Patapon

Wanneer de onverwachte genres in de videospelletjewereld kruisen, is het vaak een recept voor ramp.  Nochtans, in het combineren van het tactische genre in real time met dat van het ritmespel, Patapon niet alleen alle dingen voor alle mensen getracht te zijn, maar grotendeels geweest heeft.

De speler neemt de rol van omnipresent deity die door Patapons, een stam wordt aanbeden van jager/gatherers die de marsen aan van heilige trommels slaan die u controleert.  Door deze trommels in de correcte opeenvolging te slaan, kan de speler tot Patapons opdracht geven om aan te vallen, te verdedigen, of gaat terug.  De spelers kunnen het leger verder aanpassen Patapon door nieuwe eenheden zoals cavalerie of bards `' te introduceren en promotiebewapening te verzamelen.  Meer dan de reeks opdrachten, brengen de spelers Patapons door bossen, wildernissen ertoe, en woestijnen die, die de vijandelijke stam Zigaton bestrijden en legendarische dieren verslaan om Earthend en geheimzinnige „IT te vinden.“

De kunst van het spel wordt het best beschreven zoals vereenvoudigde cartoonish tweede.  Het zal gamers van eraan herinneren Loco Roco, another game produced by Japan Studios.  This means that instead of awkward-looking 3D, players can expect smooth animation and an eye-pleasing environment in which to lead the Patapons.  The soundtrack is quite catchy, although after extended playing sessions one may never want to hear “pata-pata-pata-pon” ever again.  Most importantly, it’s fun to watch your ragtag army of Patapons tear through the opposition and dance their way across the victory line.

The game’s two apparent flaws are both genre-specific.  On the rhythm side, hardcore music game junkies may find the simple beats to be too simple, nevermind that they’re always at the same tempo.  When in “Fever” mode (which gives units stat boosts as a reward for keeping with the beat), the only way to adjust to an enemy’s changing attack is to drop out of “Fever”, throwing off your army’s rhythm and giving the enemy opportunity to strike.  Allowing players to adjust the tempo (possibly with the D-pad, as the only buttons used during play are on the right side of the PSP), would allow for adjusting fluently to the situation, and possibly provide new challenges where they were forced to stay at a certain tempo in special areas.

On the tactical side, the option to create new units using materials collected both during missions and through minigames is hamstrung by what amounts to grinding for loot through various “hunting” missions.  During combat, one cannot command the individual squads of units separately - when one attacks, all attack.  Additionally, money and items dropped by fallen enemies disappear after a period of time, which means that when the archers cut down the lancers halfway across the screen, by the time the foot soldiers break through that Flaming Sword of Badassness will have already popped out of existence.

Though frustrating at times (and painful for the right hand when played for long periods), Patapon is a fun experience that proves the PSP to be a capable platform for new gaming concepts.