Patapon

Almighty, says Stevie

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Beaten down by their evil foes the Zigotons, the last remnants of the brave Patapon tribe are lost and without hope following a vicious war that has left them teetering precariously on the verge of extinction. However, as oblivion looms, an injured Patapon soldier wandering across a scarred battlefield suddenly gazes upon the face of the Almighty (that would be you) who promises to guide the faithful Patapons back to glory against the nefarious Zigotons via the guiding beat of divine war drums.

That aforementioned guiding beat is delivered by the player via the PSP's face buttons, which are used to deliver simple four-button beat combos that directly influence the on-screen actions of Almighty's ever-willing Patapon warriors. The drum-delivered orders are easy to remember and gradually introduced in order for the player to become adequately acclimatised to each as the game's missions steadily progress.

For example, starting the game with just one drum (there are several to collect), the player's opening orders are "March" and "Attack," two basic battlefield instructions that are delivered through "square, square, square, circle" and "circle, circle, square circle." Visually and aurally, these timed button presses to the ever-present battlefield beat translate respectively to "Pata, Pata, Pata, Pon" and "Pon, Pon, Pata, Pon," which cause the Patapons to sing the beat back to Almighty while either advancing their position or engaging the enemy.

And here's the gameplay hook. During that four-beat moment when the Patapons are shifting into action and singing back their divine orders, the player has a few seconds to assess on-screen activity and issue the next order pursuant to the beat and unfolding mission events. By issuing a constant chain of commands, the player soon drops into synch with the battle drum rhythm, the Patapon singing, and the near-constant battlefield onslaught.

Once the player has issued ten successful orders (or less, depending on beat accuracy), the Patapons, their singing, and the beat, shift up into a state of "Fever." This sees Patapon warriors stronger in the attack and more resistant in defence while the player is tasked with remaining in tune with a beat almost lost in a cacophonous din of glorious battle cries, collapsing scenery, and death rattles.

Keeping Patapons in "Fever" quickly becomes the defining task of any worthy Almighty and, while doing so is never difficult in the traditional sense of the word, it does require absolute concentration, nimble fingers and a good ear for sound. Factor in the gradual securing of multiple war drums, which sees slightly more complex face button combos required for orders such as "Defend" and "Dodge," along with elemental "Miracle" beats that can turn the tide of battle, and players shouldn't be at all surprised if they find themselves losing vast amounts of time to Patapon.

While some might accuse Patapon's lack of 'direct' battlefield influence as leaving the gameplay labouring beneath the weight of mere button-pressing repetition, the undeniably addictive control system is bolstered ably by a solid selection of supporting foundations. Specifically, while spoils of war such as improved weaponry and armour can be collected from the battlefield and later equipped to Patapon troops, the game offers up an involving resource management element that is vitally important to continued progression.

This is fuelled via hunting ground missions that involve the Patapons striking out from the safety of home village Patapolis to take on various lumbering beasties and boss-style creatures of legend which, while providing food for the tribe, also offer up monetary value and a plethora of materials that can be used by the Almighty back at the village Mater tree.

The Mater tree is essentially a birthing tool that allows the player to combine certain garnered items with Ka-ching (Patapon currency) in order to create new and improved Patapon warriors to better deal with the ever-advancing Zigoton hordes and the game's progressive difficulty. Conveniently, and at no Ka-ching cost, the Mater tree can also be used to resurrect the successfully captured spirits of Patapon comrades defeated in battle.

Also, the game's intermittent boss levels, which are certainly challenging and require well-timed tactical nuance on the available drum beats, are made more interesting insofar as they are not merely tagged on to the game's core Zigoton missions. Instead, boss battles are often freestanding creature conflicts that result in the player learning a new miracle or freeing the "Memory" of a great Patapon warrior that can be channeled through the Mater tree. And, unlike most games with boss challenges, Patapon's bosses remain accessible at any time and grow more and more difficult to beat with each return visit. Of course, the draw here is that each boss completion then delivers a piece of useful material for the Mater tree.

Patapolis is also home to various rhythm-loving individuals who present Almighty with the opportunity to engage in brief musical mini-games that require a small token of goodwill on the player's part for participation but can deliver several items of worth for the Mater tree if completed successfully.

Another aspect helping to paper over the unavoidable limitations of Patapon's face button-only control scheme is the game's fabulous presentation. From the tribe's mysterious longing to reach the mythical "Earthend" where they believe they will be able to gaze upon "IT," through to the always-entertaining real-time battles, to the adorably abstract sprite designs and their humorous speech bubble comments and exclamations, Patapon's overall appeal goes much deeper than arbitrarily banging on a war drum.

Battling across beautifully understated and stylised 2D side-scrolling environments (inspired by French graphic artist Rolito), the little Patapon soldiers are little more than well-armed dancing eyes with sticklike appendages and a love of rhythmic war. Arch enemies the Zigotons are similarly designed - if not slightly more squared - but are easily discernible thanks to being predominantly red, while guardian bosses and hunt beasts range between hulking fire-breathing monsters, vicious crabs, spasmodic giant worms, and docile cow and birdlike creatures.

The same appeal lends itself to the game's emotive tribal music and the differing drum beats, with the former ebbing and flowing during battles and spilling over into frantically charged rhythms during prolonged moments of "Fever," while the latter are always delivered as thick, thudding four-beat percussions guaranteed (absolutely no exceptions) to have the player involuntarily feet tapping and head bobbing to help remain in time with the relentlessly pulsing rhythm.

The only point of detraction this reviewer can dredge up against Patapon is that players keen on immediacy might find fault with the initial two-button drumming repetition that weighs proceedings down for the first couple of hours of gameplay. However, once armed with a full array of battle commands, kick-ass troops, and helpful Miracles to wield in your role as the all-conquering deity Almighty, Patapon's repetition soon gives way to genuine difficulty and reward that belies the game's overtly youthful overtones and requires quick thinking and a proper strategic sense of timing.

Generally speaking, gaming's rather slender selection of genre categories invariably means that reviewing a new FPS, RPG or RTS prompts a journalistic reliance on comparative comments made against other similar titles, which may be bigger, better or even considerably worse than whatever it is a reviewer may be appraising. Indeed, having a yardstick of existing quality to grab on to is a handy tool when reviewing, it's a useful anchoring point for assessment and an assured frame of reference unless faced with an outrageously unique gaming title that defies genre classification. But how often does that happen these days?

While the squishy and squashy invention of the PSP's award-winning LocoRoco perhaps comes closest to Patapon in terms of creativity and originality, the genre-straddling ingenuity and intrinsic simplicity of Pyramid/Japan Studios' horrendously addictive rhythm-based, all-action, resource management God game successfully lifts Patapon head and shoulders above most of today's videogames - PSP or otherwise.

94%

By Stevie Smith