Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure

"The god of darkness is a fluffy white bunny. Need I say more?"

If you thought this game was just an overly cute and sweet game... you were more or less right. But myself, I like overly cute and sweet things.

Plot line: I, personally, liked the plot line. It is a little stereotypical (the main character falls in love and must go save their love from the evil villain) But it was done in a cute way, and the gender roles were reversed. Almost the entire cast of the game is female, including the main character, which I haven't seen in many other places. The dialogue is often hilarious, as a bonus, but for those of you that don't like annoyingly cute things, I can safely say this game is not for you.

Characters: I liked the characters. All of them were very well developed. Even the puppets are well developed! The characters are also very likable. Even the supposed ''big bad villain'' has such a big ego you cant help but laugh at almost every word out of her mouth. Some Voice acting might have been nice, but I'm still content. The characters will also change their expression during the course of the conversation, which is nice because they aren't smiling stupidly when they're supposed to be screaming bitterly at someone. The puppets are, once again, cute and some of them are rather unique, such as the three eggs that join your party. Not to mention the god of Darkness is a Fluffy White Bunny! Also, the well developed characters helps make up for the next point, which might be considered negative...

Songs: The characters burst out into song at certain points at the game. Many people find this annoying and sickeningly reminiscent of a Disney movie, but I found them cute. They help a lot to further develop characters.

Battle: The battle system goes like this; the floor is divided into a grid and you move the characters into range so you can attack. The attacks are physical ones and magic, and the game (as always) uses an HP/MP system (although that's sort of the way with every game, now isn't it?). Its rather simple and doesn't require much strategy. You will normally win most of your battles, even on the hard level. Even the last villain fight is very easy, and theres rarely any leveling-up necessary. What is cool is that the main character serves as a power-up character, and when she powers up enough characters, she gets to use magic abilities called rewards.

Graphics: They're actually rather cute, I found. Brightly coloured and nice to look at.... with of course the exception of the dungeons. I hated these. Absolutely hated them. They are basically the same room, over and over and over again. Some rooms may be red, some blue, some gray, buts its all the same in the end. I spent about 2 hours trying to find by way out of one dungeon. Its very, VERY easy to get lost, and after the first few dungeons, you will come to dread them and it will take a lot of will power to push on through them. Also, the battle graphics are very plain. Theres really nothing special about them, and I was soon very tired of them.

Background Music: The background music is, again, rather cute. Normally slow paced and very peaceful... except for in dungeons. Another reason to hate the dungeons is the annoying music. And more annoying than dungeons in other games, I find, seeing as how every dungeon has the same music.

Languages: A bonus on this game is that you can play in both English and Japanese. I can't read Japanese, so that's all I'll say on this subject.

Difficulty: VERY. EASY. This game is extremely easy on every level. Even Hard is easy.

Artwork: The game comes with pieces of Artwork you can find throughout the game. I thought this was pretty cool.

Overall: A very cute and sweet game all around. Very witty at times, sappy at others, but the incredibly repetitive dungeons is its major flaw. Otherwise, I recommend this game... well, so long as you like cute things. Otherwise, I suggest you stay far, far away. Its very easy, and its not exactly necessary to buy it. You can complete it if you rent it, as I did.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/24/01, Updated 11/24/01