PaRappa the Rappa

With the onslaught of rhythm games over the past two years, it only makes sense that Sony would bring their king of the beats – PaRappa the Rapper, back for a round on the PSP. While this PSP port maintains the original PlayStation game’s charm, it unfortunately also maintains theoriginal game’s difficulty and so-so content, which makes it a tough beat to keep for $30.
PaRappa the Rappa is simplistic in design – you just hit the various buttons on the PSP in time with the beat. That timing becomes progressively and almost insanely difficult, however, to the point you might just toss your PSP across the room. Along with the difficult timing, the controls don’t respond as quickly as they should, and thus there’s just enough of a delay after a button press to have even the most patient mixmaster tearing their hair out.
The game as a whole, however, maintains an outstanding level of charm that would easily challenge any modern game. This charm comes across in the lyrics, music and especially the cel-shaded visuals. Character models are mostly silly, and always enjoyable. The lyrics will almost always warrant a chuckle, even after the 500th time you’ve heard them. When you tire of the songs, there’s a download option so you can grab more beats (though they don’t often vary from the original tracks).
For fans of the original PlayStation game, or those folks looking for a rhythm game on the PSP that can almost rival Elite Beat Agents, PaRappa’s worth a shot, though it’s pretty short for $30. I’m not a fan of huge games, but this one could be knocked out in 3-4 hours by a dedicated player.