Paw Paw Paw Review

The beat ’em up genre has been around since the early days of gaming. It reached its golden age in the 80’s with games like Double Dragon and TMNT, as well as Golden Axe and Streets of Rage. These games were challenging but fun to play, at home on consoles or at the arcade, and of course they were always more fun with friends. It seems like there’s been a recent beat ’em up resurgence with games like Streets of Rage 4 and Battletoads paving the way for the genre and showing how there’s new and innovative ideas ready to be programmed and consumed. Paw Paw Paw is one of the newest additions to the beat ’em up fray. Developed by Simpleton and published on the Xbox One by Ratalaika games, this title attempts to distance itself from the typical money-for-achievements fare Ratalaika is known for publishing. Paw Paw Paw does its best to stick to its roots while also staying fresh, but will that be enough to differentiate it from its peers?

Paw Paw Paw is named after the Kingdom in which the game takes place. It has always been a peaceful place filled with animals that walk and talk like humans and wear clothes from the waist up. The current ruler, King Bunnylord III, has made the kingdom both powerful and prosperous. One day a strange pink rock falls from the sky crashing down right near the King, causing him to go mad. He immediately issues a decree that all citizens must now wear pants. The Kingdom finds itself in an uproar, as pants are both “wrong and unnatural”. It doesn’t take long for a rebel force to form, calling themselves the Antipants League and vowing to stop the King.

Your journey takes you across the Kingdom, fighting your way through dozens of levels which are accessed from a level map that’s illustrated just like a map you might find at the front of a fantasy novel. Most levels are the typical beat-em-up set up, side scrolling with a slightly angled view so you can walk (left joystick) around on the ground in 360 degrees. The two games I was most reminded of while playing were Golden Axe and Castle Crashers, not only because of the bladed combat and outdoors setting but also because they have a few levels with different gameplay similar to how Castle Crashers or even Battletoads is set up. I’ll let you discover them for yourselves, though I will say that they fit in with the story and the areas of the map in which they occur.

There are four playable characters from the start which is convenient because Paw Paw Paw features up to four player local co-op play (you can also unlock more playable characters throughout the game). One co-op downside however is that only the first person signed in on Xbox will earn achievements. I don’t understand how all the 360 developers were able to figure out how to have multiple people be signed in with everyone still earning achievements, yet so many developers of Xbox One games either can’t figure it out or simply neglect to include this basic feature. I tried out a few different characters but I stuck with Aku the Barbarian, who might have been a bear with a hipster haircut, but he also could have been a hamster. Regardless of what species he may have been, he had the same piercing black eyes as his comrades, which silently communicated their shared hatred of wearing pants.

Some of the characters you can easily tell what type of animal they are (the bunny ears sticking out of the helmet are a pretty obvious tell), but others it’s harder to determine, especially since no matter what the real world size may be. all the creatures in Paw Paw Paw are pretty much the same uniform size. Each character has his or her own unique class (I think at least one of them is female, hard to tell with animals, even ones that are pantsless). Each class has one passive ability and two activated abilities. The passive ability is always active, two examples would be the ability to walk while blocking, and gaining attack speed with each continuous attack. The activated abilities use one to four energy bars when activated and have a cool down timer. They vary in type, from attacks such as throwing your weapon like a boomerang or adding a knife throw to every attack, to support such as the botanists’ healing aura ability. Each character can use one of four weapon sets. There’s one handed weapons that pair with a shield, two handed weapons, dual wield weapons, and ranged weapons. You will find more powerful weapons after defeating bosses as well as in chests. Occasionally they can also be dropped by regular enemies, and you can buy them in outposts. 

The basic gameplay in Paw Paw Paw includes jump (A), regular attack (X), and strong attack (Y). You also have the ability to block (LT) and dodge roll (RT). Lb and Rb are reserved for your active abilities. Paw Paw Paw might have a humorous storyline but the gameplay is anything but. Combat can be pretty tough at certain points, fortunately though there is a difficulty option (only accessible from main menu options). Even after lowering the difficulty I had a hard time as early as the third level which has you escorting a cart through the woods (the cart of course has a hit point bar) and don’t even get me started on King Bunnylord III; he might have a silly name but he’s a real challenge.

