Waking up on alone a strange island can be frightening, especially if you don’t remember anything. This is the exact situation Annika is put in. Everyone knows who she is, but she doesn’t remember a single thing or know who anyone is. Giraffe and Annika tells an emotional story from the perspective of a young girl, Annika.
Very early on you meet a young boy, Giraffe, who informs you of the main questline of the story. You are tasked with collecting different elemental crystals. You can also wander around the island and meet a variety of characters through interactive side quests.
Surprisingly, the side quests were much more enjoyable in Giraffe and Annika than in other games. Even though they weren’t vital to the main storyline, I felt a sense of accomplishment after each one. It’s fun interacting with the other characters on the island, as they give you a little insight into their own lives.
The game is paced by including a day and night system. This rarely affects the actual gameplay, unless you are told to wait until a specific time of the day to complete a quest. It is nice to see the setting change based on the time of day.
You technically don’t have to complete the issued storyline quest when you are given it. Yes, you have to eventually complete it to advance in the story but there is no time limit on how long you have to complete it. You can wait a full day if you wanted just completing side quests from other characters.
Instead of typically fighting enemies like in other games, in Giraffe and Annika, you are encouraged to stay away from them. You technically cannot fight any common enemies.
At first, I didn’t understand this feature and felt like this game was missing something. It wasn’t until later that I realized a young girl shouldn’t be fighting these enemies. So, you have to run away or dodge enemies that come near you.
The only fighting in this game is through the bosses. After traversing through each dungeon, a boss stands in your way. You can battle each boss through a set of rhythmic attacks, which involves moving side to side and tapping.
The soundtrack of this game is beautiful, especially during the boss battles. The soundtrack of each boss is something that will make the player rock their head or dance in their chair.
When you are not in dungeons, you are surrounded by beautiful scenery and relaxing tunes. The island itself is covered with lush greens and underneath a blue sky.
This game does a good job of keeping you contained within an area and prohibiting you from places you shouldn’t be in until later in the game. There are colored gates scattered throughout the island that you cannot access until you have the corresponding colored key.
A lot of other places cannot be reached until you receive a special power-up after defeating a dungeon boss. These power-ups will help within dungeons and around the island as well.
The difficulty of this game isn’t high, although you can change the boss battles to have a harder difficulty or you can relax in an easier mode. This is the only time the game can be challenging.
My only issue is the lack of a map or an indicator when within dungeons. More than often, you cannot just go straight and reach the boss. You have to take various turns and you often get lost very quickly, due to the inside of dungeons looking the same after each turn.
This game is short enough for you to not get bored with it while still having a completed storyline filled with memorable characters. You can complete this game in five hours, or it may take you shorter or longer depending on how you choose to play the game.
I have never played a rhythm game before, but this game does it perfectly. I love the “anti-attack” feature, where you have to avoid enemies instead of button-mashing to defeat them. The boss rhythm battles are fun and beautiful to listen to.
This game’s animation is a beautiful combination of 3D and comic book-like graphics. It is a refreshing take on an adventure and rhythm game and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. This is definitely a game to add to your Steam Wishlist.
