Rain on Your Parade: Game Pass Gems #02

Sometimes, finding Game Pass titles is like the candy in line for the cashier. You think “why not, I’m already here” and throw it in your download queue. That’s the case for me with Rain on Your Parade, a comedic puzzle game made by Unbound Creations. The most reductive way to describe Rain on Your Parade is Untitled Goose Game, but you’re a cloud. While the inspiration is pretty clear, I found that the game showed enough creativity and silliness to push through to the end.

So what do you do as a cloud? Well, you precipitate. When you enter a level, you will have any number of missions represented by stars. These are often things like rain on everyone, break stuff, and so on. Only a designated few are required for advancing to the next stage, with the rest being optional or even hidden. I generally did every mission I could because I’m OCD like that. Doing so will reward you with cosmetic items, which I will get to later.

But it’s not just rain that will fall from your cloud, Cloudy. You will unlock abilities such as snow, lightning, and tornado. Some levels will also have containers of other liquid, like oil that can be left in a trail of fire. These abilities allow for more complicated objectives like pushing a snowballed person down the stairs or burning a barn. In certain stages, your water is limited, and you must ration it out. Other times, you can pour to your heart’s content. This inconsistency bugged me a little, and I would have preferred to just keep it unlimited. There were also some issues where one power seemed the most obvious for accomplishing an objective, but it wouldn't work. Some more feedback in these cases would be welcomed, as the correct answer wasn't always clear. Heck, just let both solutions work.

As you progress through the game, however, sandbox-style missions become more of the exception than the rule. The developers must have thought the gameplay was becoming stale, because they threw in everything and the kitchen sink. Minigames include bowling, tower defense, and breakout. There’s a Metal Gear stealth mission complete with codec calls. There’s even a stage where you get points for not moving, just floating there for however long you want. Well, I didn’t say all of them were sensational hits. The variety a small stroke of genius – If the game stuck to one style throughout, it would be difficult to keep a player’s attention for all 2-3 hours. But since the game has players wondering what’s next, it retains interest a lot better. The art and modeling in the game is rudimentary, but it’s spread across so many environments and scenarios that it’s ultimately charming.

Wrapping around the entire experience is the game’s tone, which may be a make-or-break point for many people. It’s completely comedic and winks at the player every chance it can get. The handful of characters that pop up love to poke fun at the fourth wall. With an affinity for older Rareware games, I can deal with it, but I know people who can’t stand that bit. The game is purely goofy, and it loves throwing in nods to other games, television, and even some YouTubers I noticed. You can put all sorts of silly hats and accessories on Cloudy, and there’s even a photo mode for whatever reason. On top of everything, there’s a Princess Bridesque framing device that I could do without. Grandpa’s jokes aren’t funny, and the in-game story is already so ridiculous that it doesn’t need the help.

It’s obvious that the developers had fun making Rain on Your Parade. The game’s lean budget is spread over so many varied moments that it’s easy to share in that fun. Its popcorn-sized levels are perfect to throw on for a few minutes while you’re waiting for your patches to download. Should you play this with kids? I’m hesitant, as most kids I’ve met hate puzzles and would rather play Minecraft. But if you can force them to stick with it, you’ll get some wholesome if unpolished entertainment. Rain on Your Parade gave me more than I expected, and that’s a pretty good deal for a candy bar.

NOTE: This blog series will proceed on a rolling basis as I play more games that I think are a good fit. I don’t have any planned right now because I’m playing Forza instead.