Pata Pata Pata Pon 4 of the sweetest words you'll hear
The game starts out by showing you what the Patapons are and there history. Patapons are these great warriors in which no enemy was to big to conquer. Although they didn't do it alone they had help from the Almighty (you) that gave them guidance into victory. The Patapons want to find IT. No not Information Technology. They were promised to see IT at the end of the earth and IT is supposed to be this great thing that all Patapons want.
You control the Patapon by pressing button combinations in time with the beat. When you do this the Patapons will walk, attack, defend and other stuff. Successfully do this ten times in a row and you'll go into fever mode which will make your Patapons stronger as well as some extra stuff. The controls are interesting and it turns a rhythm game into a great strategy game.
You get different Patapons classes as well. There are archers, spear throwers and melee units and more. You can have up to three units per missions and they usually consist of six Patapons per unit. You create Patapons at the tree of life using rocks, twigs, ores, alloys and pacheeks which is Patapon currency. You can also create stronger Patapon if you use rare material. But this will cost you a lot more Pacheek than usually.
To get these materials you have to do battle with the Zigaton, go hunting, play some fun minigames or take on a boss battle. Your fight with the Zigaton will continue the main story plus you can get some weaponry to upgrade your Patapon. Hunting you usually do battle with less dangerous creatures and is just mainly a place to get materials and pacheek. The games minigames is where you play a rhythm game to get materials and you can get a rare item if you do it well. But the best of them all is the boss battles. This is where the game pits your Patapon against colossal monsters such as a dinosaur or a giant worm. These bosses are very fun and sometimes challenging, plus you get a rare material or rare weapon when you beat them. This game will take you about ten hours to finish but you can replay the boss battles anytime plus they get harder the more times you defeat them. However you can't replay the fights against the Zigatons I'm afraid.
The art style is really great the Patapons and the bosses look fantastic and the varied landscape makes playing Patapon the more enjoyable. The music in this game is very catchy and the music changes when you do different fights plus you'll also hear the patapons chanting pata pata pata pon throughout the game. It isn't a problem for me but maybe annoying for some. However I did encounter one significant problem. To play this game at its best you have to have the volume turned to max. You would think this wasn't a problem but tell that to your family who will possibly be easily annoyed by the music in the game so you have to get the earphones out. It's a problem because sometimes if you are out of beat just once it can be game over. Plus I can't listen to music and podcasts while I play but that's just me.
Patapon is one of the most enjoyable games I played on the PSP. It is unique, innovative and lots of fun and it should be in your PSP collection.
+ Catchy Music
+ Good looking game
+ Enjoyable way to play a rhythm game
- Can't fight the Zigatons again
- Need sound to play best
- Annoys family. Wait that's a negative?