Developer - Pyramid
Publisher - Sony Computer Entertainment
Available on - PSP

Patapon is a very deceiving title. At first glance Patapon is a pretty simple rhythmic strategy game from the developers of LocoRoco, therefore sporting a very similar style of presentation. You know, the style of Japanese ‘creativity’ that both promotes and negates all forms of substance abuse. I wouldn’t recommend any though, Patapon is a constant audio onslaught, appropriately so as gameplay entirely revolves around issuing army commands via well-timed drum beats.

Things are kept simple at the start, as our godly player is introduced to the first set of army commands, enacted via 4 beat drum combos. It seems our cute and noisy Patapons are in fact enslaved to the rhythmic commands of the godly drums, as they attack, defend, advance or retreat according to the 4 beat combo inputted by our deity player. Each level has a background tempo to keep to, it’s a surprise that the background music can be very inconvenient at times and far too noisy when you’re trying to stick to an inaudible beat. The learning curve is a quick case of learning each move combo and then nailing it down to the beat. Consecutive combos or high performance results in Fever Mode, boosting our Patapons in attacking harder and faster, a compulsory component of any victorious battle.

It’s a whole new aspect for rhythm games, like a blend of music and strategy. Creating and balancing an army is an essential aspect of any battle, variated by difficulty curves that force level repetition for the purposes of hunting, earning more loot and building up a better army. This means you’ll be repeating a bunch of levels be they a boss or a quick hunt, in a rhythm game this can be a big downside.

When it gets down to it, you’ll only end up with a handful of commands to use in battle, so a LOT of command repetition takes place. You’ll learn to remember the combos as they’ll be used hundreds of times each when playing through Patapon. Considering the gameplay itself is so basic and repetitive, then forcing players to grind through past levels is pretty slack and adds repetition that this game really can’t afford.

It’s a pretty easy affair overall, too. Patapon’s slight kiddy focus shows in multiple cases of the game being far too forgiving and easy. I found myself in many most futile situations when losing all my meleé units. It seems that if the enemy still has meleé units, it won’t simply beat the crap out of my ranged units of whom are unable to attack. No, it will move it’s one or two meleé units back and forth to avoid attack, yet do nothing, until frustration takes over and a quick restart to the menu takes place.

Then there’ll be levels you’ll head in to knowing nothing of the rectal reaming ahead. Sure it could have been easily avoided by picking a specific miracle beforehand but there’s no way of knowing until the trial and error takes place. Wasting time doesn’t happen too often in Patapon but it’s knowing that what time IS wasted could be spent doing some mandatory ‘ka-ching’ (cash in the Patapon universe) grinding that creates some frustration.

Later on, it’s worth a little griding. New units are eventually introduced, deepening the surprisingly addictive strategy element to Patapon. Many failed missions could have resulted differently when one refines and examines their Patapon army. While two levels could be played near identically, the strategy element to Patapon is definitely one of the strongest enjoyable sides to Patapon.

Aside from a solid strategy element, Patapon is full of addictive and noisy fun. The characters and universe are super-happy-cute and the music (while sometimes all too much) is well done and catchy. The gameplay is a bit basic and too repetitive while of decent length. There’s some motivation in continuing on after the story mode, wrapping Patapon up as an addictive and lengthy package, marred by some consistency issues.

Patapon

82%

The Good -

* Top notch audio in a delightfully charming universe.
* RTS elements ensure an involving and rewarding experience.
* Addictive but simple gameplay allows pick-up-and-go fun.

The Bad -

* Often a cacophony.
* Bizarre difficulty scale with lots of repetition.
* Scrambled menu interface hinders efficient army management.