Game: Rain on Your Parade
Genre: Action, Adventure, Puzzle, Arcade
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PC)
Developer|Publisher: Unbound Creations
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone
Price: US $14.99 | UK £11.99 | EU € 14,99
Release Date: April 15th, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to Unbound Creations
Games to Make you Smile
Sometimes you just want to play a video game to make you smile. Rain on Your Parade is a video game where you play as a little rain cloud that flies around causing all sorts of mischief to people’s day. It reminds me of titles like Donut County and Katamari where the premise is quite bizarre but at its heart, it’s simply designed to entertain you. So if you’re feeling blue this might be the rain cloud to bring some sunshine to your day.
Cloudy With a Chance of Rain
You play as the happy little cloud ‘Cloudy’ who is on its way to the city of Seattle (the rainiest of cities) but on the way you pass through several levels, where you need to complete simple objectives, all of which are solved by raining on objects in the level. One moment you’re ruining a wedding, the next you’re causing havoc in the classroom, then you’re taking on a weird Supervillain hellbent on destroying the city with sunshine.
You’ll never see the same things twice and it’s a game that certainly doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are many humorous references to other famous game franchises like Zelda and Metal Gear, it also doesn’t shy away from poking fun at the stupidity of microtransactions in video games. The overall challenge is quite light and casual. You don’t need to complete all the level objectives to progress. The game is single-player only but I and my wife found the best way to enjoy this game was by passing the controller between levels. This is a title I found just as much fun watching as playing.
Home Made
The graphics are charming. Cloudy is a 3D cardboard cloud held up by string (the game also makes self-aware references to this) and the levels feel like dioramas made out of paper mache. Its lacking detail but oozing charm since it’s something you could put together yourself if you had the time and energy.
Cloudys facial expression also changes when it uses a different move, my favourite being his cheery smile after raining. But should you not like these expressions you can actually go into a menu and customise your own funny expression for Cloudy. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t make use of the Switches touch controls so you’re stuck using the controller.
Watching the Cloud Move
The controls are very simple; you move Cloudy in a 3D environment with the analogue stick and use the face buttons to use one of Cloudy’s four moves. You start out only being able to rain on people but soon you can shoot down thunder, snow and cause a hurricane. Each of these moves causes all sorts of mischief and mayhem and you’ll need to make use of them to complete specific level objectives. As well as simply raining you can hover over other fluid sources like acid, paint and oil, the latter of which can help you start fires.
It felt kinda weird causing fires and acid damage, sometimes the low poly folk were harmed, or their hair just lit on fire. A small niggle is sometimes Cloudys movement felt a little slow in some of the levels which require quicker reactions but it didn’t become overly frustrating. Stress is something not to expect in this game.
Lots of Surprises
The game has 50 levels, most of which can be finished in mere minutes with the exception of one which went on for a surprising amount of time. We finished the game in two sittings, mostly because this was a very hard game to put down. Each level tries something new, but some feel a little too novelty, such as one where you simply don’t move to obtain a high score. But there was no point where I felt bored.
When you’re finished, the game offers a new game plus mode where you run back through the levels with extra objectives and all your moves unlocked. If you do find things too easy there is a Sun mode where an angry sun chases you around the levels but you don’t need to play this to see everything the game has to offer. By finishing all the level objectives you unlock new cosmetics like hats and accessories to dress your cloud up in. There was also a really cool unlockable surprise where you unlock an arcade that pays homage to a PC classic game but I won’t spoil that here.
Conclusion
Rain on your Parade is a feel-good game that will hopefully make you smile as much as it did for us. While light on a challenge, if you’re having one of those rainy days yourself, this game might just be the ticket to bring a little sunshine to your day.
Rain on your Parade is funny, charming and overall brilliant, one of my favourite gaming experiences this year so far.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up