by Sam Kennedy 09/17/2005
You're not going to believe me when I say this, but Loco Roco, a unique little gem of a game tucked away in Sony's booth was by far my favorite title at this year's Tokyo Game Show. It's not often you come across something so brilliantly simple that can immediately capture your attention like this. Dare I say it, Loco Roco may just well be this year's Katamari Damacy. It's that cool.
A platformer at its core, Loco Roco is controlled in a unique way: by pressing the L and R triggers, you can tilt the landscape in either direction. Since your character is a liquid blob, he'll slide in whichever direction you tilt things. Also, by pressing both the L & R triggers together simultaneously, your blob will jump into the air to reach new platforms or areas. Occasionally, you'll also have the option to break into smaller blobs (to squeeze through a small space, for instance), of which you rejoin when finished clearing an area. And that right there is about the extent of the game's controls and gameplay. On the surface it's a completely basic game, but once you start playing you realize how addictive it really is.
The object of the game is to make your way through each stage with the biggest blob possible, but with lots of obstacles along the way, it's not an easy task. For example, if your blob hits a spike ball, pieces of it will break off. It's up to you then to make sure that these pieces don't get away before you can envelop them back into your main blob.
What also sets Loco Roco apart are its distinct visuals -- there's quite literally nothing like it out on the market. It's hard to describe -- it's as if you're interacting with a completely fluid painting that's overflowing with color, and the screen moves in and out depending on your location. Your blobs are perhaps somewhat akin to Pikmin; simple but with plenty of personality. You really need to take a peek at the first screenshot to get a sense for how it really looks.
The icing on the cake though, is a soundtrack featuring lounge music that couldn't be more perfectly matched to the game. It actually reminds me of some of the tunes found in Katamari.
After playing the game today, I felt inclined to show it to everyone else I knew -- and every single person that tried it was equally impressed. It's one of those titles that's just easy to pick up and play at any time (perfect for the PSP), and it's quickly becoming the sleeper hit of the show.
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