Patapon is an excitingly unestablished idea for video games. A rhythm-based real-time strategy game sounds ridiculous, but commanding troops with different patterns makes a lot of sense. It’s a premise that allows for both rhythm-based gameplay with player agency and strategy gameplay in which the player’s execution of commands is as important as the commands themselves.

Leading an army as a deity with a set of drums is then a brilliant way of keeping this premise simple and contextualised. That simplicity, though, is one of the reasons I’d call Patapon a great idea; not a great game.Your Patapon army is directed by patterns of four drum hits timed to an ongoing beat. Square, square, square, circle commands them to march forward, for instance. This command only lasts for the following measure, though, meaning you’ll be pounding that pattern over and over to keep moving. Reach some enemies or obstacles, and the army will need to be commanded to attack. Once you’ve also learned to defend, the gameplay becomes a matter of marching towards enemies and repeating the attack command with some defending where necessary.

The points are calculated based on the number of trophies earned of each type. Adjusted This leaderboard is similar to the main leaderboard, but the points are then adjusted based on the user's average trophy progress in their games.

The likelihood of your success, then, comes down to the aptitude of your troops.Different types of units are unlocked through the course of the game with various strengths and weaknesses to suit certain oppositions. Units can be birthed with components collected in battle, and fit out with gear acquired the same way. Buffing up your team with the best gear is really what Patapon’s about. Mission difficulties ramp up quickly, so you’ll be clambering for gear between each stage. Bosses level up each time they’re defeated, so taking on a powered-up old foe is usually the best way to land some gear.

Heading to a hunting ground is a good way to collect currency and components to create new units; though once you’ve reached the maximum amount of each unit type, that’s it. Old, base-stat units cannot be swapped out for better replacements; you’re stuck with them.For me, this meant about 80% of my time playing Patapon was grinding the levels I’d already played to be prepared enough to move forward. The game doesn’t give any indication of your army’s ability or the difficulty of missions, so the only way to know if you’re not ready for one is to play it until you fail. This is a structure that could feel rewarding to progress through with strong mechanics to lean on. Patapon doesn’t have strong mechanics to lean on.While drumming in time is a clever way to lead an army, there isn’t a single fun thing about repeating two patterns over and over in a place you’ve walked through dozens of times, just to take one step forward. Imagine if there was a song in Guitar Hero with two notes played in two different patterns of four for its entirety.

Now imagine the only way to beat each now song was to play this old one a bunch more times. Now imagine that each new song is the same as that first one, but with one extra pattern of four popping up here and there. Now imagine wasting your time on that.Patapon certainly isn’t an outright bad game, though. It’s presented in a great, sleek aesthetic only elevated by the PS4 re-release and its charm penetrates its monotony pretty consistently. As bored and frustrated as I found myself with Patapon, I was still somehow endeared to it. If things had been structured with a little momentum and actually playing the game went a little deeper than repeating three simple inputs, the personality and style here would solidify it as a wonderful game. As it stands, though, it’s a redemptive quality of a repetitive bore.Patapon is an excellent idea executed badly.

The focus on grinding fails to create a rewarding sense of progression when it boils down to entering the same basic patterns over and over. Throw in some more commands to use in more dynamic ways and speed things up, and you’d have a fantastic game. Short of that, Patapon is a laborious grind only held up by its charming, contrasting aesthetic.

Our review of Patapon 2 Remastered on PlayStation 4: let's go back to driving them in time to the music.

Our Patapon 2 Remastered review for PlayStation 4 it starts from a sufficiently clear and (hopefully) shareable assumption: Pyramid and Japan Studio in the past have accustomed players to effective, fun, and in most cases fresh and original experiences. It is for this, moreover, that some of you readers may remember Patapon, that little game (but not in a reductive sense, but affectionate) based on little black monsters who sang to the rhythm of music, on their PSP or on PlayStation Vita. Here: some time ago Sony decided to make the remastered of the first chapter on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro, so it was only a matter of time before finding ourselves in the hands (but digitally) also Patapon 2. This is not a brilliant conversion , but someone could still evaluate the purchase: let's see then its strengths and weaknesses.

The plot: pata pata pata pon!

Pata pata pata pon, yes. It is not the result of mental madness, but the philosophy of the entire game: Patapons are invented creatures who fight, speak, move, live to the rhythm of music. The purpose of their existence, and on this the plot it is immediately clear, it is to reach Fineterra: an undertaking that seems impossible, because half the world seems to have it against them. Patapon 2 Remastered restarts from the conclusion of the first Patapon: the eyed little monsters take that blessed boat that they have built, go to sea and … a gigantic kraken knocks them down and scatters them.

Luckily we are there, that is you, that is, the player of Patapon 2 Remastered in short, who impersonates none other than the god of Patapon, and guides them to the rhythm of music to adventure and battle. A storytelling, that of Patapon 2 Remastered, fairly long-lived and sufficiently varied: however more solid and interesting than the first chapter, even though the freshness and originality of that first appointment with the Patapons were inevitably blessed. But for today's player – who rediscovers these beautiful and precious pearls – the problem does not arise. Because maybe he will notice Patapon 2 directly, that is the sum (so far) of what the series has to offer.

