LocoRoco

D'you know what? Growing up is a funny thing. As we grow we are able to do more in life; smoking, drinking, clubbing, that kind of thing. But as we grow older, we are also expected to stop various aspects of our lives. For example, wearing no clothes on the beach or urinating in public will probably result in a very serious telling off by some very serious people. We are expected to do things properly, seriously, and maturely.

Maturity is the part of growing up that sucks. Who wants to be mature when you can run around topless kicking a football, yelling profanities at passers by shortly before eating your weight in chocolate bars? No one, that's who. Growing up is the easy bit - it's staying young enough to enjoy it that's harder.

But every now and then, something comes along that slaps you around the face and says "Hey, you know what? Cheer up, life's good!". LocoRoco is one of these things.
It was originally published on the internet as a downloadable demo for the PSP. You downloaded it, uploaded it, then launched through a demonstration level which showed off the simple controls and pretty 2D graphics. A bog basic 2D cell-shaded game generally generates little or no interest in the computer gaming world. XIII was a good game, but it was in full 3D and was a shoot-'em-up, a popular genre in any case. This is where LocoRoco breaks the mould instantly. This isn't a shooter. It isn't a driving game or racer, a seriously over used platform for the PSP. I wouldn't even class it as a platformer, or even a puzzle game. The blurb on the back of the case describes it as an "adventure" but even that doesn't seem to quite fit. I would give it a whole new genre: Happy.

The first thing that hits you is how overwhelmingly Japanese it is. Seriously, there is no doubt in your mind about where this game originates from. The pretty Japanese graphics look great in the opening CG movie, fitting the cheery music well and explaining the simple story nicely.

Speaking of the story, if you're looking for a gripping tale of woe then you're in the wrong place.

The initial appeal of LocoRoco comes from the simplicity. Excluding the menu navigation, you use only three buttons on the PSP; L, R, and O. This works well with the even simpler concept of gameplay. All you need to do is tilt the land, guiding the little LocoRocos through various obstacles, past enemies, and into little LocoRoco houses at the end of each level. L and R controls the tilting, and pressing the two together makes the planet give a little bump, launching the LocoRocos into the air in a small jump. The circle button splits the LocoRoco into smaller LocoRocos, and then bring them back together when you want to.

Since each level begins with a single tiny LocoRoco, you need to make them bigger by tracking down magical Berries that grow on plants throughout the level. Each level can give a total of 19 berries, making 20 LocoRocos you control at one time. They generally travel as a group, or one giant LocoRoco, but when split you need to keep track of all the little critters. Along the way, you must avoid the Moja troops and spiked Burrs, along with any other enemies, but you get help from various colourful characters too. The Mui Mui are always ready to help by unlocking mini games and parts for your "LocoRoco house" (more on that later) whilst the Chuppa sucks you into its large snout before firing you in the direction of your choice. Then there are strange owl creatures, which chew your LocoRoco before spitting them out in one of several new shapes. Of course, every game needs some kind of pick-up, and this comes in the form of Pickories. These tiny little insects come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours, and provide you with a kind of currency to spend on the mini games.

These are only the main characters and creatures that you will meet throughout the game though. The LocoRoco are very popular little guys, and are helped out by large colourful worms, big sleeping giants, and even by the sun and moon! Again, they give you extras to put in your house, and must all be found to provide perfect scores.
The enemies take various forms. The Moja are genuinely scary creatures, appearing out of nowhere whilst your terrified LocoRoco cries "Moja! Moja!" before trying to pick them off. There are also small green birds that throw Burrs at you, and reptile moles underground that grab a LocoRoco before devouring them underground!

By now you might have guessed that I love the graphics in this game. Everything is so vibrant and alive! The backgrounds are fully animated, all the characters are attractive and colourful, and the LocoRoco themselves.... well, I could watch them all day as they hop about, singing along to their favorite songs. There are plenty of nice little touches too, such as squishy land which bounces and moves as the LocoRoco roll along it, giant hands which carefully pinch the side of the LocoRoco before throwing them across the land, and wheels which spin and turn as the LocoRoco roll through them. It's very hypnotizing to watch. The LocoRoco themselves are nicely designed too. When grouped up as one large LocoRoco it sings along to the background song, with its little mouth perfectly matching the words. But when they're split they really come into their own. Each LocoRoco is automatically given a part to sing to, and when there are three LocoRoco singing the main lyrics (which are not in a "real" language - more on that later) whilst four are singing back up, with a lone LocoRoco doing the solo, you really can't help but laugh at the adorable looks on their faces. On top of this, if left alone for a few seconds they bounce on top of each other making little piles, and their eyes follow each other about as they smile and sing.
There are little movies to watch as well, generally when the LocoRoco are singing or being eaten alive by giant animals.

