AI has taken over the world of Ra Ra Boom. This is an apocalyptic Earth, but not in the traditional Skynet style of decimation we’re used to. Instead, we meet our four heroes as they are sitting in a mundane, interminably boring classroom, safe in a sanctuary that looks like your everyday American high school. They’ve been selected, hand-picked even, thanks to their special traits, to train, practice and prepare for the return of the despotic AI and its minions, This quite conveniently happens just in time for the start of the game.
This is a classic beat ‘em up of the highest order, with four-player co-op giving you control of one of the four unique characters. They’re headed by Aris, a cheerleader who dual-wields Uzi-like machine guns, while my personal favourite Vee is the tank character, brutally pushing enemies back with her massive energy shield and chunky blows. Meanwhile, you’ve got Ren, a super-fast samurai, and last, but not least, Saida, a cyborg with sass. They’re described as ninja space cheerleaders and, broadly speaking, they are. They’re undoubtedly a cool and engaging group that you’ll want to take on an adventure smashing up robots.
And you get to smash plenty of robots. Ra Ra Boom brings the traditional batch of light and heavy attacks, as well as an Ultimate that you charge by successfully landing blows on those badniks. On top of that, each character has a ranged attack, guns and missiles destroying everything in their path, and giving you a great way to continue attacking while you close the distance to smash them up some more. Punches and kicks feel suitably swift, though I’d like to feel a little more weight to each blow.
The enemy are aggressive. These robots are hell-bent on putting you down, and even when you’ve taken many of the metal monsters out, they’ll resurrect, rushing at you with flailing limbs in a last attempt to deal you damage. It means you have to be ever watchful, and I’d definitely like to see some kind of finisher move to stop them from getting back up again. This is quality fisticuffs action though, and I really enjoyed the old-school thrills of walking left to right, hitting everything in my path.
It helps that Ra Ra Boom looks great. There’s a real America’s Best Comics vibe to the visuals, and each of the main characters is unique and vibrantly designed. I love some of the robot designs seen in the demo – particularly the massive single-eyed robotic boss character – and I can hope that the full game will showcase even more interesting designs and epic encounters.
My only current worry is that Ra Ra Boom is pretty tough, and some of that doesn’t always feel fair. Enemies can nab you a little too easily at times when you’re not expecting it, and there’s a running section where it’s nigh-on impossible to avoid the high-speed full-lane attacks that come your way, even though the path of the attack is laid out on the ground.
Ra Ra Boom has bags of potential, and as a fan of co-op action and classic beat ‘em ups, it’s definitely grabbed my attention. We won’t have to wait too long to see the whole game in action, as It’s set to launch for PC, PS5, XSX|S and Linux this August.