by Amr (@siegarettes)

• Grapple Force Rena 
  
• Developer: T. Ashley Jenkins (@FlutterSprite)
  
• Publisher: Galaxy Trail
  
• PC
  

I know my tastes. FM synth. Grappling hooks. Momentum platformers. That’s what Grapple Force Rena’s got and what I expected to enjoy about it. What I didn’t expect was it to be so goddamn funny.

There’s none of that groan worthy videogame humor that other games use as a crutch. Rena is clear-eyed comedy–using smartly written character dialogue, situations, timing and visual gags to deliver punctuation to a scene. It’s got a wonderful cadence and playfulness to it. Honestly, I’m laughing to myself just remembering them.

The playful spirit extends to the stages themselves, which constantly mix up objectives and invent new uses for Rena’s grappling hook. There’s plenty of enemy skull smashing, complemented by small open-ended areas that had me using enemies as weights, playing pinball, rolling dice and taking down mini-bosses.

None of these feel secondary to the traversal and combat stages, each which are thoughtfully laid out. Selfishly, I wanted to see more of those momentum based stages. Swinging through Rena’s multi-tiered open spaces and building up speed is awesome, and I wish I had more spaces that let me go wild. A particular highlight is a Western themed level with an open sky, rickety grapple points, and rolling levers, which I wish there were more iterations on.

Building up to that speed takes a while. Rena’s grapple line doesn’t retain the same tension as her peers. Unlike the rigid physics of Bionic Commando, or the springy fishing wire of Umihara Kawase, Rena’s line leaves a lot of slack and needs to be reeled in to the right length to get a proper arc for swinging. Hooking onto a ceiling too late left me with a long line that left me dragging on the floor, while a grappling early gave me a short arc that didn’t give me much speed. Finding the angle to maintain that momentum while adjusting the line took a long while, leaving me stumbling and awkward at the start of the game.

By the end I was more confident, anticipating swinging arcs and quickly launching enemies at each other as I propelled myself through tight spaces and belayed up walls. I wasn’t exactly moving at high speed–I never scored a rank higher than a B, more often ending up with a C or D rank–but I understood the flow of levels better. Oh, and do yourself a favor and turn on aim assist to avoid those awkward missed shots.

Rena’s titular character never lacks that confidence. She’s self assured and headstrong, with an unwavering moral compass. Thankfully this comes as endearing, setting her for a shonen manga style arc–you know, fight through some misunderstandings, convince skeptics of your ability, turn enemies into allies, etc. It’s a basic arc, but the charm of the writing carries it through.

Small details complicate the story near the end, ensuring that every character is given proper motivation and ending on a mixed emotional note that leaves certain questions unresolved. A short epilogue catches up with the rest of the cast and brings closure, but it’s an interesting narrative wrinkle in a mostly straightforward story. Like the rest of the game it’s thoughtfully employed.

Grapple Force Rena’s just a simple joy. There’s subtlety and nuance to its construction with smart writing and endless charm, but the joy of it is easy to understand. It’s fun, warm, and full of well timed gags that kept me smiling the whole time. What a wonderful little gem to end the year on.