Who knew that one little plastic encased optical disc could bring so much happiness? Loco Roco has arrived for the PSP bringing with it an amazing sense of wonder and fun to Sony’s ailing portable platform.
LocoRoco plays like a platformer that’s part 2D Monkey Ball, part Sonic the Hedgehog speed and curves, a little pachinko action, and a nice dose of Katamari Damacy weirdness. You play as a Loco, a small amorphous blob with no arms or legs, just a pair of eyes, a mouth and a cute set of little ears. You’re on a quest to find more Locos and bring back world peace.
The controls are simple and easy to pick up. You steer your Loco across the soft , curvy, pastel colored landscapes by tilting the world left or right with the shoulder buttons. Press and hold the right shoulder button and the landscape tilts down to the right and your Loco naturally starts to roll downhill. While holding a shoulder button you can tap the alternate shoulder button to make your Loco jump in the direction its moving. Pressing both shoulder buttons while not moving causes a jump straight up.
You start each level as a single small Loco. Your goal is to reach the end of the level while feeding your Loco along the away. Scattered throughout each level are large berries, some hidden in bonus areas, that increase your size when eaten. As your Loco grows fatter you’ll find bottlenecks in the level you’re simply to large to fit through. This is where your Locos one ability comes into play. Tap the circle button and your rolly polly fat ball gets zapped and splits down into individual Locos, one for each berry you’ve eaten plus your original guy, allowing them to fall down pachinko style through a concoction of gears and revolving contraptions. After your guys collect at the output of the occasionally Mousetrap-ish gears and stairs you can reunite them by holding down the circle button. Many levels also have a spot or two where a character in the background of the level, a sleeping sun or group of clouds, will give you a bonus item. A little number will appear over your Loco as you near these spots telling you the minimum number of Locos you’ll need. If you have the required Locos they will automatically split down into individuals and stating singing a cute chorus of Japanese, earning you a bonus item which can be used to build up your ownpersonal Loco house in a sandbox mini-game.
Level design ranges from bright white snowy areas, to dark mountainous regions, to the interior of large snakes and whales, all drawn with simple lines and soft colors. Large polka dots and other geometric shapes cover the background behind the landscape.
The levels are very linear, though scattered throughout are hidden areas that often require some well timed bounces and jumps to get to. Individual levels take only 3 to 5 minutes to complete, making this a good pickup game when you don’t want to get to deep into a game, and you can save your game after each level and revisit any previous level.
There are very few hazards within each level. Sharp, stylized rock outcroppings must be avoided or jumped over else your Loco goes down one size. Small, wispy flying smoke clouds, reminiscent of the tentacled sentinels in the Matrix will try to pull out one of your Locos, but the clouds can be avoided or jumped into or onto to destroy them Mario style. The layout of the levels is much like a Super Mario game. Eight differently themed levels comprise one world and there are multiple worlds in LocoRoco.
Overall, LocoRoco is an easy game. Finishing LocoRoco would only take a few hours straight
Music is central to what makes LocoRoco a great game. There’s charming Japanese songs sung by cute, tiny little voices playing in the background of each level, with different style themes for different levels. The music for the snow themed levels is especially noteworthy, it truly helps evoke that wide eyed winter wonderland feeling a child gets on seeing snow for the first time.
My Score - 10/10
