Patapon

As with LocoRoco, Patapon has its original platform on PSP (PlayStation Portable) . This is an extra challenge to camouflage the difference in resolution between the small notebook (480 × 272) and current televisions, since Patapon: Remastered is compatible with 4K on PlayStation 4 Pro. For its own design, based mainly on shady figures and Backgrounds with colored patterns, anyone who does not know where this game comes from might think that it is one of many current indies, despite actually coming out 10 years ago.

Patapon is essentially a rhythmic game . Rather than just banging on buttons to the beat of the tune being played to us (in a time of boom in instrument games), Patapon wants to add a narrative background to his playable proposal. The Patapons are a tribe made up of round, black creatures that follow the designs of the Supreme Being. And who is that deity? Ourselves, exploring a concept we already saw on Tearaway, but long before the Vita game.

Far from just following orders, the Patapons have a vital purpose, which is none other than getting to see THAT. Thus, with capital letters. They have vital ambitions that need to be resolved, and that's where we come in. We are chosen by 'Pata', one of the sacred drums, and in this way we will act as the guides that mark the designs for this very special tribe .

Despite not being very charlatans, or being too humanized, it is difficult not to empathize with these creatures and appreciate the charisma they give off. Either because of their funny movements, or because they repeat and sing our last rhythm pattern, the Patapons are cool. More and more Patapons will be added to our cause from the initial standard bearer and his three lancers, showing a good range of different classes.

This is because Patapon (original and remastered) is not a simple listening and repeating game . We are the ones who set the pace attending to the series of actions that we want to carry out . By means of the four drums and their different sounds for each button of the XO □ Δ (Pata, Pon, Chaka and Don) we will compose certain patterns of four buttons so that they carry out different actions. Precisely therein lies the importance of later adding other types of heroes such as archers or cavalry.

By means of a lateral scroll advance we will face a variety of situations mainly of flight from an enemy or arrival at a certain point. What starts out as something simple ends up having certain touches of turn-based action game in which, without losing a constant rhythm, we have to decide what the next rhythmic pattern - and its corresponding order - will be in a few tenths of a second according to what to be presented on screen, having a certain tactical touch in which to decide if it is better to attack or flee.

All this is immersed in some mechanics of competition against oneself thanks to the inclusion of some markers at the end of each level. In this way, the initial simple gameplay ends up becoming more and more complex, making the melodies increasingly difficult to handle. If we add to this that the game pretends that we not only carry the identical rhythm to the one that the Patapons give us the reply, but also that we know how to perform an ever higher combo to reach the "Fever" state and earn a good extra point, everything becomes a blessed chaos.

Despite its peculiar progression system, Patapon Remastered presents us with a series of missions whose objective is quite clear, whether it be in missions of exploration, hunting, collecting materials or fighting . In addition to the main path, we will find a series of secrets that will lead us to bonus sections in which we will be given some fresh air by leaving the drums aside and being able to play a greater variety of instruments.

When we get enough - and varied - followers, Patapon becomes an even more complex title. We will have to edit the assigned training to have the three necessary specialists according to the mission we are going to carry out and we can even edit their equipment and change the swords or shields. This means that an even greater tactical layer is hidden within this apparently simple game , since it is necessary to know who are the ones who will first encounter the dangers and act as tanks, who will go behind, the range they can cover archers, etc. And of course, even though there is not much room for design, you will perfectly know how to differentiate your Patapons.

As for the remastering itself , we will be a little disappointed in its first moments, in which some videos are left and the lack of resolution is noticeable. Fortunately, these scenes will be a minority and we will feel more relief when we see that the almost geometric shapes of which Patapons, enemies and environments are made up have fared better and their definition is satisfactory, without noticing too many saw teeth or anything like that . The same applies to texts (sandwiches abound), giving a feeling of pampering to a game that, due to its original simplicity, did not require much more adaptation work either, but at least it looks decent.