Rapid Angel and Yakiniku Bugyou Double Review (PSN’s Import Store)

Written by Cole Burton Tuesday, 12 July 2011 11:00

On July 6^th, the PS Store received two more Japanese import games.  These games, Rapid Angel and Yakiniku Bugyou, made me wish I hadn’t stopped working on my Japanese.  As with all Japanese Import games, they are best played by those who can speak, read, and write Japanese.  However, they are still great fun once you fumble through the menus and start up the games.

Rapid Angel

Rapid Angel is the best sidescroller I’ve played in quite a while.  It begins with you selecting a character, one of three women.  Then the fun begins.  While I do have to avoid writing about the story, since I do not know Japanese, I can say the audio quality is great and I’m sure the voice acting is as well.  When the gameplay starts up, you will be walking to the right of the screen while fighting enemies and protecting yourself from their attacks.

As you complete each act, your life will not be restored.  With the occasional boss battles and tough enemies this can make the game pretty challenging.  However, isn’t that what makes a game worth playing?  A good challenge is hard to come by with current gen gaming.  After all, checkpoints and game saves can be generous.

Rapid Angel impressed me greatly.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve played such a fun sidescroller since Super Mario Bros. 3.  Yeah, I liked it that much.  After being exposed to the Imports available on the PS Store it makes me wish our American favorites would show up so we could experience them differently.  I would love to play Metal Gear Solid in Japanese and enjoy that voice acting.

Yakiniku Bugyou

Yakiniku Bugyou was unfortunately a different story for me.  I just couldn’t get my little American mind to comprehend it.  First, I will say I’m no chef, so that may be the problem.  But, I could not do anything right in this game.  I blame not understanding the instructions, which are in Japanese, as well as my inability to make food without a microwave.

From what I could tell, three judges think of two foods each, and then you put them somewhere on your grill.  With each food, you use the triangle, square, or the circle button to serve it to a judge.  However, whether they are thinking of the food or not, they get sick when I serve it to them.

This drove me crazy as I would try flipping the food to get it well done and what not, but nothing I did helped.  Man, I must really be bad with food.  This game just caused me to rely on others to prepare my food, and myself for only canned food, chips, and stuff of that sort.

Overall, Rapid Angel was a great joy to me.  Yakiniku Bugyou is probably great to those who understand it.  Speaking, reading, and writing Japanese would allow me to enjoy these games to the max, but they can still be fun without those skills.  You just need to give it some time and practice.  Be sure to look into each of these games on the PS Store’s Japanese Imports tab.  They sell for $5.99 each.

Should you need any help with these titles, you can check out MonkeyPaw's website here.  It provides hints and tips, as well as other games you can browse!