El Vaquero

Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: Entertainment

The Patapons (eyeballs with arms and legs) will serve you.

Patapon is a rhythm game exclusively for the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) developed by Interlink, the makers of 2006's LocoRoco. It is one of the most unique games available for any system as it combines aspects of rhythm games, real-time strategy games, and role playing games, all into one tight package.


The game isn't without its shortfalls, but Patapon is unquestionably a game that anyone with a PSP should check out.


In Patapon, you are a god worshiped by the Patapons, who are essentially eyeballs with arms and legs. Your goal is to lead the Patapons against the menacing Zigoton army, which has already devastated the Patapons in the past. The Patapons ultimate goal is to reach Earthend and gaze upon what is simply referred to as "It". It is a very simple premise, but it is more than enough of an excuse to get the whole game going.


The basic game play of Patapon has you giving commands to your army of Patapons by pressing a specific pattern of buttons with the beat of the music that plays during each mission. You beat these patterns using the PSP's face buttons. With this simple system you can order your army to advance, attack, defend, retreat, and more.


Your army can consist of a decent variety of unit types. You can have javelin throwers, archers, infantry, cavalry, heavy weapons, and more. You can also equip each individual Patapon with more powerful equipment using the game's robust equipment system. The missions in Patapon are varied enough so that you'll want to try different unit combinations since the game only allows you to bring three unit types for each mission.


Make no mistake though: Patapon is a rhythm game at heart. If you can't keep up with the rhythm, you won't fare well no matter how powerful your army is. On the other hand, if you excel at keeping a good beat going, you can easily win battles that seem to be stacked against you.


Patapon has three types of missions for players to go through. These are hunts, battles, and boss fights. The battles are the main scenarios of the campaign and always have you facing various numbers of Zigotons. These scenarios are sometimes escort missions. The hunts are the primary way of gathering resources for making new troops in Patapon. The boss fights pit you against massive creatures that generally guard items of high value, either for proceeding in the campaign or creating more powerful troops.

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