Rainbow Skies review for PS Vita, PS4

Rainbow Skies is a solidly above-average JRPG.

That, in itself, is nothing to sneeze at. There are far worse ways a game could be described. I?ve played a decent number of JRPGs, and a whole lot of them could only dream of being solidly above-average. For Rainbow Skies to achieve that means it?s better than about 80% of its peers.

At the same time, though, it?s really only worth checking out if you?re into the genre. And by that, I mean you need to be into lengthy, exposition-filled dialogue. You need to be into party and inventory management. You really, really need to be into grinding and turn-based battles. Because, as you can imagine, Rainbow Skies has all of those things in spades.

Mind you, they all become a lot more tolerable in small doses — which is why it?s a good thing this game is on the Vita, in addition to PS4 and PS3. In some ways, Rainbow Skies was made to be played on the go. While grinding your way through battle after battle kind of loses its lustre after you reach a certain point, having the flexibility to get a battle in here and there, when you?ve got a few spare minutes, makes it much easier to digest.

And if you?re playing it on PS4 or PS3? As I said up top: it?s solid. As should be abundantly clear by now, Rainbow Skies won?t make you rethink everything you think you know about JRPGs or anything, but nor will it make you wonder how anyone could possibly ever enjoy the genre either. It?s got an engaging (if somewhat overstuffed) story, combat that?s about as straightforward as it gets, and characters who, while generic, never make you cringe in disbelief.

Despite all that, saying that Rainbow Skies is for fans of the genre only seems somehow disrespectful. When you say that, it usually implies that you?re talking about some obscure, hard-to-love game — which definitely doesn?t describe Rainbow Skies. Instead, think of it as a gateway to the genre: if you?ve ever wanted to play a JRPG but don?t know where to begin, Rainbow Skies serves as a pretty thorough intro. (And, of course, if you?re already into JRPGs and you need something to sink your next couple of weeks into, it?ll more than serve that function, too.)

EastAsiaSoft provided us with a Rainbow Skies PS Vita code for review purposes.