PaRappa the Rapper

"Busting out rhymes doggystyle! ......... Not like that you perverts!"

INTRO

I meant because Parappa is a DOG! Yeesh! Anyway, Parappa the Rapper is probably the weirdest and most unusual game for the Playstation. However, a weird friend advised me to rent it so I see the reason why it's a weird game :). Anyway I rented this game when I first got my Playstation around the end of 1997 so this game is pretty old. It was the second game I rented for Playstation and I was expecting a great game, but when the guy who told me to rent this game does that the chances of that being good are very slim. Now after you read this review you'll know why I gave this game a 4. Not because it's a horrible game, but for another reason you will find out soon enough. Parappa the Rapper is a musical action game made by Sony and released in USA in early November of 1997. There are many flaws to this game and I'm oh so ready to go there. Let's begin shall we?

STORY: (3/10)

The story is really really bad. In fact it's possibly the worst story ever that anyone could've thought of. That's not the case though. The story is pretty good but considering that Parappa the Rapper is a musical action game, the story falls hard. You are Parappa, a dog, and you are hanging out with your friends one day and for a while now Parappa has been trying to hook up with this girl that he likes. She is a flower with legs (I think her name is Patty) and Parappa has to impress her somehow to make her his woman. Of course how are you going to impress her? Rap man! You got to bust out rhymes and go freestyle to get the babe. This story is very unusual and somewhat funny. Now I see this may be funny and original, but it's so easy to come up with. Maybe not the rapping thing though :P. I personally found the story kind of lame and it's comedic look is what boosted this to a 3. I didn't like the story, but that's not all that I didn't like. Overall, very unusual story ... unusual indeed.

GAME PLAY: (4/10)

Now the game play is what is the main thing that can really get you annoyed. There isn't much to explain about the game because, and this is a reason why it's bad, there's not much to even do in the game. Now since I had this game for about three days it may have been a reason why this score is lower, but enough of that, onto the game play. Ill start off with the worst thing about the game. It's extremely short. There are only six levels in the entire game and there are no bonus levels (at least I don't know of any) and none of them are really different. There are only two differences about each level and that is the beat and the lyrics and that is not a good thing. Each level has something funny to it though. For example, the first stage an onion karate master tells you how to rap. Well, here's a basic rundown of a level. You see yourself next to someone in some funny background and then music starts. Then you see at the top of the screen a bar with Parappas face next to it and then a set of buttons coming out. The buttons are on the bar and Parappas face moves through the bar and as his face touches the button (square, circle, X, and triangle) that's when you press the button. It's a very simple game, but it still lacks of fun. I forgot to mention that on the screen when playing there is a chart next to your score. The chart goes like this starting from bottom to top: awful, bad, good, cool. Cool is extremely hard to get but I'll get to that later. Anyway, to pass the level you need to be good and that is not so hard to get. If you miss a couple times then your level will decrease. You will see the chart blink if you either move up or down. For example, if you are on good and you fall to bad, good will begin to blink and the next one you miss takes you down to bad. That's how you play the game. Throughout each level you press the buttons at the right time. This is fun at first but then it gets extremely boring. The main reason this game got such a bad score is because of its length. I beat this game in less than a half an hour and that is very short. Luckily, I rented this. However, from a certain source known as KBroccoli, it seems as if you get cool in every level you can get your friends to play and there can be bonus levels. He's a pretty wacky guy so I wouldn't be too sure of it. I'm just kidding Broccoli! Anyway I am still unsure about that but it's possible. That is a definite plus in the game play, but the lack of game play is what makes this game so bad. Overall, pretty fun game but way too short.

CONTROLS: (10/10)

Wow! These controls are great, but here's the catch. There's basically no controls! Well, you only press buttons that the game tells you to press, but throughout the whole game you do not move Parappa at all. I think that there might be some directional buttons with the buttons for you to press while rapping, but I'm not sure. I'm probably thinking of Bust-A-Groove. Parappa uses almost every button however and when pressing them they are all responsive. Good thing is that before his face moves, the game shows you what button is coming up next. The controls are a definite plus for this game, but do not be fooled about me giving this game a 10. I gave it that because you should not have any problems with them, therefore, making it perfect. Overall, the controls are really easy to use.

