Calling Rapid Angel low budget is a bit like calling a toy gun a poor substitute for an AK-47. Rapid Angel is so far below "low budget" it has a negative budget and owes its creditors massive amounts of money, causing the IRS (or whatever their Japanese equivalent may be, as this game is Japanese. In fact, it's entirely in Japanese. Meaning that I know nothing of the story, or even the character's names.)
In that light, I have dubbed the three playable characters Redhead, Swordchick, and Trollface, respectively. After each of their most notable characteristics. I opted to play as Swordchick, as she seems the most typical beat-em-up character (yeah, this game is a beat-em-up, it gets weirder, trust me).
After a lengthy animated cutscene that is put to utter shame by such high-quality animation as everything else you've ever seen ever and also Flash, the actual game begun. Oh wait no, Swordchick now gets her own cutscene, spoken in a drunken-sounding Japanese. Now the game starts.
It's a perfectly typical SNES, sprite-based beat-em-up, which would be okay were this game not for the Play Station. I really cannot convey how easy this game gets the moment you remember where the attack and jump buttons are. There's also a charged special attack that I have dubbed the Firin' Mah Lazor Button, but you likely won't need it, especially if you're better at video games than I am.
The first level is very typical of this kind of game. Travel forward. Kill peoples. Face boss. Win. The second level is more of the same and ends with a bossfight against a ripped old dude dual-wielding axes, and then Swordchick talks on her cellphone.
The third level is actually fairly interesting, and can be difficult if you're a poor gamer (as I am), the game can't seem to decide if it's still a beat-em-up, a traditional platformer, or some sort of mini-metroidvania. In any case, it's over too soon. There's also not a boss fight on this level.
