- Price: £29.99
- Players: 1
- Widescreen: Yes
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All the "Moja" baddies are off again and upsetting the Loco Roco world!
The game is still as strange, yet as charming as ever and, as per the original, you play as a LocoRoco, starting off looking
rather much like a space hopper, with the aim to collect orange fruits in order to get bigger, expanding on the number of
small LocoRocos you hold inside. You get about by tipping the world left and right courtesy of the PSP's shoulder buttons.
Hold these down together and then let go to make your character jump, while at other times if you tap the 'circle' button
then lightning strikes and your one unit becames several little LocoRocos - essential for getting past certain parts of the
terrain but make sure you rejoin back together (hold down the 'circle' button until this is complete) otherwise the little
ones can get left behind.
Holding down the circle on some levels also has the effect of letting you sink below the surface of water and navigate your
way around the level that way, usually just for a brief section but occasionally for the majority of a level - in a new addition
to this series.
Once again, MuiMui, LocoRoco's friend, gives commentary if you're not quite sure how to progress - such as holding both L
and R buttons to jump as well as individually to tip the world the way you want it to go (which I prefer to a DS-style tipping
the unit itself). Throughout this sequel you'll go through five worlds with five levels each in them - yet the replay value
is enormous.
Various other observations include that again at certain sections of each level you get the chance to sing for a bit by
tapping to the rhythm and get some extra musical notes which gives you extra help in being able to collect the purple fruit
things, as well as sometimes getting bonus items for your house. You can also break through certain areas by being 'absorbed'
into stone blocks or even afros!
There's so much to discover in each level and you'll need to go through them a few times, to the point where you'll be rewarded
on the third or four traversal with a MuiMui map that indicates where most of the 20 fruits are, with options to trade points
for information to reveal the remaining ones - although if you try to access areas that look remotely like they might have
something behind them (often because there's a large area masked off that appears to be doing nothing else), then you'll find
them anyway. The levels might seem straight forward at first, but don't be fooled...
Mysterious things like the question marks that appear from your character's thoughts when hanging from a branch will be
explained later on in the game, which again requires you to go back to that level later on when you know how you're supposed
to behave in that situation. And I could tell you what the answer is, but I remember trying something similar while I was there
originally and it didn't work, so it's clearly only an ability that you'll get at the time.
There's also the ability to switch between different Locoroco characters but this didn't really make any difference to the game
itself for me, it's just a cute little addition.
From the main menu you can make your own Loco Roco house out of the parts you've accumulated so far for all your little Locos
to live in. This is just a bit of fun more than anything else as it comes across like someone's had a strange accident with
Microsoft's Paint. The main theme from this game also plays throughout this segment and it sounds like the Mini Pops meets
Pinky & Perky.
There are also bonus mini-games such as one that involves hitting Nyokkis back into their holes, rather like a game of
'Whack-a-mole', Loco Race: Guess which one will come in first - pick on and get a prize if he wins, which is usually
the same kind of thing you get as a bonus as you go round a regular level. It's a bit like watching a cross between a pinball
machine and an assault course; and there's Chuppa Chuppa: Big puffa-type creatures have a job blowing you all over the
place in what looks like a giant pinball machine - well, that's the best way I can describe it. The game can end at any time
depending on what you hit, so be careful to give yourself just the right amount of 'push' to get round each area without
overshooting.
On BBC4's Screen Wipe, Charlie Brooker referred to Loco Roco as something that looked like obscure Spanish animation from
the '70s, while also praising it to the heights. He was right on both counts.
In conclusion, as I play this game more and more, I love it more and more. In fact, I can't stop playing it during my breaks at
work as the graphics move so well, the tunes are mesmeric and after I've unplugged the PSP from my brain after a mere 15
minutes, if I'm feeling a bit tired on some days, it continues to make my head swim :)
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