Ra Ra BOOM

This game is a masterclass in being bad, it was really difficult to understand why, and explaining the issues might seem obvious now, but the marketing was quite intriguing, so it successfully tricked me. So lets start with the videos that convinced me: one of them is the overview trailer you can find on this page, explaining a bunch of features, another showed the first boss. The boss video is easy to explain: it shows a boss that made me think "this will require strategy and might have different ways to be beaten". There's also a part where the player gets stuck in a hit loop, didn't encounter that a lot in this game, but I wouldn't say the bosses are particularly memorable, even as parodies of other things, I forgot about them the second they were gone. The gameplay video is where all the issues lie, and there are a lot of mechanics mentioned and references that I would like to expand upon, since this game definitely tried to take inspiration from other games, but took all the worst lessons: - first off, they present the characters, which sound funny and fairly cleaver in the trailer, until you hear how obnoxious and uninspired they get during the game, repeating lines and having some of the blandest dialogues you can absolutely imagine and predict. River City Girls... they're definitely not. - why did I mention River City Girls? Because they have the audacity to mention the greatest beat em ups of this generation (dotemu's best) to introduce their next feature: gunning and punching. When I heard that, I was honestly intrigues, I like beat em ups with ranged weapons, and generally I'm up for any twist to the formula, but here's where we need to talk about the game feel, because it's lightyears away from the streets of rage and tmnt they mention, or any other decent beat em up, for that matter. But wait there's more, and way worse: when you finish a level, the next two "challenges" for that level are "finish with only melee" and "finish with only gun". What was the thought process for that? "Let's remove the main features that represent the game and around which we built our levels? That oughta make the level harder!", more like annoying, since you can imagine parts where you should be able to shoot and now because a wackamole chase... and there's a lot to say on the level design, the biggest offenders being the long hallways of nothing and waves of identical enemies back to back. - and then we get to they key part to understand why this game is a failure: they talk about the color coded lanes, even saying "they will inspire future games"... that makes me laugh so hard now, but when I first saw that I thought it could be interesting, somehow I was stuck in some bad beat em ups of the 90s with bad hitboxes, if I just stopped and think for a second, I would have realized that none of the good beat em ups ever needed this, because it the hitbox and moveset are clear and well designed, moving between lanes is a natural part of the gameplay. But that's the core issue with this game: it's lazy and implements unnatural and ineffective solutions instead of understanding more nuanced characteristics that make a game great, like game feel and movement design. The reason the color coded lanes exist is because the hitbox in this game is abismal, and I would say that even the lanes don't always help, not to mention the fact that you need to see a line to understand if you may hit an enemy is just artificiously bad. Definitely not the "future of games", because if someone uses it in the future, I'll know it's a bad sign (you can look at the boss in frame 1:23 of the video to have an idea of how the lanes don't help with some messes). - and lastly, there are upgrades. This is hard to talk about because one of my favourite game is "Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds", which is not everyone's cup of tea, but for me is amazing except for the upgrade system behind which most of the moveset is locked. Ra Ra Boom does even worse: even the dash is locked behind an upgrade (which has the dash attack that's not mentioned anywhere), together with uppercut, downward strike and pistol whip, which are about half of the moveset of the characters, that's how limited the moveset for the characters is, not to mention the awkward inputs (double tap instead of directional buttons or any other dedicated buttons). In short, for a game that mentions the best in its genre, they sure didn't understand them at all, or the genre itself for that matter. Won't recommend, better games came out even the same day. Update: the game still su.......cks, just trying to play it again after the update made me mad. The update is pointless and all the points above still apply. I can't discourage people enough from buying this game. Not that people have, fortunately, but just in case someone stumbles into this game, even after playing all the other beat-em ups in the world: don't. ------------ EDIT: I previously used the phrase "switching lanes", which could be interpreted as the game having a lane switching button (like phantom breaker, code of princess ex, fatal fury or others). This game instead has "lane movement", which is the most common and modern movement mechanic, used in so many beat em ups, including the already mentioned streets of rage, tmnt and river city girls. With lane switching, everything is 2d, so the hitboxes are 2d as well. If that was the case, the 2d hitbox the enemies seem to have would be ok, but with lane movement, players and enemies need to have a 2.5/3d hurtbox and hitbox to allow a magin of error and not needing to be exactly in the same line. This game seems to have a lane switching hitbox in a lane movement game, and the color coding is something that further confuses as it implies the game has clear lane distinction, which is a feature of lane switching and not lane movement.

