In the late 80s and early 90s, side-scrolling beat-em ups and shooters were all the rage in arcades and home consoles. Games such as The Simpsons (Arcade), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade game), Streets of Rage 2, and Contra dominated the arcade marketplace next to their fighting game counterparts of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and X-Men. With these games in mind, Cincinnati-based developer Gylee Games created Ra Ra Boom. Did they succeed in channeling the arcade energy and charm that inspired them into this game? Let’s find out!
Ra Ra Boom
Developer: Gylee Games
Publisher: Gylee Games
Platforms: PC (Steam)
Release Date: August 12th, 2025
Players: 1 to 4
Price: $19.99
Ra Ra Boom is the story of four teenage girls who must fight against evil robots in order to save their friends and the Earth. The game features nine different levels with a range of aesthetics from a scrapyard to an amusement park. Within the game, there are a ton of Pop Culture references to varying games, cartoons, movies, and TV shows; the most notable reference is in the sewer level and pays homage to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Now, the game may feature a ton of references, but the story itself is a story of survival, overcoming unknown odds, and just trying to get back home. At the end of the game, the developers leave a cliffhanger in case they want to do a sequel or some kind of DLC. When it comes to the game itself, it feels like it needs one of these two options because you can complete it within 3 to 6 hours. Yes, the developers try to tell a story of four teens overcoming adversity and tribulations, but outside of the final level, it felt very surface-level and dismissible.
Once we had completed the game, there were only two things we could do: upgrade the rest of our skills completely or complete the different homework assignments and get a better grade on the levels.
The extra homework assignments did create a bit of a challenge, but if you had leveled your skills in a certain way beforehand, they were easy enough to overcome. The only challenging homework assignment was the Extra Credit one, which increased the difficulty. In all honesty, they could have just put an additional difficulty in to start with, and fans might have been more excited.
The game does feature a decent array of enemies, and with the different challenges, each level does give a unique feeling. The core gameplay changes whether or not you are playing solo or cooperatively. When solo, you have the chance to switch between the different characters once your character has become incapacitated. When playing in co-op, you can swap to a different character once you have lost all three lives.
Although Ra Ra Boom is meant to be played cooperatively, the game does not feature online matchmaking; instead, you have to either have to find people who want to play through their Discord or invite your friends to play through couch co-op on Steam. When playing through Couch co-op on Steam, there is a bit of an input delay. If the host clicks out of the game onto a side screen for any reason, everyone else is locked out and can’t move.
In all honesty, the game feels pretty much like a single playthrough experience. Vee feels like the only character that feels different from the others (Shield) despite the other characters using different weapons. In fact, unless you want to complete the challenges (Steam Achievements) and different homework assignments, the game offers little replayability; there are no unlockable cosmetics or additional characters as far as we could tell.
Now, this isn’t saying that the gameplay isn’t enjoyable, but rather that it is something that most will play once and be done with. The game’s soundtrack for the different levels is enjoyable and immerses you into the action, with the voice acting being tolerable. The best thing about Ra Ra Boom is the game’s art direction. Each character looks different, the levels are beautifully designed, and the weapon animations are well done.
If this game were a proof of concept showing how good the animators, artists, and sound designers could do, it would be a great project; however, as the game is now, it feels like it is missing something that makes it truly stand out. A lack of unlockable cosmetics, characters, or even a goofy bonus level left us feeling underwhelmed for a game that we were originally optimistic about.
If you are looking for a side-scrolling shooter, then you could give Ra Ra Boom a chance if you and three other friends want to chip in five dollars for a game to play with one another on Stream or on a rainy day. Otherwise, the game is skippable and is something to pick up during a Steam sale or something that you get as part of a bundle.
Ra Ra Boom was reviewed on a PC using a code provided by Gylee Games. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Ra Ra Boom is now available on PC (Steam).
