LocoRoco 2

Review from Matt - Wednesday, 31 December 2008 @ 9:09am

LocoRoco was one of my favourite games last year or whenever it was released. Aside from the fact that it offered something that was exclusive and actually good (something that the PSP needed then as now) it was also something totally unique. There was nothing else like LocoRoco. Well, there was something called Gish, that a lot of people said it was copied off, but in reality it's not actually that similar.

LocoRoco offered something that we don't see often – a new way to play games. You don't actually control the eponymous LocoRoco, you control instead the world they rest on, tilting it left and right with the shoulder buttons, and bouncing them with the two together. The controls were simple and effective, immediately “getable", but took some time to master. This is the core of good game design.

About the only other controls is the circle button, which can be held down to gather all your LocoRoco into one giant fat singing blob, or tapped to shatter them into their component Loco and/or Roco.

Inspired by Pikmin and other Nintendo games more than Sony's own stable LocoRoco plays like the game Nintendo would make if they had anything new to offer instead of slapping a mario character in the same old tired gameplay methods.

And that music, oh my god that music. LocoRoco was a triumph of music, with intricate melodies and harmonies playing through the different “races” of Roco, giving different sounds while joined as a single blob to what they sounded like separate. The music was excessively catchy, fun, addictive and utterly polished.

Following that up would have been difficult, and instead of the obvious LocoRoco 2, XXX instead went off and did Patapon. Patapon is a weird game. Again it innovates in the control method, allowing the player to tap in commands rhythmically to make your little critters move, retreat, fight, etc. It worked very well and like LocoRoco offered something new and different, brave for standing alone in a world that seems to just want their favourite game with a new year tacked after it.

As well as Patapon last year saw the introduction of LocoRoco Cocoreccho on the PSN. LocoRoco Cockaroacho (my preferred spelling) is not a game at all. It's kind of a playable screensaver, a diversion. A LocoRoco themed time-killer. And that music. My God that music. If nothing else LocoRoco Cockaroacho is entertainment well worth the price of a Happy Meal.

But LocoRoco 2 was inevitable. And is also the subject of this review, so I should probably mention it.

Does anyone think MuiMui are a bit like the Doozers on Fraggle Rock?

Yug doesn't have any portable consoles. It's true. I have a DS and a PSP (which I bought at launch) and he has nothing at all. Normally he doesn't care, but every now and then he has to travel somewhere. Then he comes crawling to me. I wouldn't particularly mind except that he's quick to borrow them and very slow to actually bring them back.

So it was that when my much anticipated LocoRoco 2 review copy was sent Yug asked if I wanted to review it. “But of course!” I said. No problem.

Well. One problem.

“You have my PSP. “

“Ahhh! Indeed I do! I'm coming round tonight, I'll bring it with me.”

I think we had that same conversation about 7 times.

I think he has a medical condition of some kind. I can't put my finger on what exactly, but there's definitely something wrong there.

Eventually, though, I got my PSP back and was finally able to get some LocoRoco on.

I can't say I've been disappointed with the experience. It was nice to come back to the old familiar LocoRoco game. I'd kind of forgotten how much fun it is, how warm and fuzzy and awesome it is. And that music! My god, the music.

I actually have no idea what's happening here.

LocoRoco 2 is a sequel (this review brought to you by Captain Obvious) and as such it's hard to know how to review it. Do you comare it to the first one and judge it by whether it offers the same innovation? Or does it carry the pedigree of its pregenitor? LocoRoco 2 doesn't offer as much as the original, but that's fair. The original was more... well... original. You can't do something for the first time twice. But LocoRoco 2 does provide what it needed to. It takes the premise of the first one and delivers on its promise.

The premise of the game is simple. You start each level with one LocoRoco but for each red flowr you eat gain another one, making you either fatter or adding to your posse if you're all shattery. The controls mentioned earlier are really about all there is to the game, so the rest is just level design. But the level design ranges from simple and effective to fiendish, and it's here that the game takes shape. Secrets abound, and there are hidden passages and paths all over.

You can finish this game in about 7 hours, but you shouldn't. The fun of the game is to find all the stuff. It takes a keen eye and stubbornness disposition to find everything that's hidden around.

There's a lot ot like in LocoRoco 2 by comparison to the first title. The point of a sequel is always to add new things onto an established pattern that take it to a new place, adds to the formula. What seems to happen is that he formula becomes an overcomplicated mess. LocoRoco 2 doesn't fall into this. What it actually does is stays relatively true to the original, adding only minor things. One of them is the ability to grab shit with your teeth. This lets you swing, spring, and pull things out. I actually couldn't figure out how to pull things out and when trying to find out I found a bunch of reviews each of which told you how to do that, but none said how. Just to spare you the search time I endured, just tap left right left right and shake that thing out! Then again I don't think you an do it before you get instructions from a fat man in boxer shorts. It's a long story.

Another addition isn't really that new. There were always a few kind of “set piece” sections of LocoRoco. Bits where the control is taken from you and you hurtle through some kind of insane Rube Goldberg machine with catchy singing.

I GOTTA OUCHY! =(

Many of these passages are surprisingly enjoyable, crashing you through the levels or hurtling you around. I found these to be one of the best parts of the game, even though they were scripted rather than playable.

The last new thing worthy of mention is the ability to swim. Loco the Roco can now sink in water if you hold down circle. I found this strangely difficult to get the hang of, with a reverse to the usual control system that since it wasn't used often never became comfortable or familiar.

The game is available in two retails methods. One is the standard UMD as with all other games. The other is as a download from the PlayStation Store for $49.95, and playable directly from the Memory Stick Due. Sony are moving in that direction in future, and are actively encouraging developers to embrace this. Whether the public is happy to move towards paying nearly as much without actually owning a tangible object remains to be seen.

LocoRoco represents something unique – a new, innovative, and especially fun title that's exclusive to the PSP, of all platforms. It's not the sort of title that will appeal to all gamers. Nothing gets killed with knife and the storyline is pedestrian at best. But it's a game that will reward those who try it. If you haven't played the first one they're both worth a look, and the original is a mere $25 now.

And my god! That music!

BAH BAHHHHHH!

Pros

Brightly coloured fun. That music! Oh my God, that music! There aren't many games for the PSP at the moment, so hey, why not.

Cons

More of the same, and not as long as the first one. Can be hard to figure out where you're supposed to go next. Your friends will think you're gay. It's true. They will. Not all that much replay value.