Developer: Unbound Creations
Publisher: Unbound Creations
Platform: PC, Switch, Xbox One
Tested on: Switch
Rain on Your Parade – Review
We’ve seen many things in the gaming industry over the years. We have had amazing memorable titles top the charts for generations, while we also had extremely horrible triple-A games be released at full retail price. The simulation genre has also boomed over the years, going from hyper-realistic games to absolutely ludicrous games where firefighters are fending off a dragon. This time we get to play as a cloud, raining down on people’s parade. This adorable game attracted our attention a while ago and was offered to us for review purposes.
Story
The game throws you in a situation where a father is telling his child a bedtime story, and he clearly does not have that much inspiration and starts telling him how cool clouds are. He then turns the story to the titular Cloud, who is taking matters into his own hands and does whatever he wants to unsuspecting ‘hoomans’ (how humans are called in the game). You will be thrown into many different scenarios, where you spoil a wedding party, rain down nasty liquids in a restaurant or even trash a rock concert. The story value is slim, but it’s nice to have something tangible tying everything together. Rain on Your Parade also does not take itself too seriously, as it laughs with bugs and microtransactions, giving proper jabs to other developers and games.
Graphics
The graphics will never blow you away, as the game looks somewhat dated and simplistic. Nonetheless, that is not to say certain elements do not look cute or adorable. The protagonist, an unnamed cloud, looks perfect for a game such as this. You’re supposed to be a rain cloud, but you can also see that you’re made out of cardboard, which is somewhat contradictive. The ‘hoomans’ in this game look a bit too simplistic at times to fully enjoy you wreaking havoc. There were quite a bit of different areas to explore, some giving (not-so-)subtle winks to other franchises, while others felt a bit empty and boring. We did enjoy the backgrounds and overall set-ups of the levels for the most part, but there was a handful that just felt like filler content.
Sound
While simple, the sound design suffices for this type of game. You’ll have an upbeat soundtrack playing in the back, more often than not perfectly tailored to the stage you’re in, all while hearing people scream, things catching fire, or just other noises that spawn from you messing things up.
Gameplay
Rain on Your Parade is a simple adventure game where you play as a cloud to mess things up for those around you. Each stage offers a few new challenges, going from making all the people on the stage wet, putting out fires, raining down flammable oil, to actually avoiding lasers, zapping the power, or throwing innocent hoomans off a cliff.
The controls are simple, as you just move around and press a few buttons to open the gates to the heavens and rain down on people, or occasionally zap or freeze them. The content is simple to follow through, and more than often you can take your time clearing the different stages, unlocking new items for your cloud. These items are only cosmetic and just add a bit of flair to your cloud. There are quite a few levels to explore and many items to unlock.
Even though the developer states that the couch co-op formula is part of an oversaturated market, we do believe that games such as this thrive with the addition of some multiplayer content. Be it limited to some levels, or a dedicated co-op mode, it adds a lot of value to games such as this. The remark of having to rework too much content to have co-op gameplay is a bit silly when looking at this game’s actual content. You mostly move around on a map, annoying hoomans in (would-be) funny situations. This set-up lends itself perfectly to cooperative (or competitive) gameplay.
Conclusion
Rain on Your Parade, even with it having more than enough levels, is a bite-sized snack for in-between bigger titles. The game is fun to play in short bursts but is never truly binge-worthy. The overall gameplay is satisfying and the different maps and quests keep you entertained for a fairly long time. We do feel that this game could go from ‘just good’ to ‘great’ with a few finishing touches, a few graphical updates and perhaps a co-op mode.
Rain on Your Parade - Review,
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