#GIRAFFE AND ANNIKA FIGHTING HOW TO#

These are not terribly complicated battles as they only require one button and the joystick to play. She sends little cosmic bulbs at Annika who needs to hit them in time with the music using her magically manifested staff. At the end of each dungeon, the witch Lily will challenge you to a rhythm game. Keeping a proper rhythm is the key to boss battles found in Giraffe and Annika. It’s not the most taxing wait, but it certainly karate chops the rhythm of the experience. There is also time mechanic where certain events happen at specific hours, forcing me to find a bed to sleep until morning or night and then wait it out until it was ready to go. Their designs lack a unique imagination and the length of time it takes to complete each of them varies greatly from two that you can finish in a matter of minutes to one that feels like it goes on forever. In fact, they’re not that engrossing the first time through.

As much as I enjoyed this on Spica Island itself, I wasn’t too keen on going back into the dungeons. The small, open-world design is perfectly suited for an adventure like this, constantly beckoning me back to areas I’d previously explored once I had a new item in hand. The best times I had on Spica Island were the moments I just happened into certain areas far earlier than the game expected me to, setting up a tease for what was to come later. For the rest of Annika’s quest, I admired how the developers slowly revealed more of the island to me and lightly rewarded my fondness for exploring on my own. Thankfully, that’s a very small piece of this otherwise uplifting package. However, when the game did decide to challenge me with retrieving its more difficult-to-find “meowsterpieces” - collectible art hidden across the island - that uneasy movement became my prime source of contention. For a majority of the game, this slippery movement doesn’t matter much as no tasks here require much skill to pull off. Annika moves as if her feet are butter sliding across a hot skillet. The only time I wasn’t smiling here was when the lax controls butted heads with the light 3D platforming sections. It’s a rather pleasant experience and the charm of it all was enough to put a smile on my face for most of the five-and-a-half-hour run time. In turn, they’ll help you out, such as sewing a new dress for you or being your gunner in the few mine cart portions of the quest. Some need you to collect shells for them, others need you to restore forgotten monuments across the island.

Rather, it’s a fanciful adventure across an adorable island with friendly inhabitants who each need a little assistance. This isn’t a title that’s going to challenge you. Or you can do what I did and just run through each dungeon not caring about damage because health restoration points are plentiful throughout the game. These dungeons are a hotbed for ghosts and Annika can make it through unscathed if she notes the route they take while patrolling their section.

#GIRAFFE AND ANNIKA FIGHTING HOW TO#

In fact, at the start of the game, she can’t even jump, though she eventually learns how to do that - as well as swim and run - with each completed dungeon. It’s an action-adventure game sans the action. After breaking into a local house and stealing a bag, she meets the floppy-eared Giraffe, who tasks her with exploring three dungeons to retrieve the star fragments from within.įrom its opening moments, it’s clear Giraffe and Annika was made with more casual players in mind. It’s familiar to her, but not in a way she clearly understands. The story is set on Spica Island, where the cat-eared Annika awakens with a fuzzy memory about this place. Its characters, situations, morals, and enchanted world evoke the more kind-hearted aspects of those old Grimm and Andersen yarns. Giraffe and Annika can best be described as a playable fairy tale. And while Giraffe and Annika doesn’t quite measure up to those short adventures that came before it, its endless charm has me appreciating the experience anyway, warts and all. In fact, some of my favorite titles of the past few generations have been those I can complete in 10 hours or less. I don’t mind diving into something meaty that takes me two weeks or more to complete, but with the color of my hair reminding me of how little sand I have left in the hourglass, I’m gravitating more and more toward bite-sized adventures.īut just because a game is short doesn’t mean it can’t be memorable. As the gray hairs have slowly replaced the brown ones on my temples, I’ve become quite fond of shorter games.

Giraffe and annika fighting