

When we say this game is chill, we mean it – besides one particularly hazardous run of obstacles towards the game's climax, it's very, very difficult to die. Giraffe and Annika's flaws were minor to us – believe us, we've played much worse – but your mileage may vary. It's also worth praising the music, which is excellent it reminded us of Studio Ghibli scores, and we found it drew us even further into this rustic world. It's extremely wholesome stuff, with no sudden and jarring deviations into any kind of edgier gameplay or content. The cutscenes are attractive, with a simplistic manga-ish style that gets across the characterisation with cute and appealing still drawings that don't resort to the less agreeable tropes of the form. It's all very pretty looking, in fact, with something of a storybook aesthetic which only adds to the game's overt charm. It's likely that the endearing world and characters will draw you in regardless, as the banality of the first "dungeon" stage – which might be a dealbreaker in other games – is counterbalanced by how ethereal and attractive it looks.

GIRAFFE AND ANNIKA MUSICAL MAYHEM EDITION HOW TO
That's fine by us as it fits the game's remit, but the very early game, in particular, can feel a little samey when you have so few options on how to proceed. Moving from the overworld to the major areas in-game retains the same exploration gameplay, but as there's no real fighting all you can do is dodge. As well as those beats you must simply hit, there are also larger attacks that must be dodged – again, though, while this is compelling it's hardly Hatsune Miku-tier rhythm-action, just another of the strings on Giraffe and Annika's pleasant gameplay bow. Those aforementioned boss battles take the form of a rudimentary, but enjoyable rhythm game in which Annika must hop left and right while tapping the A button to "catch" projectiles that are being launched at her by the assailant. And it's not supposed to.Ĭaptured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) It all gets a little more intense towards the end, but none of this is going to trouble the Pure Platinum crowd. There's little in the way of hostility or combat, besides a rock-clearing mine-cart ride and the boss battles. In that respect, it's a simple adventure game you can't even jump until you clear the first "dungeon". Taking control of the titular Annika, you find yourself exploring the mysterious island of Spica, with the goal of locating fallen stars which will grant you new abilities, allowing you to investigate more and more of this pastoral peninsula. It's a good thing the game is charming and fun, or we might have had to send a stern letter to the publishers. Imagine our disappointment, then, when we booted up the game and found nary an actual giraffe in sight, just a sort of weird cat-boy thing. The Adventure Pals repped the ruminant but nothing else really springs to mind. We were pretty thrilled by this one before booting it up – I mean, how many games have giraffes in them?! Certainly not enough.
