It's a shame that this is the last entry in the series, because it feels like the team really nailed the formula here. The timing here is much more doable, thanks to the game finally giving feedback on how close your button presses are to the correct note. This also ends up encouraging more freestyle, a mechanic I've always loved in these games and am glad motivates you to do it, especially in the multiplayer. The multiplayer is the best in the series, and some of the best I've ever seen in rhythm games, where both players are attempting to outdo each other in creating their own flow instead of it just being a competition to be as accurate as possible. Easily the game most easy to revisit because of these improvements.
The character design, dialogue, and art all still have the same delightful charm as previous entries, although I do prefer the more manic, surreal nature of Um Jammer Lammy's story and scenarios. Sure, all food suddenly turning into noodles is weird, but it doesn't hold a candle to performing a concert in hell after dying or being mistaken for a pregnant woman by a vomiting caterpillar obsessed with babies. Also, cutscenes feel a bit longer than they need to be, the previous games had just the right amount of story.
The songs here are much more elaborate than Parappa 1, being a lot less sample based and more dynamic, and while this does result in some great music, part of me does kind of miss the style of music in the first game, ultimately it's up to personal preference. IMO, Lammy still has the best tracks overall. I also love how the BAD and AWFUL versions of songs can end up being very different from the original, resulting in some extremely good BAD tracks.
I'm also slightly disappointed that this game didn't do the same thing Lammy did where there are Parappa and Lammy versions of each song, although maybe it would've been harder to do given this game having a little more going than the PS1 entries. Still, what this game offers for replayability is unlocking each difficulty by completing the game several times, which isn't bad but not all that exciting. I do think the multiplayer ends up making up for it. I just wish I had someone to play against, oops.
Lastly, I love the little bits of fanservice this game gives, such as Milkcan being involved in a couple songs, the pilot from Flight Fright being the save function, songs occasionally referencing songs from previous entries, again it's such a shame it ended here. If the series continued, we could have probably seen them make the perfect Parappa game, because they were on their way to doing that.
EDIT: So after listening to this game's soundtrack obsessively and clearing several of the difficulty levels, and now extremely considering buying the actual game on ps2, I have to come back and give this game at least 4 stars. It grew on me a lot, I think this might actually have the best soundtrack of the series.
The character design, dialogue, and art all still have the same delightful charm as previous entries, although I do prefer the more manic, surreal nature of Um Jammer Lammy's story and scenarios. Sure, all food suddenly turning into noodles is weird, but it doesn't hold a candle to performing a concert in hell after dying or being mistaken for a pregnant woman by a vomiting caterpillar obsessed with babies. Also, cutscenes feel a bit longer than they need to be, the previous games had just the right amount of story.
The songs here are much more elaborate than Parappa 1, being a lot less sample based and more dynamic, and while this does result in some great music, part of me does kind of miss the style of music in the first game, ultimately it's up to personal preference. IMO, Lammy still has the best tracks overall. I also love how the BAD and AWFUL versions of songs can end up being very different from the original, resulting in some extremely good BAD tracks.
I'm also slightly disappointed that this game didn't do the same thing Lammy did where there are Parappa and Lammy versions of each song, although maybe it would've been harder to do given this game having a little more going than the PS1 entries. Still, what this game offers for replayability is unlocking each difficulty by completing the game several times, which isn't bad but not all that exciting. I do think the multiplayer ends up making up for it. I just wish I had someone to play against, oops.
Lastly, I love the little bits of fanservice this game gives, such as Milkcan being involved in a couple songs, the pilot from Flight Fright being the save function, songs occasionally referencing songs from previous entries, again it's such a shame it ended here. If the series continued, we could have probably seen them make the perfect Parappa game, because they were on their way to doing that.
EDIT: So after listening to this game's soundtrack obsessively and clearing several of the difficulty levels, and now extremely considering buying the actual game on ps2, I have to come back and give this game at least 4 stars. It grew on me a lot, I think this might actually have the best soundtrack of the series.