Parappa The Rapper: PS4 Remastered: Review
Platform : PS4
It seems like a year of the remaster is hitting PlayStation again this year.
And in some ways, that's no bad thing.
There's no denying the excitement of the relaunch of a remastered Crash Bandicoot and Wipeout, two personally influential franchises on this player alone.
From out of the reaches of nostalgia comes Parappa The Rapper, 20 years later, about a street-wise rapping dog creature thing in an orange beanie getting schooled on the art of rap.
To the credit of this remaster, it's actually a small file, and a relatively cheap, fun piece of a blast from the past. The game first showed in 1996 and was of course the trend-setter for many of the reactive button and music mashers we saw hit the console generation for years to come.
But the remaster, aside from offering a few remixes, does little else to warrant an immediate purchase.
Some of the problem lies with the cut scenes which have been left in their original PS One format, and as a consequence look fuzzy and faded. Why they weren't given a spit and polish isn't quite clear, but aside from the idea of nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses, it's a bit of an oddity.
Especially when the rest of the rhythm game looks so crystal clear and polished. The sequences where you have to rap, and keep up are sparkingly clear and stand in direct contrast to the cut scenes which look muddied and old.
But the gameplay itself, along with the catchy as hell music, haven't changed for the worse.
And it is annoyingly catchy - there's no way that you can't get swept along with Master Onion's rallying cry - Kick, punch, it's all in the mind; these are iconic words from an iconic title.
Parappa The Rapper Remastered isn't exactly a massive fail - its core gameplay is still intact and its simple mechanics make the title still a family favourite.
It just feels a shame that the game's not exactly embraced the next gen console and traded more on nostalgia than necessity.
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