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Patapon 2 Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Patapon 2 Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

The Beat Is On!

Just when you thought you’d safely exorcised the child-like, rhythmic chanting of pata-pata-pata-pon from your brain, it’s about time to rekindle that endearing mantra once again. In early 2008, the delightfully quirky Patapon proved war could be a cute and musical affair. The rhythm game quickly rocketed to the top of many players’ must-have piles for the year. With its sequel now upon us, there’s no excuse not to dust off and recharge your PSP.

Patapon 2 screenshot

It’s true; at a quick glance Patapon 2 looks and plays very much like its predecessor. Fans of the original may be wondering whether the changes are substantive enough to warrant dropping another $20 for a second helping. Rest assured; the deeper you dig into this new adventure the more the numerous improvements become apparent. The developer clearly took many suggestions and concerns to heart in its approach to making this follow-up an even greater game. It’s safe to say almost all of the tweaks to the core design are largely for the better, and the additional elements woven into the mix are a strong fit. Needless to say, anyone who found Patapon maddeningly addictive the first time around will find it hard to keep away from the sequel. It’s so good that doing so would be a crime.

Amassing diverse armies of the game’s titular little Cyclops-creatures and charging into battle singing and dancing is as fun as ever. Given the anticlimactic conclusion of the first game, the Patapon haven’t given up on their obsession of traveling to Earthend to gaze upon the mystical and wondrous nature of “IT.” Leaving the safety and comforts of home, they build a large ship, sail out to sea, and are sunk by a giant sea creature. Washing up on a new island, the remaining shipwrecked Patapon once again seek your divine, rhythmic guidance as they regroup, rebuild, and pursue the elusive “IT” at the earth’s end. Their journey puts them in the path of many new foes, obstacles, and unique environments. With more than 80 missions, the realm in Patapon 2 is huge in comparison to the first game, but its sizeable girth and ample play time is only part of the appeal.

Patapon 2 screenshot

With your growing, hand-picked Patapon force at your beck and call, you’ll guide them in battling their way across many different side-scrolling levels filled with fortifications, strange creatures, adversaries aplenty, and unique items to collect. As before, the call and response rhythm gameplay has you issuing commanding your diminutive troops to march forward, attack, defend, fall back, and engage in other strategic actions to best your opponents. Cleverly, this is all done by tapping out different combinations of the circle, square, triangle, and X buttons in a steady 4-4 time signature along to the catchy background music. The idea is to keep up a steady string of alternating commands without losing the beat and stir your cheerful warriors into a battle frenzy that improves their fighting prowess.

A few minor adjustments make Patapon 2 a little easier to digest for newcomers. An option to switch between easy, medium, and hard difficulty modes lets you scale the challenge to be more or less forgiving to suit your level of rhythmic abilities (and threshold for punishment). You no longer have to pick up the hats of Patapon who are slain on the battlefield to ensure they re-spawn in-between missions; the process is automatic. Also, instead of dropping your chain in mid-fever without warning, a new irritating-yet-handy alarm and danger indicator kicks in when you start to lose the rhythm – letting you know you better pony up on the next round of rhythm commands or face a potentially catastrophic beat meltdown. Unfortunately, one of the biggest nuisances from the first title was left intact: you still can’t pause the game.

Patapon 2 screenshot

Patapon 2 features some familiar friends and foes, but there are also a slew of new, captivating bosses to conquer, beasties to hunt, challenges to face, and lands to explore. One of the best additions to your force is a new hero character that follows you into battle and lends an important helping hand. When your army is in fever mode, nailing the beat perfectly triggers your hero’s special abilities – like hails of magic arrows, spinning club moves, and explosive blasts, to name a few – that can be swapped in and out between missions by equipping different masks. Heroes can also change class before missions, allowing you to equip them with various weapons and switch their roles around. They also can’t be permanently defeated; they’ll re-spawn on the battlefield shortly after they’re slain.

Populating your Patapon force with just the right mix of archers, fighters, spearmen, and specialty troops is far more intuitive this time around, thanks to a newly implemented unit evolution tree accessed through the central Patopolis hub. In addition to having the freedom to equip the individual Patapons you create with assorted weapons, shields, and helmets, each unit can be leveled-up by spending money and resources you pick up on the battlefield and in several mini-games.

Patapon 2 screenshot

With the right mix of resources, the branching evolution tree lets you unlock upgrades for each Patapon and easily track what materials are needed to pump them up to the next level and transform them into one of 16 unique Rarepons. This chart-like system takes the guessing out of the equation and makes it easier to customize your army to your personal tastes. Unlocking several new Patapon classes – like flying warriors who mount airborne creatures and wizards that offer boosts of support magic – also adds some extra troop variety.

The game’s top-notch audio and visual presentation is just as charming as the original, and the buoyant vibe is bolstered by colorful and elaborate new creatures, environments, and foes. Your Patapon army bursts with sing-song personality with every step they take, and it’s nearly impossible to keep the tunes and chants out of your head. The music is buoyant and mixes some carry-over tunes and sounds in with lots of new music.

A new multiplayer element lets you and up to three other friends take their heroes into a co-op battle against any one of the game’s numerous bosses you’ve previously encountered for a shot at raking in some extra goodies. As you progress through various boss battles in the solo game, you’ll pick up eggs that can be used in this new mode. Whether you play alone in cooperation with CPU comrades or with friends, your small group of heroes will hoist the egg and march onward at the selected boss. After successfully beating the baddie, you and your team will have to complete a grooving rhythm game to hatch the egg. It’s a fun new mode to play on your own or with friends, though the enjoyment it offers is far more limited than the robust main campaign.

Patapon 2 certainly doesn’t reinvent the winning formula, but it improves it substantially by beefing up the campaign, throwing in a few perks, and refining some of the weaker elements in the first title. There are still some minor issues the development team could have ironed out this time around, though they don’t have a noticeable impact on the overall quality of the game. The mixture of bold and subtle updates should sit well with the vast majority of players. Sure, some stretches of the game will elicit feelings of déjà vu, yet the new content is excellent overall. It’s also worth noting Patapon 2 is a digital download only release, so you’ll need a high-speed internet connection, the right cable, and a memory stick to access the game. Buying the game in-store gives you the box, instructions, and a code coupon to download the game directly to your PSP through the PSN shop. This may very well be the inevitable future of PSP releases. It works well, even if the lack of a physical UMD to add to your collection may bother some. Regardless, don’t miss out on Patapon 2.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.8 Graphics
This is still one of the most unique-looking handheld games around. There’s a little repetition of visual elements, but the new stuff balances it out nicely. 4.5 Control
The easy to grasp and addictively challenging rhythm gameplay is a blast. A few tweaks and scalable difficulty settings make it easier for players who struggled with the original to pick up the sequel. 4.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Utterly charming sound effects and violently catchy music make for some killer audio. 4.9 Play Value
You’ll get a tremendous amount of play from this package and the price is definitely right. 4.8 Overall Rating – Must Buy
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Double the content from the original – 80+ Missions, 22 Bosses, 500+ items and weapons.
  • Three New Drum Commands and Miracles to master!
  • Build your Patapon army, arm each soldier with weapons and armor, and position them for battle.
  • Mold a new Hero warrior to lead your army.
  • Discover three new warrior classes to add to your troops.
  • Battle alongside friends in multiplayer mode via Game Share!
  • Play eight music-based mini-games to earn bonuses and upgrades to evolve your troops.

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