Rabi-Ribi (PC) Review

After a short intro, Erina the rabbit girl emerges from her cardboard box and into a dark storeroom, only to soon take her first steps into a world so cute and cuddly that it wouldn't be a surprise if somewhere amongst all this pink and purple was an "Access denied to Duke Nukem" label. Make no mistake, though; while the weeaboo-friendly aesthetics aren't exactly everyone's cup of sake, there's more to this action-adventure than meets the eye.

What lies beyond the playboy bunny costume-wearing protagonist or the rest of the equally cute, girly, and slightly sexy all-female cast? The answer is: a vast world of interconnecting areas, ranging from lush forests and dark caves, to sci-fi labs and icy mountain peaks; a world that, after the annoyingly linear prologue, allows the heroine to go wherever her rabbit heart tells her to, explore, and find lots of items to add to her equipment.

Besides jumping around like the rabbit she is, Erina can do melee combos with her big hammer, or shoot magic projectiles by using her trusty pixie Ribbon - but that's not all. Besides simple power-ups that increase her Health, Mana, damage, or enable more spells, she can also find useful gadgets that let her wall-jump, slide under narrow passages, or throw bombs, amongst others. Another nice idea is the use of Badges, with some being simple enhancements like "+10% Hammer Damage," while others are risk/reward perks, such as "+25% Attack, +50% Damage taken."

Exploration here means trying to reach higher places or blowing up walls to find alternative paths; therefore, the whole thing is nothing more than a sugary version of Samus Aran's famous space adventure. Some may think, "Why play this when I can actually play Metroid?" That's a pretty valid point. Why? Mainly because, unlike the latter one (or its far more successful SNES cousin), exploration is a relatively easy process, with very few "platforming puzzles" available to make things more challenging, and thus, more interesting.

The same goes for the various levels, which, while looking different, really aren't. What exactly separates the snowy region from the forest, or the crystal caves from the hi-tech laboratory? Apart from a new enemy or area-specific trap, nothing, really; something that makes this journey feel the same from beginning to end. Does this have more to give than a watered-down Metroidvania experience? Fortunately, the answer is yes, since Rabi-Ribi incorporates elements of bullet hell shoot 'em ups in all of its 40+ boss battles.

Whenever Erina enters such a fight, her opponent will start filling the screen with all sorts of lethal projectiles. This, of course, is a simple matter of finding the safe spot of each attack wave, as well as an opening to hit the enemy, but, fortunately, this task isn't just simple, but also very exciting; partly due to how imaginative most attack patterns are, but also because the controls are 100% tight and responsive. This feature, however, is not without flaws, with the main issue being that Boss A doesn't feel any different - or harder - than Boss B… or C, D, or E, for that matter.

Note that there's a pretty heavy emphasis on the plot. Wait, though; isn't that a nice change from all those 10% story, 90% atmosphere Metroidvania titles? Well, when the actual storyline is as nonsensical as this one, the answer is a big, long, screaming 'No.' In fact, try to pay attention to the following synopsis: Erin was a rabbit, she became a playboy bunny girl, she was then sent by her master to fetch some people, then some bunny-obsessed otaku-folk appeared, and they… who cares, really?!?

While it's possible to skip the many badly-written dialogue sequences, it's truly a shame that so much effort was wasted. That isn't to say that wacky, cartoonish worlds are bad; they just need to be done right. Take the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise, for example: unabashedly silly, but at the same time quite funny and memorable. At least the gameplay is fun, right? It surely is, but, unfortunately, the replay value is somewhat low for this type of game. There are lots of items to find, the boss fights are great, and the journey is speedrun-friendly, but, at the same time, it all gets a bit repetitive after a while, since there's no sense of progression or any incentive to go deeper into the rabbit hole.