Giraffe and Annika Review (Switch)

Release Date: Aug 25th, 2020

Publisher: NIS America

Developer: atelier mimina

Platform: Nintendo Switch (reviewed) PC/Steam, PS4

Price: $29.99

The premise is to explore a magical island called Spica using the point of view character Annika, who travels with her friend named Giraffe. To be clear, his name is Giraffe but he’s not a giraffe. He does seem to speed walk everywhere but, nevermind, we are drifting off topic here.

Anyway, the purpose of this exploration is to find fallen stars which grant new abilities. As you grow in power, new areas to explore will open up; you can't even jump until you clear the first level. There's little combat apart from boss battles, in which Annika must dance left and right while tapping the A button to "catch" projectiles launched by her opponent. Think the “Ed Sullivan Show” with giran crabs. So there is kind of a dance rythem to it as you try to hit the left to right pattern. Even then there's no real fighting, all you do is dodge. That's fine, but the very early game gets repetitive with few options. In other games this would probably make one quit, but the overall attractive artwork kept me going until the gameplay improved deeper into the game. Cut-scenes are attractive, with a simplistic mangaesque style that gets across the characterization with cute and appealing stills. The music is reminiscent of Joe Hisaishi’s work for studio Ghibli and fits the setting well. The one eyebrow-raiser was an ongoing bonus quest where you collect "Meowsterpieces" collectible artwork with a reoccurring theme that should surprise no one. SPOILER ALERT! THE THEME IS CATS!

I get a strong “escaping from Cuba” vibe from this picture.

There are some flies on the Giraffe though. (See what I did there?) While not particularly easy, the game is very forgiving; aside from the endgame it’s hard to actually die and there are health crystals all over the map. The physics engine is also a bit…. surreal and gives you a mild sense of floating, not unlike Jagermiester. Once you start jumping and sprinting, this gets interesting, again, much as with Jagermiester. That said, the game doesn't require a ton of precision, but I found it a bit off-putting. The day/night cycle is also a bit of a bother. You sometimes have to wait until a certain time for events to move the story forward. This is annoying, but the game at least lets you skip time a bit.

Giraffe and Annika’s story isn’t half bad , going deeper than one would expect from a cat-girl hybrid and some guy named Giraffe. I won’t spoil it, but there is something here beyond the usual anime style jewel hunt. Be warned, however, that there is a point of no return and if you mess up you won’t see the whole ending.

These “Little Mermaid” sequels are getting out of hand.

Bottom line, it’s far from perfect, but a lot of effort has gone into Giraffe and Annika and it shows. It could be better, but it’s still solid and remarkably, in this day and age, not particularly violent. You can let the kids play without fear of them shouting “FALCON PUNCH” and nailing their poor dad in the giblets at random times. (Don’t ask)

The Good:

Good Story
Good Artwork
Good Soundtrack

The Bad:

Sometimes repetitive
A bit slow for some
No acutal Graffes