Ra Ra BOOM opens with an entrancing femme anthem, an energetic quartet of robot-smashing heroines, and a mission to save humanity. As interesting as this experience starts, much like the Saturday morning cartoons it’s inspired by, it feels like it’s missing a couple of key episodes.
Ra Ra BOOM
Developer: Gylee Games
Price: $19.99
Platform: PC (reviewed), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
MonsterVine was supplied with a Steam code for review
Note: Ra Ra BOOM opens with a Photosensitive Epilepsy/Photosensitive Condition warning.
Ra Ra BOOM challenges players to defeat Zoi, a rogue learning AI who found the best way to steward the Earth was to remove humans from the equation entirely. Through nine levels with four-player co-op (local or online), you’ll step into the shoes of Aris, Ren, Vee, and Saida.
Players start fairly vulnerable and can find themselves quickly face-down on the floor. However, a leveling system powered by collecting scrap will give you stand more of a fighting chance with upgrades to attack power, attack speed, firepower, and more. While these standard upgrades are probably expected by fans of the genre by now, you can also spend scrap on a Tag Team ability that allows you to use your special with a buddy without them depleting their special bar. The upgrades don’t stop there, with different types of more powerful ammunition, and more movement options like dashing. Unfortunately, there are upgrades like Recoil Dampening, where I can’t fully say if it is an upgrade, since gun recoil pushes you farther away from enemies and out of harm’s way. This was a complaint I had in the preview I wrote, and I think this is where Ra Ra BOOM really lets players down.
Ra Ra BOOM is ambitious, but, unfortunately, not all that fun. Enemies quickly escalate to including self-destructing enemies, enemies that reverse your controls, and enemies that seem to know exactly when to get the first hit in. After playing through Ra Ra BOOM in its entirety and comparing it to a modern peer, Streets of Rage 4, I feel as if Gylee Games is overcompensating with enemy strength and intensity. When something that required my attention instead of just punching mindlessly, I was able to use my super to deal with it, up to and including the final boss. I did not find that increasing my stats or engaging in tactics besides dash-attacking or gunning down enemies from a distance made any real difference. There may also be too much input leniency in this game, as I often would find myself “dodging” something I had hoped to dodge 5 seconds ago.
Additionally, many of the promises Gylee Games put forth aren’t resolved, or even really touched on in this game. While I can understand a beat ‘em up being a harder type of game to have a story in, Zoi’s speech at the end of the game provides no more context than you had at the beginning. The characters you play as, who are supposed to grow and evolve, aren’t given room to do so. While it is cool to see young ladies kick butt in some very chic sportswear/combatant outfit mashups, much like a cartoon from the ‘90s that has no continuity, you’re simply going from area to area and fighting without an actual catharsis to wrap things up.
Even if you wanted to say you were coming to Ra Ra BOOM for purely gameplay and co-op reasons, each stage’s replayability lies in homework assignments that seem to be the same for each stage, which is disappointing in a word.
The Final Word
Ra Ra BOOM is a beat ‘em up and a short experience that doesn’t ask too much of you. Unfortunately, it doesn’t draw interest beyond the great introduction to what could’ve been a group of characters that people started to cosplay as and look forward to wherever they showed up next. The game even has an odd moment where it pokes fun at itself, which feels entirely unearned. The game also has a number of moments that feel like a cutscene or animation of a boss terrorizing the ladies or lurking in the environment are missing, breaking the rule of “show, don’t tell”. As a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mark, I should’ve been ecstatic when I encountered what was effectively an entire level devoted to the franchise, only to feel nothing upon completing the level.
MonsterVine Rating: 2 out of 5 – Poor
