PSOne Classic review: Despite some parts clearly being broken, Um Jammer Lammy is fun to play.
I guess that's one of the issues with the game. The characters you play background for often talk in a very unintelligable manner. I suppose this is because they have to talk as fast as the button inputs scroll across the screen. Its basically having to choose between watching the inputs as they talk at the top of the screen or reading the caption of the lyrics at the bottom...I of course chose the prior. The game plays pretty much the same as PaRappa Da Rappa: Button inputs scroll across the top of the screen and you have to match each as accurately as possible to progress in the game. The same grading criteria is present: Cool, Good, Bad, and Awful. As before the speed and button combination becomes more challenging the further you get in the game. Which brings me to the next and final beef that I have with Um Lammy...the broken A.I. (especially in the later levels). Maybe its just with the PaRappa playthrough (that's when I experienced it) but you can totally be pressing the correct button sequence and your score will still drop. However, for some odd reason if you just starting entering random button commands within the beginning and ending of your turn, you have a better chance at at least maintain a "good" grade. Broken and weird...yes, I know. Despite this, Um Lammy does have really good replay value as it offers different ways to playthrough the game's 7 levels especially after an successful playthrough as Lammy. As mentioned before, you can play through the game again as PaRappa (with his own storyline), Lammy and PaRappa, or as Lammy and her evil twin Rammy. The latter two options obviously can be experienced as either a co-op or competitive multiplayer experience or with a computer A.I. controlled character (which isn't bad until the last level).
The story is even more nonsensical that PaRappa Da Rappa's was. Lammy is a guitarist for her band Milkcan. The day of their first concert, she over sleeps and spends most of the game trying to make it one stage in time. Here journey takes her from a burning building, to an airplane, to a far away island. Yeah...the island is actually Sony's way of censoring the original international release of a level taking place in Hell. What's kind of stupid about it is that the stage itself and the character you play background for still makes it obvious during the performance that all of it originally took place in Hell (lyrics, set, etc).
My Breakdown:
What's Good:
- The songs actually sound awesome
- Charming and Funny
- Provides a good challenge
- Excellent replay value
- The change in the beats of the songs when playing as PaRappa
What's Not-So-Good:
- Dumb and poor censorship
- Playing as PaRappa feels awkward for some reason
What's Bad:
- Not being able to understand a lot of characters' lyrics during the songs
- Broken levels, especially later on in PaRappa's playthrough
In all, Um Lammy is an awesome game to play through to kill some time, alone or with a friend. Incuding some nice sounding electric guitar grooves and good replay value.