Rainbow Islands Evolution  - Review

Rainbow Islands Evolution
Ages: Everyone

Rainbows as weapons, a hurdy gurdy that combats bad music with good, floating islands in the sky and a big bad muzac corporation to defeat. What a perfectly inventive conglomeration for a novel game.

The terrible music spewed out by Million Records has destroyed the environment, caused evil mutations - even affected gravity. Enter the twins - Bubby and Bobby to fight the evil Million Records. One jumps higher, one is faster. The tutorials give you a choice of eight non-interactive movies. Interesting. You churn out rainbows to use as steps to get onto higher and higher platforms. There are seven islands, each with three levels, the last of which involves a fight with a mini-boss. Are these islands a pie in the sky - Nooo they are full of enemies, traps and hazards. Oh, and you have to collect different kinds of percussion items. Additional transportation is provided by moving platforms with lights telling you when it is OK to get on and off.

Rainbows can be targeted at enemies but the heavy gun is resonator (notice all the musical terms). The resonator, a square can, when powered up by rotating the nub on the PSP, will launch a rainbow wheel towards your enemies - sort of - and herein lies the problem. Maybe rainbows don’t like to be directed, and maybe using a targeting reticle on rainbows is foolish but the inaccurate targeting makes the game feel more like work than fun.

The colors are bright and cheerful, the concept is quite unique. The sounds and music veer to the percussive and can get tiring. I do not know who Ignition had in mind when creating the game, it's a little too hard for the younger set and for the adults, the cutesy graphics won't hide the unbalanced game play. I didn't know of the earlier version but those player who have the original might want to hold onto it.


Fun Factor: Concept good - targeting too hard
Female Factor: Would it have killed them to make the characters Bobby and Barbara
Player Friendly: No saves on demand

Reviewed by: Editor - 04/08

  • Rainbow Islands Evolution
  • © Ignition Entertainment
  • Platform(s): PSP
  • To Order: PSP http://www.amazon.com/ $19.99