• Resistance Retribution (Spring 2009)
• Patapon 2
• The Force Unleashed
• Super Stardust Portable
• Madden 09
• LocoRoco 2
• NBA 09
• The Inside
• Lego Batman
• Buzz Master Quiz

LocoRoco, to put it mildly, isn’t your run-of-the-mill game. In fact, it’s pretty hard to describe. It has simplistic game mechanics, an art style only a Crayola fan could love, and an odd sense of humor that only a select few on this planet will get. It’s one of those games where you think “I swear the creator of this game ate some special brownies and drank the Kool-Aid when he came up with this idea”. But hey, isn’t all that what made Katamari Damacy such an entertaining success?

LocoRoco to Katamari isn’t that bad of a comparison - bright colorful graphics, simple controls, and a distinct flair that makes it its own. However, the similarities end there as Loco sports different gameplay.

LocoRoco is broken up into stages, though the playable demo we managed to get our hands on only had one. But, it was enough to get a good feel. The basic idea is to get your blob from one end of the stage to the other. The catch is that you can only control how the stage rotates using the shoulder buttons while you let gravity have its way with the blob. You can’t spin a stage 360 degrees, at least from what I saw, so you’ll have to get creative to get past some of the obstacles set before you. To help you with that, you can also “flick” the stage by hitting L and R at the same time. This in essence makes the onscreen blob jump for you.

Over the course of the stage, you’ll increase the blob’s mass. In fact, you’ll want to since you’re given more points for finishing with the most blobs possible. However, you’ll come across obstacles that can’t be passed in a huge solid state. That’s when you tap the circle button to split up the blob into tiny little ones that can pass through small tight spaces. Once the obstacle is traversed, hold down circle to bring it all back together again. And as they do, the cute little things cry out with an adorable little laugh.

Getting from one end to the other gets more difficult because there are black orbs floating around looking to swipe a blob from your mass. It’s imperative that you avoid these at all costs because once an orb grabs hold of your yellow jiggly thing, you’re guaranteed to lose a piece, thus lowering your potential final score.

One of the things I’m looking forward to most is the multiple routes. Even in the one stage that was presented to us, you could see all sorts of different ways to attack the stage. There were also a number of hidden areas that you can’t see until you’re actually in one. This should increase the replay value quite a bit for those who want to max out high scores, or to find every nook and cranny and item available in each stage.

The music is just as off-the-wall as the graphics and the rest of the game in general, which doesn’t surprise me at all. In fact, if it wasn’t some super happy ultra bubbly little ditty, then I would’ve been surprised. The only problem I had is that I know the track repeated. Some of the levels I’m sure will take quite a bit of time to complete – definitely longer than some music tracks. If track progression is in the final retail copy, then this point is moot, but I thought it’s something I should mention.

LocoRoco is definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But if the recent success of the Katamari Damacy series is any indication, then there is indeed an audience for LocoRoco, one that will appreciate the odd antics of the cute yellow blobs. And with its very simple gameplay that only involves three buttons at most, it will easily appeal to the casual gamer. Not taking the game too seriously is an obvious requisite, and once gamers have engrained that into their heads, LocoRoco could become a niche hit.]]> Sun, 18 Jun 2006 20:50:58 -0500