Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure

"Finally An Enjoyable Game that is Suitable for Minors and Adults!"

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure - Reviewer's Notes

One of the trends of computer games has follow along the lines of the hey day during our Rock&Roll era. We might have heard this phrase often: Sex, Drugs, and Rock&Roll and we know that this is a reflection of a lost generation of kids that are influenced in a bad way by rock and roll. When we follow along that line until the present and to the future, we can see that trends of video games are following on a same pattern. Games that show explicit violence - e.g. Doom, Quake, BioHazard; Games that have suggestive themes - Female Characters with skimpy outfits. I won't comment on such trends and how they corrupt the youth (in which I have a rebuttal) , but focus more on how repetitve some games have been by recycling old themes much like how many B-Grade movies were made as slight variations of a very popular theme.

Due to all of this, I just wanted to draw back to our review of the game Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure which is one game that seems to defy the trend and manages to be an interesting game on its own right though the lack of violence, lack of sexual explicit theme, and a somewhat suited for minor plotline which plays much like a bedtime story.

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure is This a cute RPG game in which is highly suggested for our younger audiences and especially female video game players. The game is about Cornet who is a puppeteer and her favorite sidekick a talking puppet called Kururu as we follow along the adventures and misadventures of both of them in this magical and musical adventure.

Learning Curve: Easy (0.5-1 hour)
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 20+ hours

Gameplay/Mechanics: 6/10
Rhapsody is a rather typical RPG game without anything dramatic or worth of mention when compared with comparative RPGs of this period.The fighting system is a turn-based in which players take turn moving their characters on the map and fight each other. Most the combat are rather repetitive and boring though its interesting that you can have many characters to aid you that range from enemies that change alliance to follow you and other puppets you meet along the way.

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics on this game are done in very bright vivid colors that reminds you of children shows. The characters are drawn in detailed anime style, and the main characters are all well drawn and animated bringing life to this animated and interactive children show ;)

Sound/Music: 10/10
One of the best parts of the game is the music. The music on this game are divided to two main types. Instrumentals that are played on different stages that are typical of these games. The other type of music are music on special scenes which are like musical or broadway music which are sung. We can listen to the songs both in the English/Japanese version. Personally I find the English version a better version due to its more powerful vocals compared to the Japanese version that the producers opted more on cute vocals than power. Otherwise the music are none- mainstream and a nice welcome change, much like how the opera theme in FF6 (FF3 in US/Europe) clicked opposed to the trend of computer game music of the time.

Replayability: 6/10
There are only a few reasons to replay this title. The first one is to get some of the puppets that we didn't get in the first run. The second one is to get all the bonus artwork that are hidden in random places in the gameworld. Not much to replay for, unless you really want to get all the bonus artwork which is worth the effort :)

Reviewer's Tilt: +1
One aspect of the game that I liked alot about this game is that its a parody of common bedtime stories. Instead of prince charming rescuing the princess, we see the opposite here - which is like a big fable. The story is enjoyable, somewhat silly slapstick humor from time to time, and after the time you get to enjoy the character dynamics and how each of their agenda drives them to different behavior over time. In other words, I like the plot - its funny, engaging, sweet, and elegant at the same time :)

Overall: 8/10
Though technically this game should have been given a lower score, I find this game a somewhat refreshing change in pace and direction from games of the similar period. Though this game was targeted for female players who are minors, this game is still enjoyable for a wider audience of players that makes this game one enjoyable game that I would like to recommend out game players to try for a change :)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04