Patapon Revisited

A few months ago I got myself Patapon shortly after its release and quickly became addicted to it.  What I began to realise though, was how nail-bitingly hard it could be in certain places of the game.  One easy example, is the difficulty many people had in figuring out how to cross the desert.  Once you know how, it’s quite easy.  But in the game itself, you are more or less left to try and figure it out for yourself- if you can.

This probably explains why the PlayStation.Blog team had to lend us a helping hand.  Also equally frustrating is the ease at which you can lose the beat.  From my own personal experience, this has made me want to throw my PSP at the nearest wall after trying to complete the same level 5 times in a row.  So I left the game and vowed to return to it once I had calmed down…

What I have been doing for the past couple of years now, is taking my PSP with me on holiday and having a quick gaming session before I go to bed.  Last year I took LocoRoco and completed all levels (not all quite 100% yet though!) and this year has been Patapon’s turn.  Yes, about 4 months after I had last touched the game, I decided to revisit Patapon and see how far I could get this time.

Surprisingly, I found that I wasn’t losing the beat as easily, but I think this was down to a new technique.  Heard the advice (includng my own) about tapping with your foot to the beat?  Forget about it- repeating “pata, pata, pata, pon” or whatever drum beat you’re doing, in your head, in-between your turn is very helpful in keeping the beat.  Why is it otherwise so hard to keep the beat in fever mode?  This is because the fever mode music can trip you up, especially when the music starts.  I have found this to be THE most unhelpful feature of any game- ever!

Let my little story not distract you from the main point- this game is fantastic!  You just need a lot of time and patience as Patapon is amazingly deep.  Think you’ve done it all?  Well, you haven’t.  There’s just so many rare Patapons, weapons and materials to collect.  Get frustrated at time?  Give the game a rest and then get back to it, feeling refreshed.  Some games are like a fine wine: they get better with age.  That is why, although I’ve never actually reviewed Patapon, I’ll give it a 9/10 just because it deserves it.  If you haven’t picked it up yet, you need to!  Its essential for your PSP.