Pataon
Can you feel the beat? Feel it, feel it pulsing through you entire being
By Charlotte Pierce
Patapon. is the next crazy invention in PSP gaming. Take the role of “Almighty” and guide a tiny army of eyeballs known as Patapons to Earthend so that they may see “IT”. Sure, the game isn’t going to win any awards for story, but it sure makes up for it in plain fun!
You control the Patapons by drumming with the face buttons of the PSP. Each button corresponds to one of the 4 drums. The more in time you drum, the quicker the Patapons will reach fever mode, which brings bonuses to their attacks. Simple right? Despite Patapon’s cutesy looks, it is a game with depth, and there is lot of fun to be had.
The gameplay is so simple anyone will be able to pick up and play. To avoid getting you to confused, you start the game with only two drums. With these two drums you are able to tell your Patapons to move forward, and to attack. Just at the point when you are getting sick of the only two rhythms you know, you are presented with a third drum, and soon after that, a fourth. The timing between getting a new drum/rhythm to play is very well spaced, as the game doesn’t overload you with to much, instead allowing you time to get used to the rhythms one at a time. Unfortunately there is barely any use of the third and fourth drums, and it would have been a good idea to utilise them more.
All in all there are only four rhythms to learn with which to control your army. It would add some welcome variety to have more included but this is slightly made up for with the addition of “miracles”. Miracles are, in a way, special moves. Once you find a miracle, you can select to take it in a mission (you may only equip your army with one miracle at a time). Once you get your Patapons into fever mode, you play a rhythm on a drum to activate a mini-game where you must play rhythms sung to you by the Patapons. The more rhythms you get right, and the more in time you are, the longer the miracle will last. Miracles can range from making rain, to wind, to earthquakes and storms. Again, there isn’t a great deal of variety in the miracles, or the rhythms you play to activate them.
Starting off the game is reasonably confusing. You are thrown into “Patopolis”, the home of the Patapons. It takes a fair bit of experimentation just to work out what you can do here. The game manual doesn’t explain what anything is, and there is no in-game tutorial about it either. It is up to you to figure out what everything is, and what you can do with it.
In Patopolis, there are “mini-games”, in which you play rhythms to gain various materials. You start off with only one, but as you progress, you will gain access to more. Unfortunately, there is a slightly annoying amount of text before each mini-game, and there is no way to skip or speed it up. There is also a lack of direction as to what you are supposed to do, though at least each is fairly different from the last.
Throughout the game, you must build up your army if you are to have any hope of finishing the game. To do so you need materials and ka-ching. The better the materials you have, the better Patapon you will build, but the more ka-ching it will cost. You get materials at points in a level (often after defeating something), and you get ka-ching for every kill. Keep in mind, there is a limit to the amount of each unit you can have, though you can “retire” units in favour of building a more powerful version. While this is a good addition to the game, the building process isn’t mentioned in the manual, nor is the fact you can change which materials you build your Patapons out of.
When you start the game you will have access to three types of units, axemen, spearmen, and bowmen. As you progress through the game you will gain “memories”, which allow you the right to build more types of units. The most useful we found out of these new units were the “kibapons”, mounted horsemen with spears. While the new units are nice, apart from the kibapons, you don’t really need them to win.
Despite all these new units, you must make a choice before starting each level as to which ones to take. You can only take three different types of units, along with a stew and a miracle. The limit on army size works really well as you really start to care about every little Patapon, as each loss really hits your army, and it forces you to really think about how you are playing.
Before starting a level you can also choose and customize the weapon/armour set each of your Patapons take. There is an “auto-optimize” button, but sometimes this didn’t work quite as well as it should, and you will want to tweak the weapons/armour to your playing style.
Even after you finish the story, you can keep playing. After you reach a boss or a new hunting level, you are free to go back there at any time, whether just to get practice, or to try and earn some ka-ching, or obtain a material. It is by no way a walk in the park though. Each time you defeat or re-defeat a boss, it gains a level, so you must continue to upgrade your army if you want to defeat the new challenge.
Patapon doesn’t have graphics, it has artwork. The game, like Locoroco, has a style that is rarely seen in a game. It is truly beautiful to look at, and despite its overall simplicity, it is colourful, vibrant, and, if you look closely, contains a fair level of detail. Occasionally though, speech bubbles from the Patapons will overlap, causing you to miss, or only half-read parts of the storyline. While this isn’t anything major, it is a bit annoying, but you will still understand what is going on.
The sound is just plain addictive. In the same style as Locoroco, the Patapons will scream at you, sing, and dance, throw their weapons, groan when you miss a beat, and chatter amongst themselves. The music will have you tapping your foot and bopping your head in time. There is a square around the edge of the screen which beats in time to help you, but sometimes you will get put off at a crucial moment by the screaming of the Patapons, which is louder than the music, and this will often happen in fever mode.
Summary:
Patapon is an incredibly addicting, fun game, which, though not for everyone, caters to that little niche in the gaming world who love Locoroco, and crazy Japanese music. With around 10 to 15 hours of play in the story, and a heap of replay value, it makes for one of the best PSP games around.
Gameplay - 9.5
A really original idea, with great controls, and set against a brilliant backdrop. Not a brilliant story, but so much fun you will not care!
Graphics – 9.0
Cutesy, colourful, vibrant, brilliant. A joy to look at.
Sound - 9.0
You can’t stop tapping, it’s crazy, it’s fast, it’s loud, but you love it!
Replay – 9.0
Takes between 10 and 15 hours depending on how much you want to build and customize your army. Even after you finish the story mode you can continue playing, and you will want to play the story mode again, if not straight away.
Overall - 9.0
This isn’t a style of game you see every day, and even if you think you are going to hate it, Patapon is a game every PSP owner should try at least once.
Submitted by insectoid
27/03/2008
36
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