Patapon Review

     I've heard Patapon described as a rhythm RTS, but I would disagree with that. It is a rhythm action game in my mind. You command an army, but the way the group obeys your commands all at once makes it feel like you are playing a 2d action game controlled by rhythmic taps of the buttons.

     Patapon is a PSP game made by the developers of the super-cute and mostly fun Loco Roco. It's a fine pedigree to have. This game takes the Loco Roco cute aesthetic, twists it a little, and throws in a lot more game mechanics. The combat really makes it feel like quite a different game, but you can see the influence on the sound, look, and game design quite clearly.

     You play as the god of the Patapons, a down on their luck tribe of warriors whom you reassemble and inspire to religious pilgrimage to seek out Earthend so that they may gaze upon “It.” All the while the Patapons will attempt to exterminate their hated enemies, the Zigotons, and take out the giant monsters that lurk in the wild as they travel. The Patapon have more animations for attack, dodging, and being damaged than screenshots might lead you to believe, and their little “faces” are very expressive. It's a very smooth looking game when you see it in motion.

     A typical mission has you marching across a 2d landscape from left to right. You control an army of up to 18 Patapons in up to 3 squads, plus a flag-bearer. When you encounter enemies, you command the group to attack, dodge, guard, or gather strength for a more powerful attack. You do all of this (including the marching) by pressing a combination of 4 face buttons in time with the beat. Each button represents a drum sound. As you learn more drum sounds and more command songs, you increase the repertoire of orders you can give your army. After you give a 4 beat command, you pause for 4 beats as the Patapons repeat the order and obey it. Then you give another 4 beat command. Repeat ad infinitum for the rest of the game. This sounds like it might get boring but this mechanic is fresh and fun, and the gameplay has enough depth and strategy that you won't really get bored of this great idea.

     Part of the reason for this is that there are three mission types, each requiring a different strategy. Hunting missions have you going after mostly harmless creatures to gather money and supplies that you can later use to make new units. These missions require you to formulate a squad that can sneak up on unsuspecting prey and take it out quickly before it runs away.

     Combat missions have you fighting the Zigotons, an army of, for lack of a better word, people, that look similar to the Patapons and use weapons similar to them. These levels involve fighting big crowds of small enemies and also destroying structures.

     Finally, there are boss battles, which are my favorite. In these you fight one giant creature in a lengthy combat experience. Dodging, blocking, and attacking all need to be used right to avoid or deflect enemy attacks and strike hard enough to stun and weaken the enemy before finally killing it, chopping off its head or nearest body part equivalent, and carting it back to camp for a big celebration, complete with dancing around the fire, drumming, and talking about the quest for “It.”

     Patapons equip weapons (such as bows, spears, axes, clubs, and lances) and armor (mostly cool looking helmets) individually on a preparation screen before you enter any mission. Each unit type uses a different type of weapon and behaves differently given certain commands. The optimize button on this screen will kit everyone out in the strongest gear, although you can micromanage equipment as well if you want. Sometimes I found that switching things around a bit from what the optimize button was recommending was helpful. The weird thing is, the main way to get gear is to pick it up as loot in the combat levels versus the Zigotons. These are the only levels that are not re-playable, meaning equipment is hard to come by at first. By the time you get to the endgame, you'll have plenty of stuff, but for quite a few hours you'll wish you could grind these combat missions to get more gear.

     If you are really accurate for a few beats, or go through ten commands without missing a beat, you will go into fever mode, which makes the Patapons do stuff better. Bow and arrow guys will jump high in the air and shoot three arrows instead of one. Mounted Patapons charge, knocking enemies out of the way. Some troop types don't have a fever power, but have some other trait, such as being able to equip shields and block better than other types when given the block command. You can also perform a miracle while in fever mode, such as making it rain to cool down the desert that is so hot it burns your troops, or summoning a wind to blow your arrows further forward. Miracles are done through a little mini game of repeating strings of beats. You lose fever mode if you screw up a command or are way off beat. Holding it for long periods of time by stringing commands together is key to victory, so you always need to think one command ahead so you don't mess up the rhythm.

