Giraffe and Annika Reviews
Giraffe and Annika is a rhythm adventure game that is short on rhythm, and too heavy on the tedious portions of the adventure. Still, Giraffe and Annika manages to make the most of this title, with beautiful manga inspired panels, enjoyable dialog, and a very fun rhythmic battles, even if they are in short supply.
There's nothing quite like a good exploration / adventure title for a few hours of enjoyment and discovery, and for the most part that's where Giraffe and Annika delivers...
Giraffe and Annika is meant for less experienced and younger gamers and does a good job of presenting a world for them to explore. There might not be much to see or challenges to overcome, besides some control issues, making it easy to understand its place. The cute story and vibrant visuals also make it easy to enjoy the simple charms, even if the rhythm sections are a bit on the rough side. While I wouldn't say this is a grand slam of a children's game, it's has enough redeeming aspects to play through it.
WORTH CONSIDERING - Overall, the story is worth playing through. It is touching and has an ending that is quite good. The manga panel presentation of the story telling is very cool, and the music is absolutely wonderful. However, with all the unnecessary padding, inability to destroy or at least incapacitate enemies, and the insanely idiotic control scheme that is enough to drive you crazy, it may not be worth the initial price tag of $30.
At the end of the day, the gameplay isn't likely to compel you to spend the 5-10 hours needed to see the story through. Everything this game does is done better elsewhere, so dive back into the bottomless eShop sea and fish up another adventure. This Giraffe is better left on safari.
Ever heard of the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none”? That’s Giraffe and Annika in a nutshell. It tries to be a Zelda clone, a rhythm game, an exploratory 3D platformer, and even a mini slice of life game all at the same time, without ever truly focusing on one aspect to make it truly stand out.
I couldn’t help but to feel underwhelmed by Giraffe and Annika, with its adventure doing little to excite during its fairly short runtime. It’s not that anything was particularly bad about the game… there’s just not a whole lot to it. Sure, the vibrant world and quirky narrative do bring some charm to the journey and I enjoyed the rhythm-based battles, but everything else about Giraffe and Annika lacked any real spark of excitement to makes its adventure one that’s worth investing your time into.
Giraffe and Annika doesn't quite excel when it comes to its adventuring side - a pity considering how much time it ends up taking - but a charming, comic-esque presentation, and rhythm game boss fights at least make it interesting.
Giraffe and Annika takes around six hours to complete and, after seeing it through to its end, I wish there were more positive things to say about it.
Giraffe and Annika is not a good game, which is a sad thing, as it feels like there is something missing. It's very rough, and is reminiscent it is one of those Unreal Engine 4 demos made by students. There are some redeeming qualities, like the charming character design, and a unique battle system for bosses, but it's so overshadowed by technical bizarreness and a lack of cohesive feeling that it's simply impossible to recommend to anyone but the biggest fans of Annika's design.
Giraffe and Annika is packed full of charm, a little childlike innocence, and a few rhythmic battles that break up the questing. They make up the unique title that Giraffe and Annika is and though I enjoyed the game I didn’t find it much of a challenge. Which bring me to the conclusion that Giraffe and Annika would be a fantastic game for a family with younger children to play-through together to discover the Islands of Spica. Alternatively, an adult can enjoy the game as well but don’t expect much of a challenge in any part of the game, just a chilled out experience.