The songs themselves are genius! Written in a language made up by the producers of the game and sung by decent voice actors, each of the six colours of LocoRoco (yellow, pink, red, blue, black and green) has its own accent and voice. This is particularly funny with the red, which seems to have a Japanese accent, or the black which has a very rock-style song and a suitable gruff voice. The voices get a little annoying sometimes - I mean, when they start crying and moaning when you're bringing them together you'll end up gritting your teeth - but on a whole the LocoRoco are very charming and likeable. The baddies are well done too. Indeed, the Moja are almost scary as they flap their long dreadlock style wings and fly towards you, taking a big bite and tearing away one of your LocoRoco. And that's the thing, you genuinely feel guilty when one of them dies. You grow so attached watching them jump about that you feel rather remorseful when you lead one to their doom.

The levels themselves are beautifully crafted. There are a massive variety of levels, fifty in all; some see you sliding through wintry wonderlands, others see you navigating rushing rivers and dark forests. Some even see you trying to find your way out of an animal! Each level has its own special characteristics, and every level has its own secret rooms, breakable ledges, and hidden Berries. There are also plenty of parts where you can watch the split LocoRoco falling down long chutes, being split up and separated whilst falling through cogs and rotating fans. It's kind of hard to explain, but very beautiful and an excellent touch. Certain parts of the level can only be reached when special goals are achieved. For example, one level needs you to launch a beach ball into round holes causing secret trap doors to swing open. However, the levels do get fairly repetitive, since the gameplay is the same throughout. The story isn't particularly engrossing, and there's no real boss encounters to shout about. The difficulty curve is somewhat brutal at times, but on the whole it's a rather easy game. And yet...

And yet you keep coming back for more. Indeed, I beat the game within 24 hours, but still keep going back to find more Mui Mui, collect all Berries and find as many Pickories as possible. For some reason, watching their cute little antics brings a smile to your face. There are a couple of mini games thrown in for good measure though. Mui Mui Crane lets you spend a few Pickories to try and collect more items for your house. Chuppa Chuppa Golf is a tricky game of skill, where for a few Pickories you can attempt to win more, as well as yet more items. And finally, there is a level editor and a "house editor", where you use items found or won to create a world for your little LocoRocos. These mini games are unlocked gradually by collecting Mui Mui, and they also add new features such as new music to choose from in the house, or a new layout to select.

The level and house editor were the two features that actually excited me the most, but they are a bit of a let down. Sure, they pass a few minutes or even an hour if you really stick at it, but limited options ruin it slightly. Since you can't place items so they overlap, any level would be very hard to complete and the houses are only really worthwhile if you don't feel like moving the LocoRoco yourself. The controls to layout the level are easy enough - basically it's drag and drop - meaning that it's not long before you can watch the little guys dancing and hopping about, spinning through cogs and wheels before doing it all over again. You can win extra LocoRocos in the mini games, so that you can watch the antics of several critters at once.

You can see that the game is packed with features. On top of the mini games and the vast amount of things to do in the houses, you can take screenshots in game to upload onto a computer or view in an album. You could even send them to a friend! Which brings me onto an even more impressive feature in this game - you can send one of two demo levels to a friend to let them play the game! The demo levels do not appear in the world map, and are especially long and tricky. It is, of course, a very blatant and deliberate advertisement, but it works very well and should be done more often.

So what do you do once you've beaten the game? The mini games are good fun and a nice way to spend a few Pickories. The real replay value comes in the levels themselves. To totally complete the game, there are forty levels to collect 20 LocoRoco in. That is 800 in total, making it 760 berries to collect. This, along with roughly 200 Mui Mui and parts to find, makes each level a real challenge to explore. I won't even attempt to calculate how many Pickories there are! All this means that 100% freaks will feel right at home.

All in all, I guess what I am trying to say is this game is well worth buying. For someone with a PSP who fancies something different to a racing game this should be number one on their list of things to buy. A small disk loaded with happy? Who wouldn't want that? Ignore the childish Japanese graphics - man up, grab the box, and pay for it. You won't regret it.