GamesRelay

Name: Patapon

It's not very often that we see a game like this come along, and more often than not, the simplest ideas can turn into the greatest ones. It's obvious that Patapon takes its reference from LocoRoco with its simplistic yet vibrant graphics, since some of the team from the latter mentioned game worked on Patapon, so if you liked LocoRoco, you should have no qualms about liking and purchasing this.

Patapon is a rhythm-action, tactics game which sees you playing the role of a god tasked with leading your people – the Patapons to take back their land which was conquered by an evil army called the Zigoton Empire. Quite a touching story, yet one overly used in games today, but then this isn't an RPG.

Since you are now acting as the deity of the Patapon tribe, you should be figuring out exactly what needs to be done to conquer the oppressing army of evil Zigotons. The game plays out in a forward scrolling fashion which sees you using the mighty war drums to control the Patapons and lead them forward. The way you issue commands to your cute minions is by tapping out predefined commands like Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon with the triangle, square, x or circle buttons which sees your Patapon tribe moving forward. The different commands are easy to pick up and the game breaks you in gently with picking up new battle drums to use for the commands as the levels progress. It's fairly simple to latch on to so those thinking it might be too difficult shouldn't shy away. The whole point of issuing commands is to try and keep a rhythm going. When you tap your commands in, the Patapons sing along with what you're pressing, unless you get it wrong, so keeping rhythm leads to success. Keeping them going longer without making a mistake will put your Patapons in a musically tranced frenzy where they perform better in battle so practicing on a hunt level can really help you defeat bosses.

The whole experience is broken up over 30 missions and offers plenty of variety, some of which include hunts for food, battles and bosses. The hunting side of the game is quite important since you need a way of maintaining your mighty Patapon army by feeding them, so taking them on hunts will replenish your food supply and keep your tribe happy. The happier they are, the more you get worshipped. Battles are the main missions which you will face, these have you using the tribe to do specific tasks like attacking a Zigoton outpost and there army of Zigoton's and war machines, where as the boss encounters are the most demanding aspect of the game. Later on in the game when the drums become more advanced, you will find yourself replaying the boss encounters a few times before completing them, remembering the bosses attack pattern is the easiest way to complete the mission. There are reasons to go on specific missions like battles and hunts, not just because you need to feed your tribe in the hunt missions, but playing through the battle missions will allow you to get new weapons for your Patapon army. You can also spend ka-ching which is the Patapons main currency on purchasing these items from your main camp, but it's better to save your ka-ching in favour of picking up the weapons from a battle.

When you are not sending your tribe of Patapons into battle, the main camp where you're Patapons live is a hive of activity. The different areas in the camp which are accessed by simply scrolling left or right give you access to the upgrades for your army, minigames, and other such areas. One particular area of interest is the life-giving tree which allows you to plant some of your resources to spawn further Patapons for your ever growing army. There is a point to all of this, since using your resources will determine the look and attributes of your Patapons so it's an added layer of strategy for you to think about before randomly planting anything you currently have available.

It's all very compelling trying to get your army shaped the way you want it, and having to replay levels you have already passed just to get new upgrades adds a nice layer of replay value to the game, but there is only so much one can take before your army becomes too powerful and thus making you need to start the game again to actually keep the gameplay challenging. An added feature is that the boss battles can be replayed over and over, but every time they are defeated they become more difficult on the next battle, this gives your army a challenge and shows just how strong they are getting, but again, it only lasts so long before your army becomes too powerful.

The game doesn't include any type of multiplayer which is a shame since pitting your powerful army of Patapons against a friend would add some great value to the game and keep you compelled to replay the game to make your army more powerful, even adding a leaderboard of sorts for you to compare armies with other players from across the globe would of been a nice feature.

Presentation wise, Patapon is clean and simple much like LocoRoco, the whole experience is one you surely wouldn't want to miss since it's something new and refreshing and nothing else is similar to the game. The game will give you about 10 hours of fun and that's before you want to go replaying everything to upgrade your army since defeating the last boss will not end the game. Music and sound in Patapon is certainly worth mentioning as well, the themes are catchy and interesting which don't get dull after a few games forcing you to turn the music off, your tribe of Patapons also sing along with the beat of your battle drums which helps keep the rhythm going. No doubt you will find yourself singing some of the phrases in your head before long, “Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon”.

So if you're a fan of LocoRoco then Patapon should be a no brainer for you to lay your money upon, but even those who didn't play LocoRoco should feel more than welcome playing the game, since the two games share nothing apart from the art style, fun loving music and great gameplay. The whole package offers a lot of depth to what you would perceive as a simple game, with a lot of replay value for the most dedicated of Patapon deities. So go out and purchase the fun loving game before everyone else does, you won't regret it.