PlayStation 4 trophies

Patapon 2 Remastered arrives on PlayStation 4 with its beautiful list of trophies, including the Gold and the Platinum Trophy: obtaining the latter, as far as we have seen, should not represent a superhuman effort. In fact, you have to complete the entire adventure, collect all the collectibles and explore all the possibilities related to the personalization of individual creatures.

Remastered: contents, strengths, weaknesses

Patapon 2 Remastered arrives on PlayStation 4, in fact, with one Remastered, and promising Full HD to the buyer, and 4K support on PlayStation 4 Pro. In most of the situations proposed, the promise is kept, but when it fails, disaster occurs. And I am a disaster, for example, the introductory film (which is so important in starting the adventure) and all the intermission movies. Needless to try justifications: Sony has taken over the cutscene of the game on PSP and launched them on PlayStation 4 as they came; and they went badly, in fact: a riot of unwatchable pixels. Too bad, because they are not only important videos to understand the story, but also funny and with the right sound accompaniment.

Very well, however, speaking of meritsas far as input lag is concerned, practically absent if not in very rare circumstances: you could say that we went to look for problems where it is not lawful to suspect them, and instead to suspect them was more than lawful. Drawn the painted tower friend or foe. If you played the remastered of the first Patapon you will have understood very well what we allude to: there at times the title was unplayable. But Japan Studio seems to have learned the lesson, at least from this point of view; even technically speaking, Patapon 2 Remastered presents no problems whatsoever.

Here: passing to content, the remastered skimp at least on the game modes. Patapon 2 on PSP and PlayStation Vita indeed had a couple of multiplayer modes, which were simply removed in this conversion; on a fixed console they probably wouldn't work. However, it is true that the introductory price is not even too low, and a good rule of thumb would like to add it on the other where it is removed on one side. This is perhaps superficiality on the part of the developers: did it cost so much to add a digital soundtrack, a theme for PlayStation 4, unpublished collectibles or any other nonsense that tried at least from afar to justify a cut of some original content?

Gameplay: let's play with Patapons

Clarified strengths and weaknesses of the remap of Patapon 2 and briefly recalled the plot around which the title is based, some “indications for use” are needed regarding the gameplay. Patapon 2 is still so original, so unique, that it may initially range. It is undoubtedly a strategic game (an RTS, to be tax), but also a rhythm game. Everything you do, you do it in time to music: otherwise the Patapon begin to complain, and or do not act as effectively as they could.

Through i commands of the DualShock 4, the player controls his troop. Three times Square and then Circle: the Patapons move to the right. Twice Circle, Square, then Circle again: it is the attack command, the monsters will shoot down anything in their path. There are other commands, of course: for example the one to defend against enemies.
And there are also miracles that we, the god of Patapon, can use to reverse a clash that is not going to end well. At any time, the Patapon must be assisted by the player, and they will prove obedient and loyal to the duty … as long as the basic musical rules of each are respected rhythm game: precision, attention to rhythm, ready reflexes. The difficulty level is sufficiently generous (there is also the easy mode, in case) but continuing the adventure offers an increasingly interesting level of challenge; This is good.

It is also good that in some respects Patapon 2 Remastered insists even more on strategy and on the customization of the troops: the Patapons become stronger, level up, evolve, specialize if necessary. There are different species, even unique heroes that can be positioned to lead the troop (and these also come back to life, during the battle).
they special powers, often prove to be fundamental to take down the giant bosses that await the unfortunate beings in the various levels. Add to all this a main hub from which you can access all the various secondary contents and information that enrich the game context, and you will have Patapon 2 in your hands. Not bad: maybe a little out of time.

Tested version
PlayStation 4
Digital Delivery
Portal quest wiki.

PlayStation Store

Price
€ 14.99

Even today, Patapon 2 has a lot to say to old and new players. Those who already know one of the small masterpieces by Pyramid and Japan Studio, have the opportunity to recover it in a revised and updated version (albeit with some limitations, from this point of view; for example in the movies). Who does not know Patapon at all can enrich himself with an important title: Patapon 2 Remastered is fundamental, within the videogame culture of any player who shows a minimum interest in his “wealth of experience”. It is not an excellent remasterd nor an excellent conversion, and it is a pity: in addition to the aforementioned videos, the multiplayer mode has been removed without any compensation; and occasionally some technical burrs or an out of place detail (especially graphic, more rarely of input lag) jump to the eye. Evaluate the purchase also based on your love for strategic rhythm games, of which Patapon 2 was and remains an excellent exponent.

PRO

• Funny as always
• Good level of challenge
• Enhanced graphics (in levels)

VERSUS

• Unwatchable and grainy videos
• Multiplayer eliminated
• Some technical defect; sporadic input lag