Mp3 of some of those crazy songs.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/05