Review: PaRappa The Rapper (PSP)

It’s been just over ten years since Parappa first appeared in Japan on Sony’s original Playstation. Parappa, with his catchphrase “I gotta believe” had to battle his way through six levels of rhyming in one of the earliest rhythm action games to appear. Capturing the imagination of gamers, Parappa demonstrated the opportunities to develop new and imaginative games that Sony’s CD based format offered. However, in the world of gaming, perhaps more so than any other, ten years is a long time. Rhythm action games have changed immeasurably and somehow don’t feel complete unless there is a requirement to wield a child-size plastic guitar during play. Sony clearly thinks that there’s still a market for Parappa’s simple charms, as they’ve now released the game on the PSP. 

Although this version of Parappa the Rappa features extras such as ad hoc play and downloadable content, the single-player mode at the game’s heart is a direct port of the original Playstation game. Of course, in some ways this is no bad thing. The original game was a triumph, both visually and sonically.

For those unfamailiar with Parappa the Rapper, Parappa is a rapping dog. The game follows his attempts to woo his sweetheart, a girl who also happens to be a sunflower called Sunny Funny. Aided by PJ Berri, a DJing Bear, and battling against love rival Joe Chin for Sunny’s affection, Parappa performs a number of tasks to try to impress Sunny. The story is told through a number of wonderfully strange cut-scenes, which can be skipped, but deserve to be watched.

Each task that Parappa has to perform makes up one of the games six levels. A teacher character busts a rap about what has to be done, with Parappa then following the rap by pressing the face and shoulder buttons in time with the sequence indicated on screen. Press the wrong button and Parappa will deliver a load of unintelligible garbage. Get everything right and Parappa will be sounding like Kanye West in no time. Each song featured in the game is an original composition, constrained only by the developers’ imagination. Fortunately, their imaginations seem to run wild. The tracks are supremely well produced, full of charm and most importantly great lines, which will inevitably get stuck in your head. Who can forget classic lines from the likes of Chop Chop Master Onion such as “Kick! Punch! It’s all in the mind” or the reggae inspired genius of Mr Prince Fleaswallow’s track?

However, whilst the songs are great, the game’s steep difficulty curve isn’t so appealing. There are two different difficulty settings, easy and normal as well as a brief practice mode. The easy setting is so insultingly easy that it’s almost not worth the effort of playing through. It’s also limited to just the first three of the six levels available. Normal modes is like playing a different game altogether. It’s very hard and very unforgiving. The game rates your performance on a sliding scale on which you can get as high as “u rappin’cool” or as low as “u rappin’awful”. Rap so badly that you get stuck on awful and the game will be over before you know it. And unless you’re a rhythm action prodigy, the chances are you’ll be stuck on awful for a while. Why? Because what the game never really explains to you and you’re left to figure out on your own is that you’re not just required to follow the sequence, but also to try and deliver each press (and therefore each part of the rap) on beat. It’s frustratingly difficult to perfect and might well lead to a broken PSP before perfection is anywhere near being achieved. There’s still no proper tutorial to ease you in to how the game wants you to play, which by today’s standards is almost unforgivable.

Parappa’s world is a bright and beautiful and ever, full of bright colours and life, and has translated perfectly to the PSP’s widescreen. That the unique mix of paper-thin 2D characters over 3D backgrounds looks as exciting as it did ten years ago is testament to the quality of the game’s design. However, the additional features for this PSP version are lacking. Ad hoc multiplayer is always fun, but hardly enough to warrant a purchase in themselves, whilst the downloadable content has still to reach European shores. Follow the links in-game and you’ll be greeted with a picture of Parappa and the words “coming soon”. Hardly impressive, given that the game was released in Europe this summer.

Provided that you are willing to persevere with the game’s difficulty, Parappa provides a lot of fun. It’s a charming game, with great songs and that’s what rhythm action is all about isn’t it? However any fun isn’t likely to last for very long, given the meagre six levels on offer. Even with a knocked-down r.r.p. of £20, this hardly represents brilliant value for money. As a game at the vanguard of a new genre ten years ago, Parappa was excellent. Today, it’s an enjoyable diversion before the next game arrives. 

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Andy Lucas