Review: Loco Roco (PSP)
Gamestyle (and indeed the general public) have been a little unsatisfied with the PSP's bulging library of driving games and home console conversions, which leaves little in the way of new experiences to recommend on the lovely piece of kit (conversely, Nintendo's DS has a broad roster of original titles). The handheld needs something new and eye-catching to buck the trend of lazy rehashes, and LocoRoco is the answer.
The plot reads like a child's bedtime story, revolving around the inhabitants of a lively, peaceful planet which is being kept beautiful and pleasant by the ever-cheerful LocoRoco. One day the planet is invaded by the alien Moja Troop. The LocoRoco are a peaceful species and do not know how to deal with the threat, leaving the player to take control of the planet by tilting and bouncing it, directing the Locos to their friends and restoring order. It sounds like it's aimed at a younger audience, yet somehow has the ability to appeal to a much wider demographic.
A major PSP release being two-dimensional in form may seem to defy the console's philosophy of 'power', yet this is exactly the sort of shake-up that is needed to show that games don't need texture-covered polygons and real-time shadows to look amazing. The world is presented in bold, bright colours and the movement of everything is organic. When you see it in motion, it's breathtakingly detailed and so elegant and clean. If you were looking for a candidate for perfect graphics, you wouldn't need to look much further. It's not just a feast for the eyes, the music is also entertaining, remaining on just the right side of the catchy/annoying scale, with the Locos singing as you ping them around levels (also, if you pay attention to them, you'll notice they give you visual and audio cues to guide you to secret rooms and away from dangers). Even the most hardened heart would find it difficult to avoid humming some of the tunes found in the game, which may go some way toward explaining its appeal.
On your journey through the game, you encounter some of the planet's other inhabitants, some who help you, and others who don't. Chuppas fire your Loco into the air, helping to reach high areas; Burrs are spiky objects which cause you to lose LocoRocos; and the evil Moja (the game's main antagonists) fly around areas looking for Locos to steal from you. All the creatures in this game are imaginatively visualised, and - despite some of them being the bad guys - still manage to look cute. It's fortunate, then, that when an enemy is 'bounced' by a LocoRoco, they merely disappear in a puff of smoke or fall over, instead of experiencing a squishy death. Yes, this game is even more innocent than Mario Bros.
Control is simple: the shoulder buttons rotate the level some 30 degrees left or right, rolling your Loco in the direction of gravity, and both buttons pressed together make the planet bounce, sending your blobby little friend into the air. The only other function is splitting your one big Loco into lots of smaller ones, and back again, with the circle button... and that's about it. Such a simple interface is a godsend for the PSP, whose analogue nub and D-pad have been poorly utilised by many titles trying to cram in Dual Shock style controls. This method of movement does however create a challenge which can become quite annoying at first. Trying to find hidden areas and items can be tricky due to lack of precision (you are trying to move a gelatinous blob around, remember) and as the game progresses you'll be able to see parts of the level that can be very awkward to reach. After repeated play this becomes less of a problem as you learn all the nuances of the control system to achieve your goal. On the second play, Gamestyle found manoeuvring so much easier.
And you will play through it again. There are so many items to collect throughout the levels, from fruit and flowers (flowers providing you with more LocoRoco) to Mui Mui. These are another species on the planet, and, when found, give your Loco items such as house parts with which you can built an assault course, a fun diversion from the main game which encourages repeated play to collect more parts. LocoRoco is quite multifaceted in difficulty, so if tricky jumps aren't your thing, you can effortlessly cruise through most of the levels and ignore them, while more dedicated players will try to hunt down every last item.
All one could ask of LocoRoco is a little more variety in level design. While some of the levels are hugely entertaining (who could say no to rolling around inside a giant penguin?), each world contains the same types of level seen so frequently in platform games (the mandatory ice level being a major example of this) and becomes slightly dull over the five worlds - but only just. A title with this kind of presentation and fun never really grates, and receives the Gamestyle Seal of Approval™. This is the kind of game starved PSP owners have waited for.
Rating: 9 / 10
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