[Drem]

Patapon is one of the most unique series around right now. It blends rhythm games, strategy games, and RPGs into a very interesting and entertaining game system. I've never really gotten around to playing more than a few minutes of it, but I've always had this impression of it being a really jolly game. Just look at the title screen of Patapon 2: friendly music, round and pleasing characters, and a welcoming dance. It just seems like a fun and happy game.

Then E3 2010 came around. I'm watching Sony's press conference on the internet stream, and they play this reveal/teaser trailer. I had no idea what it was until it says "Patapon 3", and even then I was completely befuddled. "What the hell happened to Patapon?" I don't mean this in a completely negative way. I was just honestly really confused, because it seemed like a complete 180 on what I thought Patapon was. There was always the lingering fear of maybe Sony was trying to "grow up" Patapon and give it some "baditude". But regardless, I was really curious and interested in the game. Mission accomplished for the trailer, I suppose.

I then proceeded to forget about it until a couple of weeks ago.

I happened across talk about a demo for it released in Japan back in January. Titled" Full of Surprises! 100 hour DEMO", it is a supposedly 100 hour demo that features both single and multiplayer modes. On a whim I decide to look it up on youtube, and this is the first video I watch.



I was literally awestruck. The round and jolly Patapon of yore (with a bizarre lightning symbol and wings?) literally transforms into, uh, something pretty cool. The tone shift was really radical. Sharp edges, humanoid character design, dark colors, and electric guitars. Not tribal drum beats and happy children chants, but electic guitars! As I listened to the music, I just wondered to myself "When did Patapon become so epic?" I mean that in the literal sense, not wacky internet usage. It just felt like the game was now about a serious, grand adventure, probably to save the world. Just all of this stuff together gave me this really big smile on face.


So of course I went and got the demo. It's really fun! Essentially, Patapon 3 is adapting to the popularity of the the cooperative multiplayer oriented monster hunting genre. You now have Superhero Patapons. This is your character, who is treated very much like your character from monster hunting games. You can customize equipment, level him up, modify his skill sets, and all that good jazz. You start off by choosing one of three classes:

Kamen Rider Yarida


Kamen Rider Taterazay


and Kamen Rider Yumiyacha


As you level him up, you unlock skills and abilities you can equip to your characters, as well as open up new classes. Each class levels up separately and have their own skills and abilities to unlock, and you have access to all skills and abilities regardless of what class you currently are. So you can pretty much multi-class you characters. It's a lot like a character in an RPG.

Each Superhero class also has a special super power to help differentiate it's style. Yarida can throw exploding spears, Taterazay can make him and his allies assume a defense stance and become mostly invincible, and Yumiyacha and rain arrows from the sky. There isn't a limit to how much you can use these powers, but they are initiated with different commands and lend themselves to different strategies. They are very powerful and important moves, so your playstyle will change heavily based on what class you are so you can maximize your ability's effectiveness.

Singleplayer has you outfit your Superhero and a squad of regular patapon and go on various missions. You keep moving forward and fight giant monsters and other patapon tribes. All I've fought so far are giant trolls and spear patapon, but videos of the previous games promises giant crabs, laser shooting robots, and demons. The game has really nice art direction; everything is silhouettes with very strong and broad colors to create and emphasize detail, so I'm looking forward to seeing the designs and animations for the monsters. There also seems to be quite a lot of loot in the form of equipment you can find or craft from materials, so those who like that kind of collection will be pleased.




I've only played multiplayer once, but in co-op each player controls only their Superhero patapon. You team up to a total of 4 players and go on similar missions to the single player, including long dungeon runs through multiple floors. There are also Since there are now 4 superheroes, there is lots of giant monster hunting. There is also an 8 player VS. multiplayer which I haven't tried yet. It seems to revolve around capturing towers and killing each other.

Much like other rhythm games, you often enter a "trance state" as you play, but Patapon's has an intensity to it, because you have to think too. You have to keep playing with the musical rhythm to stay in Fever mode (enhances your commands), but you also have to watch what's going on and strategize ahead of time. It seems like all monsters choerograph their next attack, but you also only issue commands every other 4 beats. If you mess up, you either lose fever mode, get slammed in the face for the next 4 beats, or probably both. It's a really interesting state of mind I enter, and I can't remember what's going through my head when I play.

I suppose this ended up being more of a rant than a concise description of the game, but I really just wanted to talk about how much my mind was blown by the game's change in tone. I should stress, however, that Patapon did it right. The game changed it's atmosphere mainly through it's music. By adding an electric guitar and changing the tune slightly from previous games, it effectively changes the tone without compromising the game's soul. It doesn't feel forced or cheesy; it's just a little different.

It's a cool game and I suggest people try out the 100 hour demo, which can be gotten from here. It has both ad-hoc and infrastructure multiplayer, so you can play online without Ad-Hoc party or Xlink Kai. The game comes out in the US on April 12 for only $20. It's a great price for what seems to be a great game.


And I just wanted to show this Superhero Patapon because I think he looks cool.

Kamen Rider Pykeron

[Drem]

I just want to say I somehow had no idea that anybody actually replied to this thread aside from that first reply from Mikey, so sorry for not participating in the discussion. I will now proceed to read what I missed and hopefully have something to say.