Pata Pata Pata Pon!

After going through the laborious and scary process of updating my PSP yesterday night (from 3.40 OE to 3.90 M33-2) i finally managed to play Patapon.

This charming game is in the same art style as Loco-Roco which i also thoroughly enjoyed but has the twist of being a 'Rhythm Action' game.

The jist of the game is to beat out a tune in time using the face buttons of the PSP - Square gives a 'Pata' , Circle a 'Pon' and Triangle a 'Chaka'
You then use combinations of tunes to command your army - Imagine playing starcraft using a guitar hero controller and you're almost there i guess.
For example , Pata pata pata Pon - will move your army forwards
Pon Pon Pata Pon will command your army to attack.

You'll be using these pretty much throughout the game  - which may sound linear and/or boring. I'll tell you now. Its not.

The game throws in an RPG element where you can equip your army , synthesize new soldiers , select formations  , make weapons... That sort of thing.
Then throw in spells (miracles) - preformed by a combination of X presses [DON DODON DODON] and a rather challenging difficulty curve and you have yourself one hell of an addictive and visually stunning yet challenging game , the latter of which certainly seems to be a rarity in this day and age.
I got it last night and played it until 2am , then played it on the bus this morning , some before morning class , some during lunchtime , some on the bus home... etc.

This is a work of genius , and to top it off its portable (and small to fit on a Memory stick - 350mb ISO or 250mb CSO)
Deserves a Meng seal of Approval , but as i havent made this in photoshop yet - this'll have to do.