This is the kind of game that makes you glad you bought a PSP
Patapon is the kind of game that at first glance, you wouldn't assume it was a Real Time Strategy game. While Gamespot lists this as a Platformer, there is no jumping onto platforms. This game is a 2D Real-Time Strategy game that has a lot of depth.
The game is simple, there is a race of one-eyed 'monsters' who used to be the greatest tribe in all the land, but over time they lost their grip and eventually became a bit of a joke. Then you come around. You are a god (Kami) and they believe you are the person to lead them to 'It', a mysterious object that is supposed to be the end-all be all of their race. Your job is to direct your soldiers in battle to reach 'it'.
You direct these soldiers by pressing buttons on the PSP. Each button (Square, Triangle, Circle, X) are a different sound. You type four buttons in tune to the game's music. Do it correctly and your units react accordingly, do in incorrectly and they'll look at you like you're an idiot. If you consistently hit the buttons correctly, you'll reach Fever mode, where your units react with more power, giving you the opportunity to finish your enemies quicker.
The game has about 29 missions with a mix of hunting, monster battles and other various missions. While the game has 29 main missions, nearly every level can be played numerous times, and most cases, especially hunting missions, will need to be played again and again to improve your units. It's nice that you can play the levels again, but this can be problematic if you want to finish the game or advance to the next stage. There is a lot to unlock and sometimes you need to attempt a mission with a certain item or situation (usually weather related) to unlock the next part of the game. There are also more than 5 mini-games that you unlock and you will have to find certain items to unlock those. Since it's not always a certainty you will get the necessary item, so you may have to play a mission a few times to get it. Also, because of the randomness of bosses and monsters dropping prizes (shields, items for building or weapons) you may not get to upgrade your units for some time (if ever).
While this may detract some people, it does add a lot to the game. The unlockables also include additional chants and JuJu's (weather effects) that can really change the pace and your course of action in certain levels. You may want to skip certain missions, but without certain chants and JuJu's, you may not ever finish the game.
The game allows you to pick up to 3 groups of units that you deploy into battle. The groups vary from warriors, archers, cavalry, 'orge' type units and a few others. The variety of units is great and depending on the items you use to create units, you can have a really impressive attack force. The only down side to this is that you can essentially play the game only using three of the units, and since the units are unlocked over time, you will eventually find your niche with one group and just stick with them. Some units are better against certain foes, but again, you don't have to use a specific group to complete the game.
The sound and graphics in this game are incredible. For a game that requires you to listen to the sounds in the game, it's a joy to hear the singing but you might be guilty of singing out loud (when you shouldn't be). You cannot play this game on silent, so this is something you need to play either with headphones or in privacy. As for the graphics, the backgrounds aren't much to look at and a bit repetitive, but the characters (both your units and your opposition) are stunning and there is a lot of variety. Let's say with your group of Archers, within these units you can have more than 4 different variants, and each one is distinct. The bosses and monsters are also really nice looking and colorful. On the Widescreen PSP screen, it is stunning and really shows off the system's capabilities.
As I stated throughout this review, while this game is great, it's not perfect. the repetitive nature might detract some, but it's actually not that bad. The only major downside is that this is the kind of game that is screaming for two things. 1) This game needed a multiplayer mode. Because of the possible combinations of units it would be incredible to face off against someone either locally or over the internet. The other thing this game is screaming for is 2) a PSN version. The graphics, sound and relatively simple nature of this game shows that this game could translate well onto the PSN and your PS3. Imagine playing this game on a beautiful HD screen and you'll know what I'm talking about. This game does seem like a sequel is possible and highly likely, so these issues can be addressed in the sequel.
For a 20 dollar title, you get more than your dollars worth in the game. I have spent nearly 30 hours playing this game and it was worth every penny. Thankfully Sony really marketed this game as best as they could. They offered demos (both downloadable and free UMD discs are certain stores) and giving this a more than reasonable price is another huge bonus. If you are looking for a long-lasting, enjoyable and inexpensive game for your PSP, you really have no excuse and you need to grab this title. You will not regret it.