Cooking Patties, Frenching Fries...Still Fun....
Believe it or not, but there is a storyline in Parappa 2. Granted, it's not as out there and just balls out weird like Um Jammer Lammy (well, the PAL/Japanese version anyway), but it's still bizarre. Anyway: Parappa has won a lifetime supply of noodles after winning a competition at a burger house – and has grown tired of eating nothing but noodles. His girlfriend, Sunny Funny (an anthropoid sunflower), offers him to cook him dinner, but when she serves him noodles, he throws a tantrum that leaves Sunny to question Parappas maturity. From this, Parappa sets out to become more mature and win back Sunny. As well as this, Parappa (and the residents of Parappa Town)
The basic gameplay of Parappa hasn't changed since its first incarnation, whether or not that's a bad thing depends on your need for innovation in every game. The idea of the game is to rap along with the various characters that Parappa encounters. They'll say a line, and Parappa will need to repeat it in the same style. The lines range from single button presses (which basically are just a word, such as "KICK" or "CHOP"), to multiple button presses (for longer lines, such as "Come on, come on, I'm big all of a sudden!) to having to rap two lines at a time – though this only occurs during the latter stages of the game. If you're familiar with the style of gameplay present in the dancing stages of Sega's Space Channel 5 (or its sequel), then you've got the right idea.
The only other big addition to the game is a multiplayer battle mode for each song – provided you've beaten that particular stage. It's a fun little addition, but otherwise, there's little else here that's new (barring the soundtrack). Is it a bad thing that the game doesn't innovate that much? Well, yes and no – the soundtrack is definitely worth listening to and the game in general is still fun, but the game is short (only seven stages long) and once you've finished it, there's very little replay value (something that Um Jammer Lammy delivered).
Graphically, the game retains the same visual style present in both the original Parappa and Un Jammer. For those not familiar with the style of graphic artist Rodney Greenblat (who is referred to frequently in the game), all the characters are anthropoid animals, plants or even regular humans – but all are drawn in a 2D, paper-thin style (think of what the Paper Mario games do, and you're on the right track), in a 3D environment. It's a unique effect, and it still works well. Granted, it does look slightly dated, but the game still looks good, six years on.
Arguably the most important part of the game – the aural element of Parappa 2 is also a delight to listen to. One of the more interesting decisions that NaNaOn-Sha took with the audio direction is to change the music to a more funk based sound than a traditional rap sound. Despite that sounding like a horrible decision, it's not that bad at all – most of the songs work well, even if some of them sound similar to songs from previous Parappa games (namely, the first stage's song). The voice acting is also surprisingly decent, something that wasn't expected.
Overall, you'll love Parappa if you love a good rhythm game. It's not as good as the original Parappa or Um Jammer, but if you're after a solid rhythm game that does what it does well, then it's worth the money. Add in a pleasing visual style and some great music, and you're in for a treat. Just don't expect a revolution.