Patapon 1 was simple, but effective. Going into this, I think I would've been happy with just "more Patapon", as long as they addressed some of my problems with the first game. And so, I begin another journey to Earthend...this time, against the forces of Hell. Not even kidding.
One thing I neglected to mention in my review of the previous title were Rarepons. There were only three types, and the differences weren't obvious (unless you got the loading screen that told you what they did). In Patapon 2, Rarepons have been overhauled into a full evolution tree, allowing you to unlock and upgrade each type of Patapon up to level 10. This requires a dumptruck's worth of materials, but Patapon 2 is far less stingy with item drops than its predecessor. Consequentially, this increases the grind to a similarly exhausting degree. At least the grind has a theoretical end this time.
Reaching FEVER mode in Patapon 1/2 has a few shortcuts to it. If some of your drumbeats sound particularly potent, that means you're right on the beat. Hitting four perfect beats in a command is indicated by a climactic cymbal crash, and instant FEVER mode if your current chain is at 2 or higher. Fever still gives you whole team various boosts, just like the previous game. The key to keeping bosses in check in Patapon 2, as well as the way to grind for rare materials, is to stagger them. This is similar to real life; I, too, drop my items when staggered.
One of Patapon 2's bigger additions is your very own hero! I named mine Riki, because there's no better heropon. In essence, he's a customizable one-pon army. You can choose any unlocked class for him, and the highest unlocked level of any evolution on top of that. Heroes don't show their hand until you achieve fever mode though. Hitting four perfect beats while in fever mode initiates a special attack from your hero, a unique one for each class. They range from moderately useful to ludicrously overpowered. The real purpose of your hero is to give you access to the Patagate, where you can play wireless co-op missions with three other heroes (or offline with CPUs). Your goal is to beat the boss and escort the egg so you can DON CHAKA. By "DON CHAKA", I mean that the heroes party hard in order to make the egg hatch. Inside each egg are different types of masks, equippable by your hero for massive boosts.
With all that said, not all is well in the world of the Patapon, and there is a lot of stuff in this game that got under my skin. I hate that the Hero abilities are accompanied by this loud, screaming chant that drowns out the music and other Patapons. It just keeps going eternally (as long as you keep hitting perfect beats), really obnoxious. This game actually introduced three tiers of difficulty, although they only really affect how strictly your rhythm is judged. Hard mode is for human metronomes, and easy mode may as well be playing itself. The Tatepon (sword/shield) hero ability makes every Patapon invincible as long as it's active. Put two and two together, and that's right! You can cheese the entire game this way, if you're patient enough! This was especially useful during the final stretch of the game, where they insisted on reusing the worst gimmicks of Patapon 1's stages: ones where you have to escort something without letting it break, or ones where you have to destroy an objective that's constantly moving away from you.
This was also the point where I realized that Patapon 2's grind was absolutely necessary. It was a flaw in Patapon 1, but the sheer amount of options and the resources they require add up fast. I'm frustrated that they did nothing to improve this, because I have two potential solutions:
A: Let the player keep their spoils even if they fail a mission. Even a fraction of their spoils would work too, just something that ensures they're always getting stronger, even when faced with overwhelming odds. Or...
B: Just implement a typical EXP system. Unlocking rarepon evolutions for each individual patapon is already a resource sink, but grinding those individual evolutions up to level 10 is overkill. Slowly gaining strength over time is a tried-and-true solution.
This game was enjoyable, but it's also really weird to me. It improves in a few areas, and stays the same in many others, usually the ones that needed improvement the most. Frankly, it's a tossup between whether I prefer the first game or the second game. But who knows? Maybe the third one is about to knock my socks off.
One thing I neglected to mention in my review of the previous title were Rarepons. There were only three types, and the differences weren't obvious (unless you got the loading screen that told you what they did). In Patapon 2, Rarepons have been overhauled into a full evolution tree, allowing you to unlock and upgrade each type of Patapon up to level 10. This requires a dumptruck's worth of materials, but Patapon 2 is far less stingy with item drops than its predecessor. Consequentially, this increases the grind to a similarly exhausting degree. At least the grind has a theoretical end this time.
Reaching FEVER mode in Patapon 1/2 has a few shortcuts to it. If some of your drumbeats sound particularly potent, that means you're right on the beat. Hitting four perfect beats in a command is indicated by a climactic cymbal crash, and instant FEVER mode if your current chain is at 2 or higher. Fever still gives you whole team various boosts, just like the previous game. The key to keeping bosses in check in Patapon 2, as well as the way to grind for rare materials, is to stagger them. This is similar to real life; I, too, drop my items when staggered.
One of Patapon 2's bigger additions is your very own hero! I named mine Riki, because there's no better heropon. In essence, he's a customizable one-pon army. You can choose any unlocked class for him, and the highest unlocked level of any evolution on top of that. Heroes don't show their hand until you achieve fever mode though. Hitting four perfect beats while in fever mode initiates a special attack from your hero, a unique one for each class. They range from moderately useful to ludicrously overpowered. The real purpose of your hero is to give you access to the Patagate, where you can play wireless co-op missions with three other heroes (or offline with CPUs). Your goal is to beat the boss and escort the egg so you can DON CHAKA. By "DON CHAKA", I mean that the heroes party hard in order to make the egg hatch. Inside each egg are different types of masks, equippable by your hero for massive boosts.
With all that said, not all is well in the world of the Patapon, and there is a lot of stuff in this game that got under my skin. I hate that the Hero abilities are accompanied by this loud, screaming chant that drowns out the music and other Patapons. It just keeps going eternally (as long as you keep hitting perfect beats), really obnoxious. This game actually introduced three tiers of difficulty, although they only really affect how strictly your rhythm is judged. Hard mode is for human metronomes, and easy mode may as well be playing itself. The Tatepon (sword/shield) hero ability makes every Patapon invincible as long as it's active. Put two and two together, and that's right! You can cheese the entire game this way, if you're patient enough! This was especially useful during the final stretch of the game, where they insisted on reusing the worst gimmicks of Patapon 1's stages: ones where you have to escort something without letting it break, or ones where you have to destroy an objective that's constantly moving away from you.
This was also the point where I realized that Patapon 2's grind was absolutely necessary. It was a flaw in Patapon 1, but the sheer amount of options and the resources they require add up fast. I'm frustrated that they did nothing to improve this, because I have two potential solutions:
A: Let the player keep their spoils even if they fail a mission. Even a fraction of their spoils would work too, just something that ensures they're always getting stronger, even when faced with overwhelming odds. Or...
B: Just implement a typical EXP system. Unlocking rarepon evolutions for each individual patapon is already a resource sink, but grinding those individual evolutions up to level 10 is overkill. Slowly gaining strength over time is a tried-and-true solution.
This game was enjoyable, but it's also really weird to me. It improves in a few areas, and stays the same in many others, usually the ones that needed improvement the most. Frankly, it's a tossup between whether I prefer the first game or the second game. But who knows? Maybe the third one is about to knock my socks off.