Patapon (PSP)

Good God, Y'all
3/11/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

In 1982, you became omniscient. That's because, with Dan Daglow's Utopia, you became all-seeing and all-knowing in the first rudimentary god game. Later, Peter Molyneux entered the fray with Populous to make you feel even more like a god -- but forget for a moment those well-respected, old-school games. I've been playing a god game in which I'm called the Almighty. As a mere mortal, you have no idea how good this makes me feel. It's a boost to the fragile ego, this gameliness that's next to godliness.

More than 25 years after Utopia, in the year 2008, god has evolved, and I, as god, see that it is good. With Patapon, Sony's nearly perfect new offering, I can be god peripatetically, because Patapon is portable on my PSP. Wherever I go, people -- many people, warriors all -- bow down to me in homage. I am humbled, but I know the vast extent of my awesome power. I control everything. Should I have my minions become benevolent like Obama or should I they be evil like the next Osama? Whatever the case, I sing a few bars of "I've Got the Whole World in My Hands" as I play.

This is a god game with a difference. I know it sounds weird, but Patapon, which is being sold for the extremely nice price of $19.99, lets you be god in a god game by mixing in a rhythm-based game à la PaRappa the Rapper with real-time strategy. Think it's easy to seamlessly blend three kinds of games? Believe me, it's not.

Sony calls Patapon a "quirky adventure." To me, there's nothing quirky about it. Patapon is inventive, artful and designed so well it almost outdoes the oh-so-pop PaRappa by bringing you sizzling-hot clannish music. Then, it squashes squeaky-pop LocoRoco by bringing you cartoonish yet fiercely focused black-and-white warriors, each with one eye. You'll create and customize these shield-and-spear-bearing mighty mites through 30 missions. You'll earn ka-ching (money) and collect artifacts in your war-filled travels, which make your soldiers more dominant. The more powerful the soldiers, the more powerful you are as the Almighty.

As you tap out simple rhythms on your control buttons, your motley army yells its battle cries -- high-pitched chants followed by determined, fearless gaits forward to gather up the steam to fight and win. With drum-filled tunes created by LocoRoco music director Hiroyuki Kotani and woodcut-meets-shadowbox artwork by French graphic artist Rolito, your experience as god flows forth smoothly like honey -- if you tap those rhythms properly. You don't even need to be the Max Roach of Patapon. You just need the steady, adequate rhythms of Ringo Starr.

The sad and sober story? The Patapon tribe, courageous and confident, has existed with the barest of necessities in the hinterlands, chased away from their homeland by the malevolent Zigoton army. The plot actually sounds like the hard-hitting story of many peoples, from the Jews to the Poles to the refugees from Darfur. That makes it relevant to almost everyone who's looking for a hook beyond the gaming.

Early on, you'll have to master the rhythm of six drumbeats, which control marching, attacking, defending, power-ups, magic and (the horror) retreat when you're overwhelmed by evil, but what doesn't kill you makes you tougher, and you'll be back. Armed with various kinds of shields, spears and axes from your Altar (basically, your store), along with the brave heroics of the legendary warrior Tatepon, your minions are ready to do battle. If you forget your rhythms while in the sweaty heat of battle, hit Select to see the codes. Tired of waging war? You'll be able to play a mini-game in which you, as a jazzy, finger-snapping warrior, channel Dizzy with a trumpet to the rhythm of a tree singing in a bass voice. (What were the developers smoking when they created this?) Win the game, and you'll get a spear-carrying warrior to add to your crew.