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Review: LocoRoco for Sony PSP by Masem

"LocoRoco", developed by Sony for the PSP, is just the same type of quirky game that the system needs, just as Katamari Damacy was to the PS2, cute and entertaining all over, with but a few technical nits. But even that said, it doesn't have quite the same grabbing power that Katamari had despite the numerous similarities.

Story: B
The story is simple - a far off world is populated by creatures known as LocoRocos that take care of the living planet and generally are a happy bunch. But when weird aliens called the Moja Corps arrive to take over the planet, the LocoRocos take charge to find their friends and reawaken the other beings on the planet.

Gameplay: A
The LocoRocos are roundish blobs that have no limbs, and thus the only way they can get around is by rolling and bouncing around the landscape. Though unlike with Katamari Damacy, you actually tilt the landscape using the shoulder buttons to get them to roll, which may also affect other parts of the landscape (hanging vines and water levels for example). Bouncing is done by releasing both shoulder buttons at the same time. Through these, you can get the LocoRocos over hills and safely over dangerous foes.

The LocoRocos also have a special ability. First, by eating special berries through the levels, you can make the LocoRoco grow (the size based on the number of berries eaten). If you've achieved a size of two or more, you can quickly hit the circle button to cause the LocoRoco to split into many smaller versions of itself, which may be necessary to work through small passages and avoid other aspects of the levels. This split may also be forced on you, if the large LocoRoco is pushed against a sharp object on the level. However, you can regroup the LocoRoco back into a single being by holding down the circle button. Generally, you want to keep the LocoRoco as one being - if you lose one of the smaller beings off screen and can't regroup fast enough, a Moja Corps will grab it away from you. Controls are a cinch to get used to and work quite well for the PSP.

The goal of each of the 40 worlds in the game is to safely get the LocoRoco from the start to the end, awakening as many creatures as possible by singing them awake. Most of the creatures require a minimum number of LocoRocos in order to wake them up, so it pays to get as many berries as possible and to avoid losing any LocoRocos to the Mojas. Throughout the worlds are also many pickories that you can collect and use for the mini-games outside of the main game. Little beings called MuiMuis also are hidden through the levels, and if you can rescue them, you'll get a piece for your LocoRoco house (also played outside the game).

The levels are very well done, feeling very organic at times but with many dynamic parts as well. There's lots of various obstacles to get around, platforms to bounce from, and the like, and the variety of the design of the levels is pretty good. At times, they feel like some classic Sonic the Hedgehog runs with sections where you basically don't have much control but fun to watch the speed and action on the screen as you zip by (the sound effects help a lot here too). The game also provides a bit of odd variety that at times, a creature will change the shape of the LocoRoco into a square, or a long rectangle, among other shapes, which don't quite roll as well, and make for some interesting play on physics. The difficulty isn't too hard in getting though - each level's about 5-10 minutes long and while a few late levels have a bit of a challenge to avoiding damage, it's still easy to make it to the end. The key of the game is that there's all the hidden areas that you want to try to find and access in order to get all the berries, LocoRoco house parts, pickories, and MuiMui's scattered about each level in order to fully complete the game. At about 40 levels, the general gameplay remains pretty fresh, and the length is definitely the right length. If you zip through the levels, it's about 5 hours long at most, but getting to 100% completion could easily take up to 20hrs as you figure out all the secrets the levels hold.

Graphics: A
The graphics in the game are done simply as flat, brightly-colored shapes with a lot of fluidity, which allows the game to move at a great speed. The LocoRoco is very amorphous, and gets flattened out, stretched, and deformed throughout the game, which is well rendered by the game. Several parts of the landscape are also deformed by the weight of the LocoRocos as they pass over it as well. The stylings of the characters are consistent throughout the game, looking like children's book characters, but all quite pleasing to the eyes. One of the best parts about the game is how well animated the LocoRocos (when split apart) are when they're idle - the best I can describe them is thinking about a class of pre-school kids that are left alone, but think they are being watched - it's bottled chaos. They'll trying to jump on each other, line up for a short period and count out, then go back to trying to jump up and make towers and pyramids. It's a joy just to watch them in this state.

Audio: A
Where the game shines is the music. There's about 20 different songs used for the game, spanning a similar range of styles as Katamari Damacy's music. However, a big aspect of these songs is that the vocals (all in Japanese) are based on what stage your LocoRoco is at. If it's just one large unit, you'll hear a single voice, but when you split them up, the voice track suddenly becomes a whole chorus, the number of additional voices depending on how large the LocoRoco was. Additionally, there's 6 different LocoRoco types that you can select for a level, each with a different voice, and most of the music is the same irregardless of the voice, thus making the music even more varied. If you sit and watch the individual LocoRocos, you can even see some singing the main parts, others on the backup vocals. Add to the mix that many parts of the world make musical noise when the LocoRocos pass over them, and the game is a treat to one's ears.

Value / Replayability: B+
Outside of the main game, there are 3 mini games - a crane game (which is unlocked from the start), a golf-like game, and a level editor, the last two unlocked by nearing full completion of the game. The crane and golf game use the pickories that you've collected as playing fees but can be used to unlock more parts. The level editor allows you to create levels that can be transferred to other players using numerous parts found in the game. Unfortunately, to unlock these last two items can take a bit more work (you need to work on collecting all the hidden items in the game), and it's a shame the level editor isn't unlocked from the start or at least through the main game completion. One can also build a LocoRoco house from the parts collected in the game, and watch the perpetually moving LocoRocos as they move about it. As with the custom levels, you can also share your house with others. In addition, you can also send demo levels to a friend to let them try out the game.

One thing that I will add that the game has some of the best loading times for a PSP game. Levels load up within a few seconds, and there's only a bit of pause when going between the menu screens.

The only other negative about the game I have is that while it's a great deviation from gameplay we've seen and a unique game, it just don't have the catchiness that Katamari Damacy had. It may be that Katamari Damacy felt more open, with a lot more objects that you could collect and various ways you could do things, while within LocoRoco, you're bound by the path within the game. Even chasing after hidden objects always returns you back to the main parts, and thus you'll always be taking the same routes through the levels each time. It's still great gameplay can be learned quickly, but for some reason, I just don't get the same vibes Katamari had after playing that game once through. It may also be that the freely available demo for the game showcased a level (not included in the main game) which included all the major gameplay, which is a good thing for a demo to be, but the game itself really doesn't add much more that wasn't already found in the demo. In other words, I went through the game looking for new things, and really didn't find too much more. Katamari Damacy lacked this problem because each new challenge introduced a new range of things to pick up and kept the game fresh throughout. This is not to say the game is bad, but it's hard to universally recommend this to everyone as I could with Katamari.

Overall: A-
LocoRoco is a great PSP title and plays well, with a lot of stuff to do before exhausting it. A lot of details were put into the game, particularly on the audio and visuals despite the simple looking appearance. However, it's hard to point a finger at why I can't give this game as much praise as Katamari Damacy - I don't know if it's due to the anticipation I had for it, or the lack of openness Katamari Damacy had. Still, it's definitely a strong title with quirky gameplay that differs from much else out there, and while maybe not a must-buy for PSP owners, will still likely find it's way into their libraries at some point. Permalink - Discuss