Rabi-Ribi

This review will probably not be long. Words simply cannot express how good this game is. It is a masterpiece that can be shown to people while teaching them how do one makes a video game. This game will still be good even after 20 years or more pass. It seems that CreSpirit, the developer, understands what a good game is, and not just that – they can also make one!

Rabi-Ribi is essentially a game, in which the player controls a character and explore areas, looking for items, hidden routes and fights with enemies. The game mixes these elements with a bullet hell shooter. It comes out they go with each other really well, although it takes some time to become used to it. The bullet hell elements are present pimarily with boss fights. Regular enemies also attack using bullet patterns, but these are not complex and high in number enough to qualify as bullet hell.

The difficulty lies in that bullet hells are normally shooters, in which you control a flying object and can move in all directions. In Rabi-Ribi, you control a character which moves left and right, and can jump off the ground. Learning how to avoid bullets with this limited movement takes some time. It is an ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ type of game.

The game engine pre-loads a lot of things, so the start-up is slow, but there no loadings later whatoever. If you fail, which you will a lot, even on Casual difficulty, restart happens fast so that you may try again almost instantly. There is plenty of checkpoints and they are in places and times that you would want them to be in and at.

This game has a story, but it is not really significant. It can be completely ignored and the experience will still be as good. The story is actually a right kind of story for this time of game. The story is a mystery one, which invites and motivates the player to explore the island the story takes place on some more.

In such a game, as a player, you want there to be well-designed levels. This game have very good level design. It is really fun to explore the maps. At first, you don’t know about there being hidden passages, but the areas are structured so that you would eventually find them. The game guides the player with an invisible hand. You learn things in a way that you may not even notice that the game has told your about something. For example, the player finds a Carrot Bomb item. One of usages of a Carrot Bomb is that it can destory specific blocks of terrain and open up hidden passages. While playing the game, you learn which areas might be destroyable. You almost never look for things aimlessly without cues.

The game is filled with content and things to do, mainly communicated through the achievement system. It is split into what is referred to as the ‘main game,’ which is the first five chapters and the ‘post game,’ which is the remaining five. There are achievements for simply clearing the game. There are achievements for clearing the game in different difficulties. There are achievements for clearing the game in another mode. There is a speedrun mode. There is a boss rush mode, in which you fight all bosses in turn. There is an Artbook DLC, accessible through the game, which inludes some Beta Content which is playable. You can even try to finish the game without collecting any items or not touching any spikes and there are achievements for that, too. These are actual achievements which encourage players to try different ways and styles of play that the game offers.

The 0% items run is doable, because with the Standard Rule settings, the level of bosses is determined by what you have. In this mode, when one has 0% items, the last boss of the main game is at level 11, which is low. For comparision, in _ first playthough it was around 65. The game is also prepared for ‘breaking it’ by doing things out of order by using Hidden Tech moves and hidden passages you have learnt about. There is a harder New Game+, which starts another loop. If you did not obtain an item that increases jump or a weapon, the system adapts to this situation so that you can finish the game, for example, the height of a pillar of bullets changes in a boss fight. As a player, you will certainly spend a lot of time with this product as it is solid like a rock and polished like a diamond.

The game is presented with pixel art graphics. These are very good pixel art graphics. They use pastel colours that introduces to you to a world full of love. There is plenty of animation in the spirtes. They move, jump and do things that brings a smile to one’s face. It is co cute and charming you simply want it to play it some more.

The game is essentially a collection of connected rooms, which are viewed from the side, but – even with this presentation – when in a boss fight, there is actually some camera movement like close-ups! It happens so naturally that you may not even notice it happening.

The background music is simply perfect. It fits really well with all the places on the map and the fights. Actually, _ bought this game through Steam primarily to get the OST, because the music by Tridust, 3R2 and few others is so great _ had to own a copy of it. _ cannot find the words to describe how the experience of fighing a boss with ‘Get On With It’ or ‘The Truth Never Spoken’ (by 3R2) playing in the background feels like. The right music plays at the right times. Simply hearing some of the pieces and watching the trailer for the console version bought _ instantly. It is simply amazing how well is goes along with the rest of the game. There are also touches like lowering and increasing the speed of music when you gain status effects that alter the player’s movement speed.

To sum it up, _ highly recommends this game.