Replaying boss levels is fun for a while, and the number of times you can beat a boss is a pretty good measure for the strength of your army. Hunting levels can also be replayed as many times as you like, though they don't get any more difficult and offer no challenge whatsoever after a while. This is unfortunate because hunting levels are the only quick way to earn the ka-ching (Patapon's life-giving currency) necessary to create new units for your army. But replaying them over and over again--which you'll have to do at times--gets old pretty fast. Battle levels are the only ones that can't be replayed, which is also unfortunate because they're the most enjoyable missions of all and you'll rarely get new weapons for your army any other way.
When you're not leading your Patapon army on a mission, there are a number of things to keep you occupied back at the tribe's home base. A handful of rhythm-based minigames that are unlocked during missions can be played here to earn extra resources and, in one case, to prepare attribute-boosting food for your army. There's also a life-giving tree of sorts where you can plant resources, such as meat, rocks, and alloys to birth new warriors for your ranks. The quality and rarity of the materials that you use here will have an impact on the appearance and attributes of the warrior that's created, but you'll also need a lot more ka-ching to make it happen. Regular Patapon units are black and white; to paraphrase an insult from a Zigaton enemy, they look a lot like eyeballs with limbs. When you create stronger, faster, or fire-resistant units (to list a few examples of what's possible), the eyeballs change color to blue, orange, or green and occasionally sport some quite unusual headgear that prevents them from wearing any helmets you pick up from fallen Zigatons.
As is the case in many role-playing games, collecting armor and weapons is one of the more compelling features of Patapon. Your army of eyeballs will look mighty impressive by the time you reach the end of the game. Because the game's loot selection is so large and varied, it's also unlikely it will look the same as anyone else's. Some of the more ornate helmets dropped by mini-bosses are guaranteed to end up in your armory at some point, but there are plenty of swords, spears, shields, axes, maces, bows, and other weapons that you might never see even if you played through the entire game two or three times. Incidentally, it took us a little more than 13 hours to play through Patapon the first time, though we admittedly spent a lot of time experimenting with weather miracles and the like to uncover secrets. We also made a point of beating all of the bosses several times over simply because we enjoyed doing so. You're free to continue playing even after you've beaten the final boss, by the way, which would be great, except that there's very little motivation to do so. Yes, the game is still fun and the bosses continue to get more challenging. But what Patapon really lacks is some way for you to show off your army, its gear, and its achievements to other players on a leaderboard or in a multiplayer mode.
Minigames like this one are an easy way to earn resources for your tribe.
Patapon is a strategy game with some great boss encounters, as well as plenty of different weapons and armor pieces to collect. But first and foremost, it's still a rhythm game. If you can't keep a beat, you'll struggle to string together combos of orders, which will result in your army standing around hopelessly anytime it is unsure about what to do. Fortunately, the game's lighthearted soundtrack (not to mention a pulsating border around the screen) is helpful in this regard, and once you settle into a rhythm, your army will even start to sing along. Patapon's audio design, like that in LocoRoco, is something that you're either going to love or hate, but even those of you in the latter camp are sure to raise a smile at times. For example, there's a baby mountain that lets out a cute chuckle when you play music on its toes in one of the minigames, and in some of the later levels, the music you've come to rely on for rhythm guidance seems purposefully composed to confuse you, which is a neat touch.
There's never been a game quite like Patapon before. Its combination of light real-time strategy and rhythm is as superb as it is surprising. Anyone with access to a PSP would do well to check it out.
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Where to buy
Patapon (PSP):
$19.99 - $23.98
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$19.99 | Yes |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$23.98 | Yes |
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