On the surface the combat is well designed, there are combos you can employ and each weapon type has its own move sets. Some of the classes seem very underpowered/weak (such as the ranged weapon classes). On the other hand the dual wield characters’ attack move sets seemed very powerful. The active abilities ranged in usefulness and effectiveness as well. Some were garbage like the arrow storm, whereas others like Aku’s weapon throw were very strong. You start out with five inventory slots and you can scroll through your inventory by moving the right joystick left and right. Pressing B consumes the item selected. The consumables range from health and energy potions to bombs, and the most interesting, eggs! In a call back to Golden Axe you can use an egg to summon a mount for you to ride while in combat. There are a few options, all of which you encounter as enemies in the wild either on their own or being used by other enemies as you progress through the campaign.  

As I said before the game can be tough, one of the most frustrating things is getting stuck in a stunned hit cycle where an enemy or enemies continue to hit you after stunning you with an initial strong attack. Fortunately though if you die you keep everything you’ve gained in the level up until that point – items, experience, and food. Food is the currency in Paw Paw Paw and it can be used at outposts scattered across the map, each one is themed to match the area in which it is found. There are multiple vendors and other helpful NPC’s in each outpost. The Brewhouse will sell you potions and bombs, the Eggs trader, surprisingly, sells… eggs, and the wandering merchant sells weapons, which can be equipped along with the ones you’ve already found at the armory.

If you’ve levelled up you can spend the points in your skill tree by talking to the gorilla. You can unlock combos unique to your class, and make your active abilities stronger. Increasing your consumable carry capacity is also an option, as well as increasing your stats. Each character has their own unique stat line made up of four stats: Strength, Stamina, Defense, and Agility. The game isn’t clear on exactly how these affect your character, but I’m sure you can guess on a few.

Some weapons can positively or negatively affect your stats.. There’s a tent in each outpost that lets other players join you so you don’t have to exit to the main menu if you want to switch to co-op midgame. Or if you find that the butt imprint next to you on your couch is empty the game has you covered; you can hire an AI companion at the recruitment board. This is a neat idea, even going so far as to offer you more powerful companions the further you get, but they stand no chance in the later levels even on easy difficulty, don’t waste your money on them. They might not even make it past the first enemies you encounter. The changing tent also allows you to switch characters, letting you try out some of the other weapons you’ve collected. The downside is each character starts at level one, so might have to replay a lot of earlier levels to get strong enough to proceed.

The art in Paw Paw Paw is overall attractive, it reminds me of a detailed cartoon. It doesn’t have a hand-drawn on paper feel, but more of a created on a computer feel because everything looks so detailed and nice. The characters and environments have a soft appearance to them even when there’s blood flying and heads rolling on the ground. The game can be somewhat gruesome, but there is an option to turn off the blood if you find it’s too much for you. The characters appear to be vector animated which makes the movement look clean and fluid, the melee combat animation is more than solid and you get a bolt of joy when you execute a flowing, continuous combo annihilating everything in your path.

Paw Paw Paw features a decent soundtrack. Each area seems to have its own track and they all have an action feel to them. The music during the bosses always picks up tempo and gets more dramatic which adds tension to the situation. The techno sounding track that plays while you’re on the map screen is a little odd, but unique. The sound effects are standard fare, swords clashing, footsteps, and so on. Everything sounds like it should, except the animals, they don’t really make any vocal noises, it would have been cool if they were given some personality, not necessarily even actual voices, but maybe something similar to the sounds they make in real life since the dialogue can get a little boring. There’s always a delay at the start of each conversation you have, which makes it even worse.

Conclusion

Paw Paw Paw tries its best to be an entertaining game that holds up to the standards set by the classic beat ’em ups and the innovative newer titles, but ultimately it falls a little short mostly due to its difficulty. Beat ’em ups are known for their difficulty, but they almost universally feature lives and continue systems that make them accessible to a wide audience. Even on easy some parts of the game can be very tough. This game is designed so you can grind by replaying levels and then level yourself to get stronger. There’s some variety in a few levels but not enough to make me want to go back and grind through them. If you’re a fan of the genre it’s definitely worth a look, and in comparison to some games by the same publisher it’s relatively good. Hopefully Ratalaika will step out of their achievement filled comfort zone and expand their catalogue even more.

This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox One console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.