Review for Rabi-Ribi. Game for PlayStation Network, PC, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 28/01/2016 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 01/09/2017
Metroidvania-style gameplay: present. Bullet hell elements: present. Boss-Based Progression: Present. What could a 2D game lack to rise from the dullness of retro indies?
CreSpirit e Sekai Project they wanted to present their free interpretation to the world with Rabi-Ribi, 2D platformer in metroidvania style ... studded with bunnies, kittens and boobs.
The odd plot begins presenting with the presentation of our protagonist, Erina, closed in a box. What used to be a simple pet bunny it now presents itself with human features for totally unknown reasons.
Given the confusion generated by the discovery, undertakes the mission to reach his mistress (Master) Rumi, city leader of Rabi Rabi. During his journey he will make friends with new characters (and by making friends we often and willingly mean having to defeat them in bullet hell style fights) and will have to wrestle with rabbit lovers.
Serious and upright players typically opposed to ambiguous and arguably acceptable stories might turn up their noses at this point, especially given the high presence of cute characters, colorful environments and "weapons" more suitable for childhood use.
However, it is precisely with these elements that CreSpirit has created an incredibly amazing game: under this depraved facade he hides a solid and stimulating 2D platformer, with an impeccable technical sector and curiously well blended original elements.
But let's go in order: the sprites of characters and enemies, as said previously, they are colorful and very pretty. Based on moe style but always respecting pixel art, make the title alive and bring it almost closer to the world of anime. To support this feeling, the developer has been able to insert fluid animations and rich and detailed backgrounds that take advantage of the excellent performance and fluidity that Playstation 4 e PC they manage to offer.
Enemies are easily identifiable and original, deliberately falling into clichés aimed at attracting those players who love this style (those players who are therefore willing to hammer out little girls dressed as rabbits and other harmless-looking animals).
To accompany the graphics sector, captivating and well-made sound elements have been included. Featuring frantic speed and 16bit sounds, many tracks of the soundtrack become almost indelible in the memory, especially the one dedicated to boss challenges. Sometimes this writing in the player's mind is caused by their repetition which, especially in the case of some sounds, could be jovial and excessive.
Yet everything is well blended and still manages to appear perfectly in line with the rest of the game.
However, it's the gameplay that elevates Rabi-Ribi beyond what one might expect: as mentioned above we are talking about a 2D platformer which, presenting elements in the metroidvania style, the player will be able to want to face every enemy in satisfying and pleasant fights and explore the environment that surrounds him.
The fight phases are made surprisingly pleasant and rewarding not only from the animations themselves but also from the epic arsenal that we will have: a rubber hammer, a laser-firing fairy and a carrot grenade represent the perfect annihilation of UAC research in making weapons for Doom Guy. Thanks to an excellent mapping of the joystick, every type of attack and every combo will be easily applicable and thanks to an experience system for each move, it will be possible to upgrade more and more the weapons and the style preferred by the player (of course, the indication of the upgrade is not very visible).
Now let's move on to the second gameplay feature: the exploratory phases. It is precisely by looking for secret rooms and secondary passages that it will be possible to find new weapons and new tools useful especially for bosses. But starting with bias, the idea of backtracking necessary for advancement could (if badly done) ruin a pleasant and fun experience. Here, however, that any doubt is swept away by the developer who not only did he manage to create a balanced exploration system, not very redundant and accessible, but he wanted to give the player the ability to remove the inability to beat a boss without a specific item.
This feature will accommodate light-hearted game lovers and gamers looking for the real challenge. Despite this, the non-linearity applied to the level design will equally lead to looking for every secret alley, making Rabi-Ribi an excellent example of platformer.
And speaking of challenge, we can't skip the most original element that Rabi-Ribi hides: boss challenges are totally developed as bullet hell. Certainly not the first game to use such a solution for bosses (Furi for example, it has an identical mechanic, despite being a third-person action), but this feature is so well hidden by the game that you are amazed since the first main enemy. The bullet patterns are well calculated and related to the chosen difficulty. They are not constantly repeated (each boss in fact will have more attacks of this type) and above all the more complex settings will turn into a real challenge.
In our tests we mainly wanted to focus on the maximum challenge level and we can only admit the satisfaction returned by the final blow inflicted after the latter covered the entire screen with bullets.
Of course, the pretexts of the beginning of the challenge are questionable (despite being in line with the austere and totally appropriate aspect of the title), but the contrast given by the visual style and the level of difficulty cannot be appreciated. And above all .. who cares to have reasons to try their hand at dodging waves of light and fighting until the last coaxing?
We must admit that unfortunately there are some tiny flaws: HUD not easy to interpret, grenades-carrots that cross platforms and the fact of not being able to speak with the characters facing the opposite side from us are small defects that deserve to be corrected, but that fail to scratch the overall quality of the title.
Rabi-Ribi is the classic game that not everyone would be ready to play: ambiguity, questionable style and so on would take away the big and mature players who would never stoop to impersonate a human bunny armed with a hammer. But it is precisely for that bunny, her weapons and all the history around that make the title something incredible: it is an original game with an incredible level of finish and a satisfying difficulty, which seasons everything with a good dose of spirit. and humor (especially for lovers of the moe style). An absolute must-have for metroidvania fanatics and why not, even for Touhou.
Rabi-Ribi is available on Playstation 4 and PC via Steam
► Rabi-Ribi is a Bullet Hell-Metroidvania-Platform-Shooter type game developed by CreSpirit and published by Sekai Project for PlayStation Network, PC, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 28/01/2016 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 01/09/2017
