I understand that some people didn’t like Locoroco enough. Some even muttered something about it being uncontrollable or even too simple. Of course they were wrong and probably sad at the time, but I’m convinced that even they wont dare say anything nasty about Locoroco’s shiny spiritual sequel: Patapon for the PSP. It is, you see, an absolutely excellent, refreshing, fun, smart, innovative and beautiful game, that’s actually worth buying a PSP for. Oh, yes, and it sports some fantastic tunes too.

Patapon, after all, is a unique combination of some almost proper RTS strategic gaming with some rather traditional rythm gaming, that also incorporates RPG bits and a hefty dose of God-sim elemnts. The player assumes the humble role of Patapon-God and helps the Patapon conquer 30 odd levels (divided into hunts, battles and boss battles), mainly by tapping his/her drums the appropriate way. Each rhythm you play is an order your Patapons will follow and covers everything that has to do with attacking, defending, moving and so on. Being a God you can also help them Patapons in a less intellectual way by performing miracles of the sort you would expect in Populous, though they’d probay have more survival chances if you manage to pull off a combo or too.

But, really, words can’t do justice to Patapon. You have to play it and experience its addictively hypnotic gameplay to appreciate it. Happily, googling around should lead you to a demo.