J!-ENT
Asian Entertainment News and Pop Culture

VIDEO GAME: PATAPON

CONSOLE: PSP

ESRB RATING: E for Everyone - Mild Cartoon Violence

INFO: 1 Player, Memory Stick Duo

DEVELOPER: Pyramid/Japan Studios

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

JAPANESE WEBSITE

Personally, I didn’t know much about this game until the week before it came out. Partly because of all the buzz that I have been hearing from video game reviewers who received their advanced copy of the game and also because it’s a rhythm-based game.

The story goes: “Fierce monsters and an evil army standi n the way of the brave Patapons. To regain their honor, this brave tribe will follow any command and fance any enemy. But you can keep the rhythm in the heat of battle? Turn your PSP system into a “war drum” and lead the tribe in over 30 missions with your beat. Build an army and collect over 100 weapons and items. The patapons destiny lies in your hands.

Artistically, the game is unique as the Patapon tribe look like big eyeballs who are equipped with spears. As you continue to do well in stages, you then are able to access warriors skilled with axes and bows and arrows.

The main premise is that you are the one who can lead the Patapons to victory. In a 2D landscape and going from left to right, the Patapons only move by the button commands you give. To advance, you click square, square, square, circle. To attack, you click on circle, circle, square and circle.

Of course, this is a rhythm game, so timing is important. You make the command, they repeat the command, time it well and input the command that you would like them to follow. By doing well, you put the Patapons in fever mode, giving them specialized attacks and creating miracles.

The actual levels are very fun as one level, you can be hunting for food and you must choose the right army to bring with you, while another has you going against the enemy and another fighting a dragon.

At first, the game seems easy but as you progressed past the tenth level, the more it becomes important for you to get into fever mode and not messing up, and trust me… messing up is easy to do.

But so far, I’m on the eleventh level which requires me to go onto the desert, the problem is that once you reach a certain section, the ground is on fire. I would need to get a perfect groove of fever mode to get a rain miracle with no mess ups. Sure, easier said than done.

So, I find myself backtracking to earlier stages I have beaten, building up items and earning “ka-ching stones” (think of it as money) to grow my army.

The more you progress and pick up items, you get some interesting versions of Patapons, better weapons and also learning more rhythm based drums such as defensive attack moves (I’m sure there are more, just haven’t gotten too far yet in the game).

All in all, I’m actually quite pleased of the simple but cool illustrations and the overall gameplay. But also making things much more attractive and worthy of the price which the game sells for $19.99.

All in all, the game is actually fun, addicting and unique. Even a person like myself who tends to be uncoordinated when it comes to musical rhythm based games is enjoying “PATAPON”.

So, overall, for it’s gameplay, it’s cool and crazy look and it’s price point, it’s definitely worthy of picking up.

Tags: Patapon, Sony PSP