Does the PaRappa spin-off forge its own identity or live in the classic rapping dog’s shadow?
What Is It? Um Jammer Lammy is a 1999 rhythm game released for the original PlayStation. Players control Lammy, a lamb who is lead guitarist in a band, MilkCan, set to perform their first ever concert. Lammy’s nerves get the best of her and she trips her way through a fever-dream sequence of performances leading up to her big show.
This is a rhythm game. The basics are similar to other rhythm games. A line of buttons will appear on the screen twice in a row. The first is the NPC character on screen playing them, the second is your turn to hit the notes as Lammy. You need to time your button presses with the queues on the screen.
There are four ratings while playing: Cool, Good, Bad, and Awful. You start out on “Good” and can only raise to “Cool” through some sick freestyling, more on that later. If you reach the end of a song and are sitting on Good or Cool, you will move on to the next level. If you are below that, or if you crash out below Awful in the middle of the song, you will have to retry.
Each individual section you play is given a pass or fail rating. If you are sitting on “Good” and fail a line, the “Bad” rating will start to blink. Fail the next line and you will drop down to “Bad.” If you pass the line, instead, “Bad” will stop blinking and you’ll be safely in “Good.” This repeats up and down the rating scale, although it takes some special freestyling to get into “Cool.” If you are able to, the prompts disappear and you get to play whatever you want. This playing is judged against some unknown criteria (probably changing notes and keeping a beat, though) and lasts as long as you keep up the cool work.
The main game is played through seven levels. You can also play co-op or head-to-head on levels you have beaten in normal mode. Co-op forces two players to both play well or fail. Head-to-head pits you against another player, or CPU, controlling Lammy’s evil twin Rammy. You must hit the notes and do better than Rammy to win.
Finally, once you beat the full normal campaign, you unlock PaRappa mode which allows you to play through the last six normal levels as PaRappa. This mode features unique lyrics and cutscenes from the normal campaign. It is essentially an entire extra game of similar length to the core single player mode here.
You can’t discuss this game without mentioning the visuals and music. I will go into more detail on the visuals below. The sound is wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed six of the seven songs you play as Lammy (sorry, level six). They are a mix of styles with goofy lyrics to accompany them. I was too busy trying to play the notes to notice the lyrics the first dozen times through in any given level, but eventually they simply sink into your brain. That’s all you can ask from a rhythm game with unique music.
The Best Part: The absolutely bonkers fever-dream of a story this game presents and, specifically, the wonderful visuals that bring these to life. I was playing this game and my son walked in, he asked me why an airplane was twerking in my game; a valid question. Nothing about these visuals were cutting edge for the time. The 2D paper-style art was simply unique and is a big reason it still holds up today while the majority of the PS1 library can best be described as an acquired taste. The game takes Lammy to some wild settings and backs those up with memorable visuals on top of the songs. It’s a great overall presentation.
The Worst Part: The seemingly random way in which the last three levels judge your ability to hit the notes at the right time. There is simply no rhyme or reason to it. The first four levels were tough because I have no rhythm, but I fought through that by repetition and learning. Then I hit level five and banged my head against it for over three hours. I eventually learned I could freestyle between notes and that seemed to build up enough per-line points so that I could miss some notes and still have that line count as a “pass.” The final two levels were similar to five, but I was able to pass them fairly quickly using the freestyle tricks I learned trying to play that stubborn lumberjack’s song.
The Verdict: I have no rhythm. At one point in my life I went to a friend’s house with my wife and we played Rock Band for the first time. My wife had to tap on my knee so I could know the beat I was supposed to play on the drums. It’s seriously bad, folks. However, I always liked rhythm-based minigames that used to be thrown into various games such as Sly Cooper. When I had a pile of store credit and saw Um Jammer Lammy sitting on the shelf, I figured “why not?”
I am glad I did. The game is entirely outside of my wheelhouse but I had a really great time fighting through each of these songs. Most levels took 10-30 minutes, which is a great length of time considering the massive satisfaction I got from finishing each one. I recently spent some time extolling the virtuates of old school, bite-sized arcade gaming experiences, and Um Jammer Lammy is another strong example of that.
Every now and then it’s fun to try something outside of your comfort zone. Is Um Jammer Lammy an all-time favorite of mine? Probably not, but it will stand as the first solo rhythm game I ever played and that will earn it a spot in my collection. That is a better personal legacy than 90% of the games I play, so I’m happy I had a great time with Lammy and look forward to revisiting her adventure again down the line.
How to Play: PlayStation 1*
*console played on for this review
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