There was a time when peace reigned. When the Almighty inspired the beat of the magical drums and the tribe known as the Patapons lived contentedly in their homeland. But then the almighty went away and a neighboring tribe, the Zigotons, drove the Patapons from their homeland.
But Hatapon believed the Almighty would return, and that the magical drums would once again ring out, lead the Patapons to victory over the Zigotons and guide the lost tribe back to its homeland (otherwise known as the Earthend).
This is the premise behind Patapon, a game that has rhythmic elements combined with mini-games, strategy and role playing and based in a two-dimensional side-scrolling world. The title is from Sony Computer Entertainment and is arguably one of the best titles to appear on the PlayStation Portable platform to date. It is entertaining, charming and highly addictive. The characters are drawn from the works of French graphic artist Rolito and rather than use rich texturing, the game uses stark contrasting colors that almost give a silhouette feel to the entire game.
Patapon starts off by looking cute with little Patapons (the name of the tribe you control, which look like little eyeballs with feet), referring to you in such reverent terms as ‘almighty,’ hooks you with the simplistic gameplay nature, then twists you around with the challenging aspects of guiding your tribe to victory against a variety of foes. The game contains more than 30 missions in a variety of environments. Players will traverse swamplands, volcanic territory, gorges and deserts collecting resources and fighting to collect drops to outfit the army. There are five music-based mini-games as well in this title, which will give the players upgrades and bonuses. With a total of six drumbeats to learn, players will have to think quickly while planning ahead. The game’s mission structure includes boss battles, hunting, and escort-type activities. There are also more than 100 items and weapons to find and use to create a powerful army.
As the Almighty, your job is to set the tempo, or beat, that will guide your army to victory. The beats have a variety of functions, and therein lays the strategic part of the game. You learn the beat that drives your army forward to start. Then you will learn alternative rhythms, like the one to attack (circle, circle, square, circle), or to defend. When you have the Patapons worked up to a frenzy, the Fever icon will let you know that you can unleash the rhythms of the Juju, which will create a “miracle.”
As one might surmise, music plays a vital part of this title and the musical score is very nicely handled. The beats are distinctive enough to allow players to recognize a rhythm and work in time to it. But timing is the key. The Patapons will also chant and you must not cut into the chant, but time the drum beats (depressing the appropriate buttons) to counter the chants and create a musical flow.
As you progress through the levels (and yes, there will be times when you will have to backtrack), you will resurrect heroes to join your marching tribe, as well as new units. There are both ranged attackers and skirmishers, and in the two-dimensional world, having melee units is key to protect the spear-throwing Patapons. The initial melee warriors are the Tatepon, but is also the Yaripon and Yumipon (range attacks), the Kibapon (horse-mounted troops), the Dekapon (large melee troops) and the Megapon (fires sound waves at the enemy).
When you start to gain troops, you can then form your groups to take into battle. This is where the strategic part of the game comes into play. Not only do you outfit your troops with items you acquire through battle, but you also start to think in terms of unit selection and order of attack. In addition to armor and weapons, you will also acquire Ka-Ching, which is the money and can be used to purchase units or resurrect fallen heroes at the Tree of Life.
The joy comes from the fact that you are fighting an uphill battle. The Zigotons are bigger, have more troops and employ monstrous units against your poor little tribe. It is only the Patapons belief in you, as their Almighty that will sustain them. Talk about pressure!
Graphically the game sports a very simplistic stylized appearance that works very, very well. As mentioned, the game’s design is by Rolito and uses simple abstract character designs juxtaposed against brilliant solidly colored backdrops. But even while the rhythms will hook you, Patapon is not without a few sour notes. The biggest is the lack of save points. Once you enter a level, it is either complete or repeat. There are checkpoints or save points en route that will allow you to pick up mid-mission should you fail. And because the game is rhythm based, any break in that rhythm will cost you. Yes, you can power off the PSP in the middle of the mission, but you really risk powering back up and being out of sync with the timing of the musical phrases.
The mini-games are also not only creative and challenging, but delightfully fun. An example is the dancing tree that if you play the tune correctly, it may drop some treats for your tribe.
It does not take long for this game to weave a spell of its own and draw the player in. The first couple of missions are too easy, but then the challenge starts to ramp up and losing a unit early will likely mean failing the mission.
Patapon is a truly great handheld game. It is unique in many regards, charming in its presentation, aurally pleasing and a lot of fun to play. It is also quite addicting and a real time-eater. Sit down for five minutes and before you know it, it has been 30 minutes. And it will draw you back time and again.
If you have a PSP, you owe it to yourself to play this game. I have enjoy this game, it's very cool.
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