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ESRB: 
Platform: PSP
Category: Miscellaneous
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Graphics 8 |
Sound 7 |
Gameplay 8 |
Tilt 7 ||
Overall 8
Author: Shad F
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Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
I feel the need to preface this review with a few quick qualifying facts. One, I have not played the original Paragon game. Two, I am a big, white dude who can’t dance. And three, I have no rhythm. That sucks when you’re trying to review a game like this. That said, Patapon 2 looks to expand on what was a well received first game and appears to have done just so. From my point of view, the game wasn’t all that great but I can appreciate a good game when I see one. I should also note that Patapon 2 is strictly a digital download title which means that there is no PSP and you download it to your Memory Stick that is in your PSP.
Patapon 2 is essentially a turn-based strategy game that is set to music. You must keep to the beat in order to power up your abilities which forces you to act on the fly as opposed to traditional turn-based games which may give you a bit more time to think in between moves. It is a rather interesting combination of genres when I think about it: turn based strategy, keeping to the beat like a rhythm game such as Guitar Hero or Rhythm Heaven, and also providing some RPG elements given the fact that that game is very, very customizable.
You are charged with developing and leading an army of Patapons to find what is called the EarthEnd. As simple as they are, Patapons are kind of cute and can offer an impressively wide degree of customization. The action takes place as a sort of side scrolling adventure, almost platform like in a sense. The Patapons explore different stages and come across many enemy types, indigenous wildlife, and even varying weather. Enemies drop items which can be used to both level up your Patapons individually or evolve them along an interesting tree where you can create new types of Patapons with new abilities and weaknesses.
Commands such as advance, attack and defend are made in measures which are made up of four beats. Time your button presses to the beat and the Patapons react. Chaining well timed measures together starts a combo meter that puts your Patapon army into what is called “fever” where all of their abilities are enhanced. Keeping this combo going is key to advancing in each stage as well as being successful against the various enemies. Falling out of rhythm puts you back to square one. This can be disastrous in the middle of an engagement, not to mention terribly frustrating for rhythmically challenged folk like myself. The aim is to get to the end of each stage with at least part of your army still intact. If Patapons die, you collect their caps as you progress through the stage and they are resurrected in your hub world before the next stage.
As I touched on earlier, an interesting twist to the gameplay is that the weather changes as you progress through the game. Rain can mask your scent allowing you to get close enough to an animal to kill it when you may not have been able to when there was no rain. Wind directions also play a factor in combat. With the wind at your back, long range attacks may overshoot or vice-versa if the wind is in your face. These elements add an extra layer to the strategic element of the game.
You can build your army of Patapons with multiple units such as long range or close quarter units. The simple look of the game sort of masks its complexity. There are many, many decisions to be made. From the type of Patapons you create, what you equip them with to whether or not you should level your current Patapons up or evolve them into new forms that may be stronger or weaker in specific areas. Both levelling and evolving require the use of items that you collect in the stages. This results in you having to go back and replay earlier stages several times in order to collect enough items to perform certain actions. The developers were smart enough to create levels within each stage which not only increases the challenge of each repeated go through, but it also offers different types of enemies and dropped items. However, I found having to replay stages ad naseum too repetitive for my liking. There is an interesting “hero” Partapon which you can customize with super attacks based on the other types of Patapons in your army. These types of attacks may involve a powered up close quarter attack that affects a larger radius of enemies or a larger hail of arrows as a powered up long range attack.
The graphics are best described as fun. Lots of bright colours and simple shapes all combine to create a fun looking world. The sound in Patapon 2 revolves largely around the music and keeping to the beat. While I found the character voices somewhat cute, I can definitely see them becoming somewhat annoying to some people. As you build up combos the Patapons begin to sing and chant differently. It can be a little hard to hear the basic chant that you are following to help you keep the rhythm. Maybe that is by design but I found it to be a challenge.
This has been an interesting, if not challenging, review for me in that I am not the biggest fan of turn based strategy or RPG games and I just plain don’t have great rhythm. The game manages to capture that intangible value of being catchy though. I found myself singing “pata-pata-pata-pon” a bit too often for a 35 year old guy. But that speaks volumes doesn’t it? My own preferences aside, Patapon 2 offers far more than what it appears to on the surface. It is a surprisingly deep game that does a good job of combining genres and providing a surprisingly deep gameplay experience.
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