It was that game that no one knew what it was, but bought it (and loved it) anyway. I concur!
You play the role of a god commanding an army of tiny eyeball-men on their quest to find their own version of the holy land, so to speak, a place of divine beauty and prosperity. However, in their path lie many obstacles: A barrage of gigantic monsters and the mortal enemies of the Patapon, the Zigoton. (Red pallet-swaps of the Patapon with square-buttons for faces instead of eyeballs.
Anyway, unlike most games, instead of using the directional buttons to move and the rest of the buttons to use actions, everything done in the game is by use of rhythmic drumming using the four shape-buttons. Basically, there are a handful of songs consisting of four buttons which you hit in tune with the beat of the Patapons, which you utilize to move forward, retreat, attack, and defend. As well, when you work a "Fever", (by getting a certain number of combos) you can cast "Jujus", (also known as miracles) with different, more complex button combinations.
Do not fear. This may make the game sound torn between being incredibly shallow with limited control due to the drumming and being overly complex because of the button combinations, but fret you shall not. Patapon is a blast! I can't describe the way you get pulled into the drumming system, but you do. As for the complexity, you start small, and the tutorials are actually helpful enough to get you going before critical points in the game.
Now for the Patapons themselves. You can make up your army to consist of up to three squads of different types of Patapons. By "type", I mean the different types of warriors a Patapon can be, from Tatepon (swordsmen) to Yumipon (archers) to Kibapon (cavalry) and more. You create new Patapons by using different materials at the game's base/center, and by using rarer materials, you can create better Patapons.
Patapons are also equipable with a wide variety of weapons and armer that you can acquire from enemies during missions. Like most games, you start off with the weakest weapons, but as you progress, the better ones begin to appear more commonly.
Patapon isn't without minigames as well. You can unlock these by gaining certain items during missions, and these minigames are more or less essential to boosting the power of your army to the max. I won't go into too much detail concerning each individual minigame (there are five in all) but I'll just tell you that they don't stray far from the overall gameplay.
All in all, this game really blew my mind. With an addictive gameplay and missions that never seem to get old, the replay value is great. The plotline is very well done as well, (if not very long or deep). I highly recommend Patapon for any gamers who like a little change of pace from their usual genres.