SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 19 ― Gambol through Spica Island, retrieving hidden memories, hone combat techniques that depend on musical timing, and experience a story told through comic book cut scenes.
Cat-eared Annika wakes up to find herself on a strange island and, while exploring her new surrounds, bumps into Giraffe.
Though Giraffe isn't the four-legged, long-necked mammal we might expect, the unusual boy does have a pair of large ungulate ears poking out of his bob of pale violet hair.
Whatever his true nature, the chap does need our help in recovering three star fragments, which are hidden away in places only Annika can get to.
That mission overlaps with the heroine's own search for answers and other islanders' various requests.
Charming visuals and a bouncy soundtrack give Giraffe and Annika an immediate appeal and, while boss battles revolve around rhythm-based interactions, early reviews indicate that the game shouldn't post too much of a challenge thanks to its low difficulty standard.
Atsushi Saito, director on the Japanese-made game, previously worked on art or design for influential rhythm game Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS and a couple of entries to the Atelier series of role-playing adventures, and even action games in the Yakuza franchise, among others.
With Giraffe and Annika available now in English, Chinese, and Japanese for Windows PC on Steam at US$19.99 (RM83.11), publisher Playism is cueing up PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch editions for later in 2020. ― AFP-Relaxnews
