[PSP] Loco Roco (PSP)

Originally Posted by Outdated Review

TOKYO--Few games at the Tokyo Game Show 2005 stood out like Loco Roco, a quirky platforming game that lets you assume the role of a little orange blob, rolling your way through brightly lit levels and eating as you go. In some ways, it's an amalgamation of a few different game mechanics that we've seen in the past, particularly those in Kirby's Tilt and Tumble and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. But despite the familiarity of some of its aspects, Loco Roco is a unique and truly enjoyable game, and we had a blast playing just the demo level. From what we could see, Loco Roco also seemed to be the most popular download at the PSP hot spots all over Sony's booth.

Your character is no more than a blob with a simple face and a sprout atop his head, and his only movement, other than those you provide for him, is that of his mouth, which goes from a little line smile to a circle, indicating that he's about to eat something or that he's been knocked up into the air. Despite the total lack of emotion in this simplistic character design, he's both lovable and cute, as he smiles and chomps and rolls around. The game's control is as simple as the character design, but it works surprisingly well. Using only the triggers, you can hold down the left trigger to tilt the level down until you reach an angle of about 45 degrees to the left, and your character will roll left when you do so. The same can be done to the right, and if you hit both triggers together, he'll do a little jump into the air. And that's it. Like in Jungle Beat and other games using this simple kind of maneuvering, the trick is in getting everything on the level, not necessarily just getting to the end. The first time we played through, we finished fairly quickly, but we found at the results screen that we had missed most of the level's pickups.

On the second go-through, we found that there was a lot more to the gameplay than at first glance. It seems pretty straightforward; as you roll through, your character will eat the flowers that cross his path. Of course, it's your job to navigate him into them and away from the burr-shaped enemies that litter the environment. The catch is that the more flowers you eat, the bigger your character gets, and this impacts his ability to move around. As he widens, he requires more momentum to get off the ground, which means you have to play through more quickly, risking missing valuable flowers for consumption. Should you knock into one of the burrs, which were the only damage-dealing creatures in the demo level, then your character loses little pieces of himself, until presumably they're all gone and the game is over. Of course, you still have the opportunity to pick up the pieces after they've fallen off, much like the rings in a Sonic the Hedgehog game.

The other major gameplay mechanic occurs when you come across an area with an entrance smaller than your pudgy little blob. At this point, you double-press the circle button, which summons electricity and breaks you up into a bunch of tiny blobs, the number of which depends on how big you are at the time. Then, you must use the tilting mechanic to roll all the blobs safely together to the end of that section, and assemble them into one single happy rolly guy again. Some of the level traps you encounter, like jet streams of air that you can hitch a ride with, require that you're broken up into little pieces, presumably because the air couldn't move the larger creature on its own. Of course, this is essentially what makes the game feel so well put together. Whether going around loop-de-loops or trying to work your way up seesaws, and no matter at what weight, the game is extremely responsive to your weight and the angle at which you're tilting it.

Everything about this game is charming, from the bright graphics and environments adorned with polka dots, to the cute little grunts and pops that the character makes when he bobs around. The music, which is on a fairly short cycle, is so catchy that you probably won't find it annoying, even if you should. And the gameplay, which is so simple, is surprisingly rich, with all the hidden areas and pickups that you can find along the way. It's hard to find fault with what we saw from this game so far, except to say that it doesn't currently have a North American release date. We look forward to spending more time with Loco Roco and providing more information as it becomes available.

Trailer: 1 2 3 4/5/6

Loco Roco is.. well, put it like this. It's like Katamari, except it's a combination of Lemmings/those things that have colored liquid in small containers. You're basically a blob, and the more liquid you pick up, the fatter you get. You need to dodge spiked baddies and certain obstacles, while picking up blobs. Parts of the game you'll be too big to fit past an area, and by pressing two buttons you'll break up into small pieces to fit through.

The unique thing about this game is that there is absolutely no control aside from the L and R shoulder buttons. You tilt the screen to control your blob. It's so unique that I just have to make a topic over it, because it looks awesome. And now that there's a Katamari on the PSP, this coming, a remake of Landstalker coming, and the Valkyrie Profile title, perhaps owning a PSP isn't really such a bad thing after all.

More importantly this game has been confirmed that it will be released internationally of "this summer" but no specific date has been released.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

That looks cool. It seems like a simple and fun game anyone can get into.

For some reason, I'm interested in how the music will sound.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

If I can pimp something here-

http://risingfun.1up.com/

This Friday, we have a big LocoRoco featuring going up. I've played it quite a bit myself and it's really, really awesome. Way too cute for it's own good.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

There's a downloadable demo of this game here. You have to update to 2.7 firmware, so all the emulator folks will have to miss out.

