Rainbow Moon Review

I’m going to start this Rainbow Moon review with a bit of candid honesty: I do not enjoy JRPGs. There, I said it, I feel better for it. With this being the case, I initially worried about how to review Rainbow Moon in a fair, subjective manner. Fortunately I was able to set aside my bias towards the genre and look at it as I would any other game.

Unfortunately, the signs still weren’t very good. The PS4 release of Rainbow Moon is not so much an update of the original PS Vita version as it is a direct port, which I find intensely disappointing as developers SideQuest Studios and publisher eastasiasoft have missed out on a golden opportunity to fix the faults of the original game. What they have added however was cross save support which will making hopping between the PSVita and PS4 versions a bit effortless. Other than some dialog and improved load times that you would expect anyway on PS4 there isn’t anything further to note in this port.

“it can be summed up in a single word: grind.”

I’ll very quickly brush through the story, as there isn’t very much of one. The opening cut scene establishes the main character of Baldren, heading to battle his nemesis, an evil wizard whose name I genuinely cannot recall (this may say more about my memory these days than anything else, but I digress) who tricks him and sends him through a portal to the titular Rainbow Moon. Baldren must battle his way through monsters in his quest to return home. Beyond this opening cinematic, the story fades into the background. This causes problems straight away as without a goal that we can emotionally invest in the average gamer will quickly lose interest, and this simplistic plot fails to grab the attention. The characters also fail in this regard, as standard RPG tropes such as the archer, the mage and the tank/knight are given names and faces but nothing even remotely resembling personality, and the NPCs suffer much the same fate. The key to any good RPG adventure is a stellar cast of intriguing characters that we can really get behind, and this element is just as important as the gameplay itself.

“The motivation to reach these higher levels was non-existent after a couple of hours of Trial Imps and Tiny Bees”

Speaking of the gameplay, it can be summed up in a single word: grind. When I was first introduced to the turn-based grid system utilised for combat, I was pleasantly surprised as it required a tactical mind when dealing with multiple enemies and I found myself experimenting with manoeuvring and defending intelligently when battles came to involve greater numbers of foes. This surprise however very quickly turned to dread when there was no evolution of the system; I was fighting the same kinds of enemies over and over again, with the occasional new challenge introduced once a high enough level was reached. The motivation to reach these higher levels was non-existent after a couple of hours of Trial Imps and Tiny Bees. The exploration aspect of the game was fine I suppose, but the awkward fixed camera angle and confusing layout of the game world left me constantly walking into trees when trying to reach treasure chests that appeared to be well within reach. The visuals are pretty if basic, as the direct port means the PS Vita graphics remain and give it a more classic feel, and we’ve all seen forests and dungeons a million times before.

There is one particular mechanic in this game which I have decided to honour with a whole paragraph of its own, in order to adequately convey my sheer annoyance with it: that bloody food bar. Inconsequential to begin with, I hadn’t even noticed its existence until an hour or two into the game. However, it will very quickly become the bane of your life. Intended to give an aspect of reality with the idea that the hero will inevitably suffer from hunger on his quest, this irritating little fiend will fill up your item bag with more water bottles and apples than you know what to do with, at the expense of infinitely more useful items. When this delightful little meter hits zero, you will find yourself rapidly losing health in battle. Manageable when you only have Baldren to concern yourself with, and still not too awful when Trisha joins the party, once your group grows you will learn true hatred as you find yourself having to keep your hardy warriors well fed and watered.

In conclusion of this short and not very sweet review, I must concede that if constant grinding and other JRPG standards are right up your alley you may very well enjoy Rainbow Moon, as there is an exceptional amount of content for a relatively low price for those willing to sit through it. Speaking as a neutral gamer however, I cannot look beyond the paper-thin story, forgettable characters and tedious gameplay. The music’s quite nice at least.