     Patapon has a lot of pros going for it. It also has quite a few cons that hold it back. It's a unique experience that looks great, and is fun, but also has some frustrating moments of difficulty and confusion. Some of the confusion is caused by lack of explanation, either of game mechanics or situations or what to do next. For example, I re-played a mission multiple times where you are trying to bust a kidnapped Patapon out of a cage because I didn't realize that the item I equipped was causing fire damage to anything I hit, thus setting the cage on fire and damaging the Patapon inside. So the prisoner died before I could rescue it. I've also heard that people have gotten stuck not knowing what stage they need to replay and do differently in order to progress the story. I personally didn't have a problem with this, but I can see how it could happen since some of the things you need to do are only alluded to in the level descriptions. If you didn't play for a few days and couldn't remember what you were doing, it might take you awhile to figure out what needs to be done in quite a few of the games situations.

    The rhythm mechanics are tight. They reward you for being super accurate by taking you to fever mode more quickly, but still function if you are a little off. At the same time, if you are off beat, they won't work, and that's how it should be. A glowing bar around the screen pulses to the beat, and is a great aid in helping you get those perfect streaks going. Performing a miracle will take you out of fever mode, however, which was a big design mistake in my opinion. There's really no reason to use miracles except in situations where you are forced to since losing fever mode can really change the tide of the battle in your enemies' favor. Many battles are won by staying in fever mode as long as possible, so you'll want to avoid miracles. I don't know why the game would incentivize (spelling) you to avoid using its own mechanics.

     Switching up your squad types to find the best group for each boss and mission type is fun and actually does make a big difference in how your army performs. However, many of the stronger Patapon types you can create by gathering materials from hunting are not allowed to equip armor for some reason. So armor is hard to come by, and then when you are excited because you got some cool armor, you can't equip it onto your best dudes. Also, I'm bitter because a glitch made my troops refuse to pick up an awesome helmet with spider legs all over it. I then saved, not realizing that this item is missable!

     The music is certainly decent, but it's not the amazing soundtrack that I've read about in many other reviews of this game. A rhythm game really benefits from stellar music, which this game doesn't have. Almost every game I've played since playing Patapon has better music than it. I'm not saying it's bad, it just doesn't really stand out.

     I've heard that the mini games that let you get new materials to make new troops (and in some cases weapons) are among the best ever. I totally disagree. They are fun, but not that great. They could be better.

     Boss battles are the big pro of this game. They are fun and engaging, and the most visually exciting. Nothing beats having your army take on a huge T-rex or a giant worm or crazily animated plant monster. Your army will be launching arrows and spears by the hundreds and just barely diving out of the way of fire-breath, head-butts, and tentacle grabs; very exciting. Boss battles are re-playable and each time you go back, the boss is harder. This can get addictive. I spent close to five hours grinding bosses after I beat the game before deciding to call it quits.

      The game is on the longer side. It took me about 17 hours to beat, which is a good length for it. Really getting into the command system takes time, and you wouldn't be able to see all the depth available if this were an 8-10 hour campaign.

     I think the whole experience would have been a lot better with a more traditional leveling and equipment system. I've heard that you can level up your troops in Patapon 2 and 3, and I'd like to try that some day. I probably would have kept going with the boss grinding if I also had levels to grind. Being able to craft weapons and armor and equip them on whoever I wanted would be an improvement too.

     The story is certainly darker and more cohesive than Loco Roco's, although the ending was a little disappointing to me. I wanted a little more depth, and honestly I thought it was going to go deeper based on some of the cues during the game, so I was quite let down at the end, although it wasn't horrible or anything.

     Sorry if this review was a little rambling or not that well written. Patapon was not at all as great as everyone says it is, and I think the way I wrote this review kind of reflects that. I had a lot of fun playing it, but due to its flaws, I was also quite ready to move only a few hours after beating it. It wants you to keep playing it forever, but I wasn't feeling it without a few more features and ideas. The sequels sound like they improve upon the basics introduced in this game, and I hope to play them some day.

     It's a tier 1 mediocre game for me. It's a fresh new idea, and the main mechanic works well, but there are  enough problems and a few things missing that hold it back from greatness. Plenty of fun was had playing, but quite a bit of frustration and wishing for other features made me glad to move on.