Reviewed for Monstervine.com : https://monstervine.com/2025/08/ra-ra-boom-review/

Really fun! The animation and art is really good, and the music too. Its easy to pick up and play with friends, and there's a surprising amount of stuff to come back to the game for in terms of achievements and such. Fighting enemies with both the ranged and the melee attacks are really satisfying, the bosses are fun, and the voice acting is great!

If you've ever lived in the Cincinnati / Dayton area, there is a really neat tribute level that is a ton of fun. As a local I'm really rooting for a game studio in my home town to thrive. The game mechanics might not be as tight as some of the competitors but the visuals and music are outstanding. Great voice acting and some creative character choices. (I love Ren's Naruto run). I had a ton of fun with it and want to 100% it.

I'll preface this review by noting that I'm not a super seasoned beat-em-up player. My first solo playthrough took me just under two hours, with one single game over on the final level, so I definitely think Ra Ra BOOM is approachable for others who aren't super experienced with the genre. Without further ado; PROS: - Easy to pick up and play for casuals - Each level has an unlockable hard mode for those more interested in a challenge - The graphics and voice acting are quite nice overall, and the music is good too - Multiplayer is pretty seamless and seems like a more fun and chaotic experience - Decent enemy variety, especially across the first four or five levels - Unique boss encounters are pretty entertaining - Appealing and fun character/enemy design throughout CONS: - There are a handful of really annoying enemies, a couple of which show up somewhat frequently; one in particular has a ranged attack that will just chunk your health to zero rapidly - A couple bosses (looking at you, Sewer boss) seem extra awkward or annoying solo; you won't necessarily struggle with them, but they definitely feel designed for more players - Some of the later levels are a little less inspired gameplay-wise, boiling down to dozens of enemy waves that can get pretty repetitive - Input can feel kind of unresponsive or delayed at times - No online multiplayer (outside of something like Parsec for instance, although I imagine that would work well for it) I do feel like there's enough here to be worth continuing to play after completing the game, optimizing for all of the achievements or possibly speedruns. Due to the short length of the game, I feel like speedruns specifically could be pretty interesting. Overall I'd probably give Ra Ra BOOM a 7.5 or 8 out of 10? It may not be a groundbreaking title, but there's something there for every skill level and the charming art and dialogue is a huge plus.

A fun beat ‘em up with its own art style, make sure you use a controller and the music is sold too - will enjoy this one.

Having fun so far! Love the art and the music is KILLER. The cast of characters really sell it and I have a feeling I'll really appreciate the narrative by the time I'm finished. The gameplay is engaging too--really like the special attacks. And it's brilliant that you can swap in a different character when you die.

This is a really fun game with an easy to understand combat lane system and very engaging story!

Y'know, I love me the 1990s beat-em-up genre, and this one clearly loves it too. The studio is local to me in Cincy and this game has been getting hype in the region for a number of years. Great voice acting and music, as well as genre references galore. The breakdown for me was in both the gameplay itself, which had a number of unpleasant physics quirks (such as the "hover" jumps that ruin attack timing), and the lack of animation in the game's cinematics, which otherwise seem to be begging for some dynamic motion. Looking forward to an update version of this game, which is an overall terrific project for us in Cincy.

Le di unas horas a Rara Boom y se siente como un juego que no se complica, va directo a la acción. Es rápido, colorido y con un estilo que entra fácil por los ojos. Lo que más destaca es el ritmo: todo pasa ligero, casi sin pausas, y eso hace que sea ideal para partidas cortas. No es muy profundo ni tiene demasiadas capas, pero tampoco lo necesita, cumple con entretener. Siento que es de esos juegos que funcionan mejor cuando solo quieres desconectarte un rato sin pensar mucho.