The digital delights of Sony’s scrumptious PlayStation Network service know no bounds. Aside from letting punters compete in online gaming, stream films, browse the Internet and more, its premier attraction rests in the copious supply of downloadable games ripe for the picking. From PSN exclusives to PSOne Classics, minis and plain old add-on content, Sony’s online space is chock full of goodies battling it out for your hard-earned digital dollars.
Welcome back to another installment of Inside PlayStation Network, where every Monday – Friday we’ll pluck a PSN release—be it new or old—and put it in the spotlight for a thorough dissection. Fancy getting a new PSN game but don’t know what one to plump for? Perhaps this feature will help. Didn’t realize that a game was available in your region until now? We’ve got you covered. Or, perhaps you were musing over what those lucky Japanese folk were tucking into over in the Land of the Rising Sun? You can be sure our coverage will extend to those rare regional exclusives as much as those firmly embedded on the public consciousness.
For our latest entry, we scrutinize the quirky PSP platformer, LocoRoco.
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Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (SCEJ)
Region(s) available: North America, Europe, Japan
Players: 1
Conceived by Japanese developer Tsutomu Kouno, LocoRoco was born out of the desire to cobble together something totally disparate to what was being released for Sony’s pint-sized PSP back in 2006. And to that end, the game passed with flying colours. Indeed, this charming platform romp is no less of an idiosyncratic effort today than it was five years ago, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Patapon for its creativity and uniqueness. The premise is simple: the homeland of cute critters LocoRoco has been invaded by the dastardly Moja forces, and it’s up to you to put a stop to their activities.
LocoRoco takes place across find worlds, each one packing in a meaty eight levels to digest. Your objective couldn’t be clearer cut – get to the end of the stage while duffing up the occasional bad guy. However, the means in which accomplish this task is where the meat and potatoes of LocoRoco’s charm and uniqueness lies. Instead of having direct control over the cuddly critters, you have to manipulate their path by pressing the PSP’s left and right triggers. This tilts the screen which in turn makes the creatures roll about all over the place, setting them on their path. Jumping is activated by hitting both triggers simultaneously.
Along the way, you’ll gobble up a number of items including berries, which makes your LocoRoco horde grow in size. However, fattening up the group may get you into a bit of pickle if you want to navigate tighter areas, so you’ll need to split the LocoRoco up to reduce their overall mass by hitting circle. Meanwhile, holding down this button will bunch them all up again once you’re done squeezing through the cracks, so to speak. As you’d expect, enemies crop up in the form of the pesky Moja from time to time, though they’re easily dispatched by bonking them on the head with a quick jump attack.
Bumping off foes is a minor distraction compared to your main objective though, namely exploration. Bashing through walls or floating through fake barriers will unveil hidden areas, unearthing copious collectibles. Aside from extra berries, you’ll also pick up pickories (the game’s currency) and encounter a tribe of chaps known as the Mui Mui. Liberating these tiny folk will very likely unlock a fresh part of the Loco House, an area where you can construct a mini workout zone for your LocoRoco. New parts can also be obtained via two of three mini-games on offer, namely chuppa chuppa and mui mui crane. Be prepared to part with 100 of your well-earned pickories to play ‘em, though.
The third mini-game of sorts is the juiciest, coming in the shape of a level editor that allows you to cobble together your own stages to share with other players. While multiplayer is conspicuously absent, LocoRoco is tailored for repeated play throughs, with the game keeping track of various records such as how long it takes you to finish a level and how many mui mui you locate. As such, this encourages you to have another pop at the action to better your accomplishments. Outside of this, there’s also a rudimentary time trial mode up for grabs that keeps the focus purely on ploughing through each level as fast as possible. A fresh and addictive spin on the traditional platform paradigm, LocoRoco unsurprisingly proved a colossal hit with punters, prompting a sequel to follow a few years later.
Tune in again same time tomorrow for another look Inside PlayStation Network.