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»Patapon
"Sound the drums, o' Great Patapon!"
Had it not been released at the remarkably low price tag of $20 USD,
Patapon might have been overlooked by many here in the States. That’s
not to assume that the game is bad or a ‘budget title’ in any way. In
fact, this may very well be the third most satisfying twenty dollars
you spend on a PSP title. The first and second most satisfying twenty
bucks you spend would, of course, be the forty that put Monster Hunter
Freedom 2 in your hot little hands…
Are you still here? I thought I told you to go buy Monster Hunter
Freedom 2 and Patapon. Oh! I see. You’re reading this because you’ve
seen the box art and have heard everyone talk about it like it’s the
best thing since Monster Hunter, but you aren’t exactly sure if it’ll
be your cup of tea or not. Does that about sum it up? Ok, well let me
tell you this. It is. Go buy it!
Are you still here? I guess I’ll assuage your appetite for knowledge
since you insist (see: forcing of one’s hand). For starters, you don’t
actually play an in-game character; instead you play as a sort of god
or super patapon who echoes down from the heavens the sounding of the
drums that only Patapons hear. You are a commander who sounds out
marching orders and signals an attack. You tell the Patapons when to
block and you can make miracles happen all by hitting one of the
buttons on your PSP.
Patapon is a bit of a strategy game in that making one wrong move can
end in shambles, but it’s also a musical game. It’s nothing as
difficult as DDR or Guitar Hero, but it does have moments that’ll make
you want to rip out your hair. This comes mostly from fever mode and
the miracles but we’ll get into that a bit later on. As far as
music-based games go, Patapon stands out in that you’re not stuck
hitting the buttons they tell you at a certain time. Here, you choose
what you want to do and how to advance but you have to do everything to
the beat. Each face button on the PSP will eventually become a drum
that you sound off to dole out orders. From ‘Pata’ ‘Pata’ ‘Pata’ ‘Pon’
to ‘Chinka’ ‘Chinka’ ‘Pata’ ‘Pon’, you will be giving out four-beat
orders. When you land a note with exact timing it will sound out a
little louder to let you know. Beating out a combo of 10 successful
commands in a row will initiate fever mode. In Fever, your Patapons
tend to have crazy skills. Archers fire 3 arrows at once while
Cavaliers will become impervious to damage. As you can see, it’s quite
good to remain in fever mode, but it’s also harder than you might think.
As I mentioned earlier, you can make miracles happen, but the catch is
that you will lose your fever by doing so. The first miracle you’ll be
able to cause is the ability to make it rain. This has two purposes.
The first is to continue onward through a desert. The second is that it
aids in hunting. When it’s raining, your prey won’t be able to smell
your presence as fast. Each miracle has similar uses. Because of this,
you will likely use each miracle for more than a few key moments that
advance the story.
One of the more endearing qualities of Patapon has to be the art
direction. Seemingly taking a cue from Loco Rocco, Patapon has a more
simplistic look. Also, like Loco Rocco, this is so very fitting and
keeps your mind on your objective…which is usually to hunt creatures
for food and supplies. When you’re not hunting for stuff, you might be
attacking a monster in hopes of a randomly generated weapon or piece of
armor. Aside from slaughtering innocent animals and not so innocent
monsters, you can rest easy by destroying Zigatons (the good guys?) as
they try to stop you from reaching Earthend and It – whatever It may be.
Article by: Bloodspoor
Posted on: Apr. 16th, 2008 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| It’s fun. It’s hard. It’s fard! While challenging, the game accomplishes something a lot of recent games seem to lack. That’s the sense of accomplishment when you attain that rare log or manage to beat that boss monster you were having a hard time with. I would have given this a higher score if the game didn’t become repetitive about half-way through it. |
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Graphics |
| I’m going to give it a 9 simply because I know that there are those out there who would blow a gasket if I were to rate it any higher than this. Everything in the Patapon world just works. It’s beautiful and good. I don’t know how else to put it. Just because it’s simple and plain doesn’t mean it isn’t a thing of greatness. |
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Sound |
| I love it. I really do. The music, what little of it there is, is catchy and always upbeat. The voices of the Patapons are what really make this game come to life for me. They sound so chipper while they gore their enemies to death. How could you not like that? On the other hand, the sound effects are pretty generic and ho-hum. |
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Replay Value |
| Your first time through the game will take you quite some time, but the likelihood of going through it again or starting over from scratch is slim. Along the way, you might fight a few monsters over and over again, but that’s more to get weapons than due to the joy of fighting that particular monster. |
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