MUSIC/SOUND: (7/10)

What kind of game would a musical action game be without good music and sounds? I don't know, but Parappa the Rapper has some good music. Some of it is very kiddy which may get annoying, but Parappa is a kid so does it matter? All the beats are fantastic, but some of them seem sort of weird. For example, the Jamaican frogs level sounds pretty weird. Mostly all of the levels are very clear and the music is just fine for all of them. There are only a few memorable tunes in this game so there was nothing special about the game. It's fun to listen to while playing the game and Sony did a great job here. Now for the sounds. The sounds are very good. You can hear the people such as the onion karate teacher or the moose lady driver and even Parappa rap! It does sound kind of corny, but it's still cool. The voices aren't that great though. Most of them are, but some of Parappas friends sound annoying. Good thing you don't hear them much. The music and sounds aren't the best thing about the game (the controls are :P), but they do make the game enjoyable and nice to listen to. Overall, pretty good audio.

GRAPHICS: (3/10)

Now here is what is another bad thing about Parappa the Rapper. These graphics utterly suck major well ... you get the point. Anyway, why are these graphics bad you ask? Well, I'll be more than happy to tell you. First off, and many Playstation games suffer from this, is that the characters look like pieces of paper cut out. I think that's how the game is supposed to be, but since I'm not sure I can still say the graphics are ugly. The coloring is not bright nor dark, there bland. The coloring in this game is what would make you say ''bleh.'' Some levels are colorful such as the frog level and the last level, but the whole game is not. There is no detail whatsoever in the graphics, only a little bit in some backgrounds. The character designs are horrible because they are all weird (props to Sony or their creativity) and ugly looking. Every character just looks like a piece of paper, colored by a little kid. That's basically everything about the graphics: little detail, paper cut out characters, and dense coloring. Overall, I wasn't too pleased with these graphics.

CHALLENGE: (1/10)

Oh Lord! This is one of the easiest games in the world, it's true, it's true! This may be a bad thing for some people, but it wasn't that bad for me. I personally think this game is more for younger players (I don't remember what the game was rated, probably E). Anyway, as I said earlier that I beat this game in less than a half an hour. That's pretty short for any game. Even though it's very hard to get COOL, it is not required to beat the game so that's what I'm basing the score on. Actually, the game itself would get a 0 for challenge, but getting COOL brings it up a bit and I've gotten COOL only three times. It's very hard and it's pretty much getting a perfect. All six levels are very easy and this game lacks challenge. Kids would have a lot of fun with this game, but if you are the type who love games that are really hard then don't bother. Overall, hilariously easy challenge.

REPLAY: (4/10)

The replay value is pretty low. The good thing about this game being so quick is that if you are ever bored and you got nothing to do then you could just blow off about 10-15 minutes. This, however, rarely happens and I only rented it once and never again so for me the replay value is extremely low. Although, according to KBroccoli there is a good amount of replay value because of the bonus levels and secret characters by beating the game with every level on COOL. If that's true, probably is, that could take awhile and thus giving it the 4 that I gave this category. I'm not sure about the secret characters and bonus stuff, but I do know that trying to beat the game having COOL for every level is an extremely challenging task. Overall, a bit below average replay value.

PROS
- Good music and sounds
- Easy controls
- Bonus levels and secret characters

CONS
- Too easy
- Lame story
- Bad graphics

OVERALL: (4/10)

I may have sounded like I hated this game, but I actually liked it when I rented it. I just feel that this game is way to short and the challenge is too easy so those are my main reasons of giving this game a 4. I would have to recommend you to rent it. Why spend $20 on a game that you could beat if you rent it which is about $5. It used to be $40 and that is crazy. I have yet to play the sequel to this Um Jammer Lammy, but I saw it brand new for sale for $8. That is a good price for games like this because that game is probably easy to beat like this one. I have nothing else to say about this game other that it is a great fifteen minutes of fun. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/00, Updated 08/13/00