Pata-Pata-Pata-Boner

With a perfect combination of addicting rhythm and psuedo-RTS elements, Patapon is one of the more unique and lovable series on the PSP. Much to my delight, the series has done well enough to warrant a third entry in the franchise, and it’s coming stateside next month!

If you’ve played Patapon before, you’ll remember taking the role of an almighty deity who decides how to manage the prosperity of the Patapon tribes. In Patapon 2, new heroes were introduced and you were given new areas to explore, train your troops, and defend from colossal beasts. With Patapon 3, the game starts you out on a different path. An encounter with a mysterious box unleashes evil spirits on the land, and the last of the Patapon are vanquished. However, from their fallen souls rises a new type of soldier, Superhero Patapon. From here, it’s up to you as the player to serve as flag bearer and battle drum carrier and unravel the mystery of “the box” to bring back the humble tribes.

There are only minimal changes to core gameplay in this installment, but multiplayer has received some major work. Join up to three other players via ad-hoc or infrastructure wireless connection to team up for co-op or competitive battles. Each player chooses a class of Patapon and must move to the rhythm of the team. The old commands are all there, so if you remember how you finessed your army through battle in the first two games, you’re able to pick up where you left off. New players to the franchise will have little problem getting up to speed, but will be limited to what they can learn in this game alone.

For those unfamiliar with the gameplay, it’s deceptively simple. Each of the face buttons on the PSP represents a different syllable recognized by the Patapon army. String the right combinations together to form commands instructing your army to advance, retreat, attack, and defend. For example, the Square button is “Pata” and the Circle button is “Pon”. To get your army to march, you have to hit “PATA-PATA-PATA-PON” to the beat of the battle drummer. To attack, it’s “PON-PON-PATA-PON”. To retreat, you would command them with “PON-PATA-PON-PATA”, and so on.

As you progress, you unlock the memories of ancestral fallen heroes which expand the archetypes you can summon and train for combat. String enough commands together perfectly to fill your Fever Meter and unleash huge attacks and damage multipliers. Keeping Fever proves to be much more difficult than achieving it because the window for “perfect” commands gets more and more precise as time in Fever mode goes on.

I love Patapon for its simple yet strangely addictive gameplay and charming character design by Rolito. It’s one of those games you can pick up and play and put down 15 minutes later feeling completely fulfilled. As you progress, each battle takes on a different feel and requires varying tactics to achieve victory. Listening to those little guys chanting and marching along to your battle drum and darkening the enemy sky with volleys of arrows gets me every time. If you liked Loco Roco, you’ll enjoy Patapon. They’re both from Japan Studio and exude a style that is a perfect balance between Japanese eccentricity and genuinely fun gameplay. I’m wondering where the iPad version is though. A stripped down $4.99-$9.99 version would suit the device just fine since all you ever do is tap.

Patapon 3 is scheduled for release in stores and on the PlayStation Network on April 12, 2011, for the incredibly generous price of $19.99. There’s a free demo out now so check it out before you buy, but trust me — you’ll buy.

GolgoHypeMachine is an open sounding board for our staff to concisely share their excitement about upcoming games.