Patapon 1+2 Replay was provided by Bandai Namco for review. Thank you!
When I think back to the PSP era, there are multiple different titles that come to my mind that defined the system. While I think of classics like Crisis Core, Dissidia, and Peace Walker, Patapon is quite possibly the only one I never got a chance to experience personally. The game was constantly shown off as a staple of the device, and I had always been curious what the game was like, and now with Patapon 1+2 Replay, I finally had the chance to. Now, after playing through, I can see why it was so highly regarded.
Patapon 1+2 Replay is a re-release of the first two games in the Patapon series with some minor changes. The actual games themselves have not been changed, apart from higher resolution support, but it does have some new quality of life features like being able to change the difficulty for each game, adjust the timing of button presses, and keep all of your commands that you can issue showing on screen. They are small changes, but quite nice to have. Bringing up the list of commands while playing by pressing the Select button is a nice touch, and I used it when I took breaks from playing and came back, forgetting the command to block.
Outside of these changes, there isn't much new added to the games, so returning players may not find much reason to come back. New players will find a lot to love here, and it's definitely a great way to experience these games, but there isn't much new here for those who have played them before.
At its core, the Patapon games are all about rhythm. You guide these little eyeball creatures while fighting enemies, hunting for food, taking down bosses, and tearing down buildings to complete each level using different commands. The commands are activated by pressing one of four buttons to the rhythm of the beat, with different patterns telling your Patapon to do different things. This can be as simple as moving forward or attacking, or get a little more complicated, like making them jump and charging up energy for the next attack.
This is where the core gameplay gets really enticing. Deciding which command to use in the moment can determine whether you complete the level or not. Choosing when to move forward, when to defend, and when to attack will determine whether you kill the boss or get the buffalo that can give you meat that you need for your Patapon army. On top of that, it all has to go to the beat of the music, which adds a new level of strategy and focus. Putting it all together makes for an extremely addictive gameplay loop that I found hard to stop. Putting together more successful commands one after another can also land us in Fever Mode, which can enhance your commands and triple your attack damage.
Speaking of the music, it's just such a bop. I was moving my head and feet to the beat the entire time, and I loved it. It made inputting the commands significantly easier as well, since I felt in tune with the beat. The game emphasizes each of the four commands as different drum beats, which all make distinct sounds, yet fuse into the overall beat to make the song much more enjoyable to listen to and influence.
It's a very basic gameplay loop and simple controls, really only needing four buttons to play through the levels, but it works extremely well. There were some levels where it lasted a little longer than I expected, and I did get confused when trying to progress through different levels due to a lack of explanation, but I ended up figuring it out. The levels you play through may have different elements to pay attention to, and some can be easily missed if you don't think to look.
As you play through, there are different gear and items that can drop from enemies. The Patapon army can be customized and enhanced with new units and equipment, making them more powerful, and finding the best combination of units to go out with. On top of that, each unit can evolve and become more powerful individually. In Patapon 1, this will depend on the items you use to create them, while Patapon 2 has an Evolution Map. The grinding in Patapon 1 to get the items and money to craft can be a little obnoxious, but I like the system overall.
Outside of the missions, there isn't much to do. There are some mini-games and replayable missions here and there, but I didn't find much motivation to continue experimenting with new Patapon and grinding for better equipment after completing the game. The gameplay to get to the end is worth playing through, and I really enjoyed experimenting and customizing my army during the campaign, but I wasn't feeling excited to keep going afterwards.
I do enjoy the visual style of both games. The contrasting, vibrant colors pop on the OLED screen, and the simple contrasting colors help everything stand out that needs to. The simplistic visuals work wonders for this type of game.
As expected, Patapon 1+2 Replay is a perfect fit for the Steam Deck, and it's quite possibly the best way to play it on PC. With the originals releasing on the PSP, it's a no-brainer that it just feels the best on a portable device, and the Deck is the way to go. Without any changes, the game sticks around 6.5W battery drain on average, giving us 8+ hours of battery life on the Steam Deck OLED. For those who just want to play, you can jump in with no worries, but there are some ways to make the experience better.
The game defaults to turning off Anti-Aliasing, MSAA, and keeping render scale at 100%. While the game is very playable this way, you can turn everything on the highest possible settings with render scale at 200% and get an average battery drain of 8W. This does bring down the battery life from 8 hours to around 6.5, but this is still a large amount of battery life for a better-looking image. Turning on one or two of these options can bring the battery drain up to 7 - 7.5W, so if you want to turn them on, you may as well turn them all on.
Since the visual changes are small, I decided to just leave it with the default settings. Turning them on does make the Patapon a bit smoother around the edges, but it isn't enough to make me feel like it's an essential change. Still, there's no wrong way to play, and it will be an amazing experience no matter what. I also want to commend Bandai Namco for adding the in-game actions to Steam Input to make it easy to change the bindings around. The game is rated Playable for showing incorrect controller icons, and due to how the game is structured, I would say it's accurate. It is still very playable, but the Playable rating makes sense here:
You can change each individual game level difficulty, input timing, and master volume, but that's about all the options you have in the settings.
The game doesn't support 16:10 resolutions, but it does have controller and cloud save support. There are no HDR settings.
Patapon 1+2 Replay is a great compilation of two of the best PSP games to release on the console. The combination of rhythm and strategy to command your Patapon army is a joy, and the music is so addictive. It can feel a little grindy at times, but the army and equipment customization and evolving your Patapons are a lot of fun. There isn't much new for those who have played Patapon 1 and 2 before, but for those who haven't, this is a great way to experience these classics.
The games also run extremely well on the Steam Deck, even with all the quality settings turned to the max. It feels right at home on the Deck with a 6.5 - 8 hour battery life, and I can't see myself playing it any other way.
このレビューはPC版に基づいています。
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Patapon 1+2 Replay is a great way to experience the PSP classics, and it runs great on the Steam Deck, though there isn't much new to bring back veteran players.
You mentioned Steam Input,but I need to ask regarding "I also want to commend Bandai Namco for adding the in-game actions to Steam Input to make it easy to change the bindings around"
...is it actually Game Actions or "Button Inputs disguised as Game Actions"?
It's very possible they are just disguised since the sounds and such are all linked to a specific button already. But since they are under the Game Actions category in Steam Input and the default controller has different Action Sets for in-game and menu controls, I give them the benefit of the doubt.