Welcome to our review of Giraffe And Annika, a weird mix of a rhythm game and an RPG and it surprisingly works.
A magical, mystery-filled adventure awaits! When a young girl named Annika awakens from a strange dream, she finds herself stranded on the mysterious “Spica Island” with no memory of how she got there. Upon exploring, she meets a boy named Giraffe, who seems to know her, and is tasked with finding three special star fragments on the island in order to unravel the mysteries of her forgotten memories.
While searching for the fragments, Annika meets Lily, the Witch of the Mysterious Forest, who challenges her to a battle! Fortunately, Annika emerges victorious and uncovers a star fragment. She absorbs the fragment and is suddenly granted remarkable visions. What secrets await this unlikely trio of adventurers on the island of Spica?
Giraffe And Annika is possibly one of the weirdest matchups, one might even say it is typical for a NIS game. They are known for games outside the realm of normal genres and Giraffe And Annika is no exception. It is a glorious mix of an RPG and a Rhythm game. Officially it is labeled in the adventure genre, but trust me when I say, it is so much more than that.
First off, you (as Annika) start in front of the house in the middle of a hill and you learn the basic movements first, upon leaving the place again, you run into Giraffe, your friend. He tells you to go find fragments so you can unravel the mysteries and as such, you set off on your adventure.
You go to take a nap first so you are in night time mode which is needed for the first dungeon. You find it and go inside, you mostly walk around the place without fighting. Strange for an RPG right? But it actually works. Many enemies around yes, they do hunt you around but they do not insist. Just about the same amount of healing points around so whenever I got hit, I healed pretty much within seconds.
Once you get to the end of this dungeon part, you go into your first battle for the game. You try to get the battle on by playing a rhythm game. You basically need to hit the left or the right when the enemies attack hits it. The usual rhythm game mechanics apply and I pretty much nailed it from the start.
The opening of the game was slow and fun. But at times also weird. For Example, I drowned a few times, had to steal wood to make a bridge, took apples from tables and pumpkins from fields, and at the time of doing so, had no idea if this was really part of the game or not. That level of not knowing and finding out as you go, it is kind of cool. I love it when games do keep you busy and entertained even with a lower action point.
Giraffe and Annika also looks incredibly decent, to say the least. We got a video up on our Youtube channel with the first 8-9 minutes of my gameplay where I even drowned and just started randomly exploring. It just keeps being fun even when you are clueless, which is a real bonus.
In conclusion, Giraffe And Annika is not for everyone sadly and this is being gentle. This mix of two very specific genres is something I really enjoyed and I hope everyone gets to play this fun little game one day!
