An adventure with jumping, riddles, talking rabbits and no fighting at all, but with dance battles against bosses, where the main roles are played by a cat girl with ears and a tail, as well as a boy named Giraffe – well, lovers of anime cuteness, and just cuteness, sit back and listen to our story about a wonderful game Giraffe and Annika.
Fell, woke up – Giraffe!
So, the girl really has cat ears and a tail, and the boy (with ears, by the way, he has the same problem) is called Giraffe. They don’t meet right away. At first Annika was a normal girl, but then she and her cat quickly ran somewhere, tripped, fell, hit her head, woke up – but saw not a cast and a doctor, but her tail, the mysterious magical island of Speke and, in fact, the Giraffe.
The boy seems vaguely familiar, but she can’t remember exactly. The giraffe explains: in order to reveal the secrets of the island, you need to collect three fragments of stars, which are hidden in local dungeons and special locations. In the process, we meet the pretty, but seemingly evil witch Lily, who is also vaguely familiar.
In general, the leitmotif in the plot Giraffe and Annika becomes a search for lost memories. Of course, falls and head hits do not go away without leaving a trace! However, down with sarcasm – in fact, this story has its own charm, and the solution to the mystery and the ending turned out to be not just cute, but also truly emotional. Albeit a little predictable.
Island of Wonders
Naturally, the mysterious magical island is inhabited by magical creatures – talking scarecrows, no less talking stone figurines named Mrs. Save, who act as savers, and a funny ghost carpenter, ready to fix the bridge if we bring him the necessary resources. There is a family of rabbits whose mother will ask for a certain time (before evening) to find her kids who have run away in all directions. And in gratitude, she will put in a good word in front of the talking turtle, on which Annika and the Giraffe will bravely swim to the right place.
An eccentric artist looking for https://metal-casino.co.uk inspiration, looking like a very large upright chicken, will ask you to run around and photograph statues of a local goddess. There are other funny characters in their own way who will definitely ask you to bring them something or do something, and in return we will receive a useful thing for exploring the island: a camera, a watch… or a new dress for dancing.
Access allowed
Explore the island in Giraffe and Annika built on the principle of metroidvania. We won’t get anywhere for the time being until we help someone. Or we won’t learn to jump, swim longer under water, and so on. Somewhere the path is blocked by multi-colored doors, to which you first need to get the keys. Somewhere you will have to solve a problem with the help of a small rabbit and a box and climb onto a ledge.
Some tasks can only be completed at a certain time of day, so small shelters for Annika are scattered around the island, where she is free to sleep until the morning, until the evening or until the night. Well, in general, there are a lot of interesting things on Spica – you can, for example, offer gifts at special altars, for which you need to find a hint in what order to put an apple, carrot and melon. These same fruits and vegetables, by the way, serve as first aid kits for us. You can look for treasure maps, dance and take pictures, open chests with images of cats or anime girls. And then take them to a local gallery, where you are allowed to admire the collection at any time. As I say, it’s not a game, but cuteness itself..
Dexterity instead of strength
Yes, on the island itself there are no overt enemies or battles as such. But in the dungeons, where we, in fact, look for fragments of stars and solve other important plot problems, they appear. These are various flying or spitting things of an indeterminate appearance, but there is no need to fight there either – we either run away and jump a lot, healing from crystals scattered everywhere (fortunately there are a lot of them), or we hide behind boxes while, for example, we sail on a boat past enemies. In general, falling into the water at first is much worse than meeting opponents – Annika drowns very quickly at first.
Naturally, in dungeons you have to solve riddles and overcome obstacles. Somewhere under fire we move boxes to jump higher (and more); somewhere we are quickly running along the boards collapsing under our feet; somewhere we carefully jump from one moving raft to another; somewhere we ride on a trolley; somewhere we dance to be able to use the stairs (no matter how strange it may sound!). And in some locations the cat helps us – shows the way, clicks on the plates and removes magical barriers.
In general, the dungeons are different, themed – there are classic dark catacombs, and, on the contrary, open locations shrouded in white light, and, I would say, water attractions, where we sail on boats and look for the steering wheel for a ship to take away a rescued rabbit (yes, rabbits, for known reasons, have large offspring).
Dancing with the Stars
So, running, jumping, hiding and dodging, solving problems and overcoming obstacles, we must get to the local boss, who is called by the sorceress Lily. And then the battle finally begins. But it is, to put it mildly, not quite ordinary. At its core, this is a dance mini-game in which, to the music, we need to either hit the “correct” balls thrown by the boss in time, or dodge the “wrong” ones that cause damage.
The faster and more accurately we do everything, the faster the enemy’s health drops. Otherwise our. At a certain moment, having received enough damage, the boss and Lily begin not to scream in pain, but to dance fervently. And so – several times, until the final victory.
This only sounds simple in words, but in the game, even at a normal difficulty level, it doesn’t work out (well, for me personally) not immediately and not everything. You have to get used to it, hone your reflexes and train, fortunately at any time, even outside the dungeon, you can open a special book, see your best results and try again.
Carrots, rabbits, girls and boys with ears and tails, pictures of cats, zero battles and dance battles… “Ugh, how to play this?" – someone will undoubtedly say. But in fact the authors Giraffe and Annika not only put pressure on the best feelings of anime connoisseurs (and, in principle, kind, sweet, cute adventures), but also implement many quite working and interesting mechanics, the main one of which is Metroidvania-style exploration.
Pros: emotional story; The island is really interesting to explore, gradually discovering something new; various dungeons with unique decorations and obstacles; unusual boss battles in the form of dance mini-games; very pleasant, light music; overall the game looks very colorful.
Cons: some may not like the lack of battles and really difficult puzzles.