Review for Patapon 2. Game for Sony PSP, the video game was released on 27/11/2008
Among other, various, exclusive reminders of PSP include 2 very peculiar series, developed by Japan Studio and published by Sony itself, characterized by a unique aesthetic and a strong focus on music. We are talking about LocoRoco and Patapon, which he later followed in Patapon 2 and 3, which with their uniqueness won the hearts of many PSP owners. In its process of universalizing its library of exclusives, Sony has decided to bring all 3 titles to its current flagship, concluding the cycle with Patapon 2, released on January 31st on the Playstation Store in remastered version.
Like the game that preceded it, Patapon 2 is a precious remaster precisely in light of this universality of the Sony first party exclusive library, but which falls victim to an unfortunately quite lazy job regarding the modernization of the technical side of a game that, being originally portable, needed to a little more care in the transposition.
Patapon 2 Remastered is a title that immediately makes its mood clear for those unfamiliar with the series. A game that uses rhythm mechanics to set in motion a kind of primitive RTS is something that has not been seen before Patapon, or after Patapon 2. In this title we will take control of Kami, god of the Patapons, who through the use sacred instruments will have to give orders to the Patapon armies to lead them to the promised land of Finterra facing the enemies along the way, between masked beings called Karmen and pseudo-divinities with a distinctly oriental design.
However, simply playing the right combinations of commands will not be enough to ensure victory, but it will be necessary to go in rhythm with the beats of the background songs of the maps. The more synchronous you are, the more you will increase the combo bar, which once you reach the “Insane” level will allow you to use special moves called miracles, also cast through a music-themed minigame. In short, music is literally life and death for the Patapons, and like them Kami it will be up to the player to give them the energy they need for the journey. The commands that can be given are not actually numerous or particularly varied, however combining their effects with rhythmic inputs then repeated by the Patapons is always satisfying and fun, especially when during the longer assaults you get to create considerable audiovisual chaos on the screen.
In order not to bore with a working but certainly limited gameplay base, Japan Studio or Pyramid wanted to season the title with numerous secondary challenges and a component of customization and evolution of their army which, although simple, we enjoyed very much. All this is further enhanced by a stylish graphic sector and in perfect combination with the other artistic sectors of the game, to create the perfect mood for this type of experience.
However, the title is sadly plagued by some flaws, some due to the very lazy remastering, others to the simple design of the original game. The first flaw we would like to highlight is perhaps the simplest one to ignore, but also more evident at the beginning of the first game: the videos have not been remastered, and are played in 480p, which as you will understand does not look as good on a console as PS4 Pro whose target should be 4K. In addition to this, the title has not been revised in the slightest at the level of balance: although the graphics sector is so well done as to require the minimum wage to be aesthetically pleasing even at today's standard, Patapon 2 Remastered cannot fail to look like a game of another era. The title is fun and as mentioned before it offers many extra levels, unfortunately, however, these levels do not give much the impression of being extra as much as instead of being fillers necessary for farming, since very often it will be necessary to stop and face the side quests just to have a more performing army.
The tactical part of deciding when to attack, defend, march or use miracles is often overshadowed by the parametric part, where a larger army is in every respect a better choice than trying to improve one's performance. We must also underline that, in general, the title tends to become rather repetitive, also due to the constant reference to light farming.
Ultimately Patapon 2 is a lazy remaster of a valid title, but one that continues to bring with it several problems. The uniqueness factor and the sheer sympathy of the Patapons are more than enough to recommend this classic for PSP, however Patapon 2 remastered remains a title that does not seem to exploit its full potential, a sequel that instead of refining the mechanics invented by the first chapter prefers simply offer more content. A recommended purchase for those intrigued by the graphic style or by the strange hybrid of gameplay, but which will not do much to change the minds of those who did not appreciate the first chapter.
► Patapon 2 is a Music-Puzzle-RTS-Strategy game published by Sony for Sony PSP, the video game was released on 27/11/2008
