Patapon 2 - Pon-Pon-pwn!

In keeping with this trend of what game/movie is worth what grocery item, I decided to go with a good value buy of a game. Patapon 2 is the sequel to the mostly unnoticed Patapon which came out early last year I believe. It’s a rhythm based strategy game with cartoon stylized graphics and hours upon hours of play. You command an army of units and use the rhythm of 4 different drums that correspond to the PSP face buttons to tell them to attack, defend, or march. There are obstacles in you way, some are walls you must destroy, some are the restless natives that don’t want you there, and some are giant monsters who mistake your squad for dinner. While your marching your people over the river and through the woods (and the desert) there is an enormous amount of loot to pick up which will help you level up your weapons and units. There are also mini-games you can unlock which give you loot as well.

As a sequel, Patapon 2 helps smooth over several of the problems I and several others had with the first game. Patapon is a grind. To advance in the game you are going to have to go back and replay past levels to get more loot and weapons to help level up your units so they won’t get crushed by the increasingly difficult stages ahead. In the first game you would have to replay levels for hours without getting anything useful, and the mini-games never gave you a truly rare item. Patapon 2 has much better loot drops, and while you’re still going to have to grind, you’re not going to drive yourself as crazy doing it. You will go a little mad though considering you’ll hear “pata-pata-pata-pon” at least 30 times every level you play. And the best part is it’s only $20. You can download it directly to the PSP or transfer it from your PS3 and run it off the memory stick. There is no disk version for sale in the US, but if you must the Euro version is on disk and can be imported. This game is definitely worth a couple of rib-eye steaks. 8.5/85/B+