This game is so much fun, and one of the most overly cute games since Yoshi's Story. It reminds me a lot of some of the quirkier Kirby games (Kirby's Tilt and Tumble, Kirby DS). The best part is the way the character constantly sings, with his mouth moving, and when you split into little parts, each little part sings. It's frustrating that the screen only rotates 45 degrees in either direction, but I can get used to that. Definitely a must-buy.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

wow I just played witht he demo and this game is very good! I'll be sure to get this one when it will came out. till end I'll try to master the demo XD

I was speaking idiomatically.

I played some demo at the pre-E3 thing I visited, and boy it's tons of fun! One stinking level, and still I played it again and again, because I wanted all the fruits and the little blue men. And the soundtrack? Katamari on the Rocks, just more annoying. Of course you're going to hear it in your hear before long

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Dang! 2.7....just when I try out emu business.

This game strongly reminds me of the level in Warioware Twisted where you have to stop the man on the rock from speeding up to his death, with the level tilting concept. I think I can picture just how hard this will get when you try to get everything in a level with the control scheme. Looks like another creative game!

FELIPE NO

The thing is, we've been spoiled by carts with motion sensors, so when you play Loco Roco, you want to tilt the PSP instead of pressing the shoulder buttons. That, and it's annoying that it won't tilt more than 45 degrees.

How ya doing, buddy?

I just played it recently on my friends PSP and I just loved it, enough for me to make a avatar and sig out of it...
I love the amount of secrets avaible through out the levels (of course I only played the one demo level but I assume they only get trickier)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

To this date, there's nothing who could make me upgrade my 1.50 PSP. Perhaps I'm just an old schooler, perhaps I'm just waiting the day that I could actually play MGS on my PSP, that would be the only reason I would upgrade.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I had 1.5 for along time and just got bored, I wasn't using homebrew so I upped it to 2.7, makes it alot easier to play new UMDs. Loco Roco was another reason, and i'm glad I went to 2.7, even for a demo. I have played it so many times, it's great, too damn fun. Can't wait for the full game. Imagine this with a tilt sensor

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Did anyone else get this close to mastering the demo? It's a very tricky game...



I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I was speaking idiomatically.

can anyone rip that really annoying song? I want to piss the hell out of a certain friend by blasting that out of my mp3 player...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

this is the best time I did ^^



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Originally Posted by scotty

can anyone rip that really annoying song? I want to piss the hell out of a certain friend by blasting that out of my mp3 player...

I totally agree Scotty, Trev's gonna get it bad. If anyone finds that song, I'd love to have it. Also, imagine this scenario:

Some lame redneck from school: What you listenin' to, faggot?
Me: Listen for yourself.

*one hour later*

[/Beating]

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Hey I managed to get the two songs, the title theme and the demo level theme
get them here

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I just started playing this today (having played the demo earlier) and it's wonderfully charming.

The levels are varied and fun, and while I keep wishing they'd have used a physical tilt control and a single button for jump, the controls are still brilliantly inventive and clever for such a simple system.

Just what the PSP needs. The game is just so pleasant to play, from the relaxed pace and gameplay to the wonderfully cheery aesthetics, music and soundscape.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

WOW.. is this game really that fun??
I like Katamari so much... and is this game better than katamari??

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by l33dagame

WOW.. is this game really that fun??
I like Katamari so much... and is this game better than katamari??

Katamari and Loco Roco are two entirely different games.

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I picked this up on Saturday, I havn't played it much, but it's really greay so far. All the songs have been fun, and I know there will be enough replay value with going back to get everything. Plus, more LocoRocos to unlock!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Elixir

Katamari and Loco Roco are two entirely different games.

Originally Posted by Elixir

It's like Katamari

Ehhh?

And does this game require firmware 2.7x?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Okay, I got it today, and it's an absolute blast. I can already see myself use far too much time trying to get all the fruits, locorocos, Muimuis and whatnot. Plus my project is to be able to spell my name in the LocoRoco house:P

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Krelian

Ehhh?

It's like Katamari in the aspect of the game being original/weird. But it is nothing like Katamari. Get it? Good.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Well, it is similar in the way you roll a round object which grows along the way as you pick up things (in this case.. er, flower buds), but it's absolutely pointless to ask if it's better or not since the gameplay and focus is so different.

Completing the game 100% would be an impossibility for me, I'd go crazy before reaching this goal, so I've opted to just try and finish the levels. I'm really fond of the red LocoRoco, he has the most hilarious comments (especially his panicked shouts when a Moja appears), even though the scatting black LocoRoco is pretty awesome too.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Krelian

And does this game require firmware 2.7x?

No, it doesn't. I can't remember if it uses 2.5 or 2.6, but since the disc includes a 2.6 upgrade, it definitely doesn't need 2.7 to run.

Jam it back in, in the dark.