Patapon

If there is one genre that has really flourished on psp, it would be rhythm games. Titles like Lumines, beats, Parappa the Rapper, and Gitaroo Man have made the handheld a must-have for any fans of the rhythm genre. While all those games were fantastic titles, Patapon manages to blow them all away with some of the most unique rhythm-based gameplay you'll ever experience. Combining gameplay from a wide swath of genres, the developers managed to create a game that is part rhythm-based, part RPG, and part RTS. It's not always easy for developers to successfully combine genres to create a greater whole, but Patapon absolutely nailed it. There has never been anything quite like Patapon.

You play the roll of a long missing deity to a tribe of big-eyed warriors, called Patapons, who have been banished from their land and have lost the will to fight. In order to help the Patapons regain their former glory and achieve their final hope of seeing the mysterious 'it' at the end of the world, they need you and your mighty war drums to whip them into shape and get them motivated for some serious combat. To get the Patapons moving, you need to issue commands by pounding your war drums in the appropriate combination. Each drum is mapped to one of the psp's face buttons and require that you tap them in 4/4 timing to successfully issue your command. For instance, to tell your little warriors to attack, you would have to tap O,O,Square,O, or to advance, you would have to tap Square,Square,Square,O. As the game proceeds, you learn new commands. At least the game is smart enough not to throw them all at you at once. By the time you learn a new command, you'll already be fully adept at all the previous ones.

The core of the gameplay in Patapon revolves around three types of stages: hunting, battles, and boss fights. During a hunting level, your goal is to defeat as many animals as you can in order to get valuable ka-ching (the game currency), meat and resources needed to make new troops for your army. During a battle level, your goal will either be to fend off an enemy attack or invade their territory. It's during these levels that you're the most likely to find weapons and armor to upgrade your troops. The last stage type is the boss battle. Every four or five levels, you'll be confronted by a massive high-level boss who towers over your troops and laughs off their puny attacks. This is where you will have to be strategic about what types of troops, weapons, and tactics you will use, since the wrong choice can end up with all of your poor Patapons painfully eaten or crushed.

There are 6 types of Patapons in the game: archers, infantry, javelins, cavalry, huge brutes, and musicians (with deadly tubas). Each type has its own specific strengths and weaknesses, making each group deadly in some instances and next to worthless in other. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to figure out which troop type to use, thanks to the ridiculously detailed stats screen. There is a huge variety of funky weapons and armor in the game and 'rare item hunter' gamers will have a field day trying to track down all the rare and unique items buried within the game. The world in which the Patapons live is also packed with unique and fantastic looking venues, from flaming deserts to dilapidated ruins haunted by huge dinosaurs.

One major frustration with Patapon's gameplay is the lack of explanation of what to do. It is not uncommon to hit a level where you cannot proceed unless you have a specific miracle or item, and the game tends to do a horrible job at explaining where to go. I spent an hour trying to defeat a massively fortified castle, only to find out that I needed to go back a couple previous levels and kill a random gold bird which would give me a miracle I needed to destroy the fort. There was no indication from the game itself that I needed to do that though.. Still, this only slightly lessens the enjoyment of the game.

While much of the game is quite silly (especially the mini games), the way the game handles the actual conflict between the Patapons and their enemies is extremely interesting. Though you are out to regain the old glory of your tribe, the enemies are trying to stop you because they honestly believe you are savages, trying to bring around the end of the world. They will plead with you to stop, curse you for destroying the world, and will display acts of courage, selflessness and worry for their companions. In their eyes, you are the one trying to destroy the world. Watching the enemy soldiers refuse to retreat so that they can help defend their friends is surprisingly powerful. Patapon makes you think about the reasons behind your actions and the reality of your unending swath of destruction.

The maturity and intelligence in which the developers handed the story is worthy of applause and is yet another reason why Patapon is so amazing. In the end Patapon is a surprisingly long and deep game that is half the price of most psp games. A surprisingly potent story, mixed with the most unique and addictive gameplay, makes Patapon an easy recommendation to any psp owner.