This is Patapolis!

Having not played anything worth while on my PSP for well over a year, I was inspired by Tom Chick's adulation of Patapon 2 to pick up a copy. Luckily it was marked at £19.99 in GAME, however, they were having a sale on PSP games and it come in at a rather remarkable price of £9.99.

I was intrigued by the way it was claimed that the game married a 2d side scrolling Real Time Strategy game with a rhythmn action game. Before playing the game, I couldn't imagine how it worked. After an hour or so in the game, I can honestly say that "they've only gone and done it Rodney!". The Marriage is a success, so far!



As a person who chokes back a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye, when any rousing beat is played to marching armies.... having the ability to play "war drums" to command your small eyeball troops really does fuel your growing excitement in the game.

As you match the drum patterns with the 4/4 timer, pata-pata-pata-pon, your troops begin to gingerly move forward checking for danger ahead, pata-pata-pata-pon, they start to pick up the pace, until your third combo, pata-pata-pata-pon, has them blustering forward with gusto and momentum, singing proud and jubilant. You spy an advancing enemy coming in from the right of the screen. Its time to pound the drums of war! PON-PON-PATA-PON! Your troops taking up arms with grimaces on their eyeball faces they begin their attack, PON-PON-PATA-PON!, thrusting spear and sword, tossing javelin and axe, PON-PON-PATA-PON! again your drumbeat combo has them in a kill frenzy. The music and chanting, drumming and caterwauling from your troops, some of them leaping into the air with bloodlust is an envigorating sight to behold, I must confess.

The more you advance in the game, the more troops you can specialise, and tweak your army's content and formation. Recruiting new troops in, collecting resources as your march and hack and slash your way through each level. Pounding down walls, and raising towers and barracks with flame and poision, accompanied by the backbeat of your triumphant hammering on the Patapon drums. If you have an ounce of interest in conflict and rhythm, then you'll love this game. Tinkering with your troops, and mixing in your battlefield commands using tempo and timing, is a reward in itself. If you miss a beat, or drop the momentum, your troops will sigh and calm, and sluggishly lose their morale. So timing is everything. And I can almost guarentee that the beat of war will have you tapping your feet, nodding your head, and on some occasions have you positively dancing with elation.

The level of intensity the game presents to you, requires a lot of focus, but for brief sessions at a time, so you can safely participate in the game in bursts of pure enjoyment. Its not quite the battle of Thermophylae, but its marching to the beat of the Patapolis phalanx..

Memorable Game Music

The first in-game music that I remember totally gripped me, and more or less turned me into a PC Gamer who decided game music had enough credibility to be listened to out of game was the soundtrack to Anarchy Online. It wasn't just ambient space music, it actually had recognisable melody and quite pacey sections too.



Other more traditional fantasy based games and console titles that have haunting or memorable music that I still play nowadays are:

Diablo 2 (PC)
Dragons Blood (Dreamcast)
Divine Divinity (PC)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC)
Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast)
Primal (PS2)
Sled Storm (PSX)
Zone of the Enders (PS2)
XGRA (XBox)
Flow (PS3)
Snakeball (PS3)
Two Worlds (PC)
The Witcher (PC)
Mass Effect (360,PC)

Basically a lot of game music tends to be background ambient or orchestral, but very few actually affect you in an emotional way, in a way that you become familiar and attached to the music and the excitement tied up with playing the game.

Oh, and I remember being enchanted and disturbed at the same time by the music out of the PC title "The 7th Guest" many moons ago, and I often think I hear snippets of other music that sound like it. Spooky.

Allies vs Axis - AKA Plants vs Zombies

Whilst playing through Popcap's Plants vs Zombies, I can't help but think about how many "serious" gamers might be turned off by the overtly low res cartoon graphics (that admittedly do lend the game its "charm" and artistic style).


Imagine if you will a more dark and gritty implementation, still with stylised art, but less colourful, loony and throwaway. Perhaps take the art style of a game such as Disciples for instance, or for the wargamer sub in Allies vs Axis (with Sunflowers being supply trucks, and peashooters Artillery guns, and walnuts entrenched soldier fortifications) and then the game may cross more boundaries and not be taken as a cutesy casual game.

As it is, I like the game very much, I think the game has a lot of depth, yet it presents its depth as frivolity. Which works on one level. But, I feel, boiling down the mechanic and tweaking it for a real time (but abstracted) conflict in more "mature" settings would elevate it in the global strategy community.

It seems as an all round gamer (with a job, family and responsiblities), who delves into casual abstractions (sometimes distractions) as much as console stalwarts and nitpicking niche strategy titles, I yearn for more credible casual titles, condensed "quicker play" games that have great game mechanics, but don't need the rainbow of the fat brushed primary palette nor the cutesy cartoon art style to appeal to the so called "casual space".

I guess ultimately what I want is a more abstracted almost boardgame mechanic that is often applied to casual games, but with the mature artistic flair and appeal of full blown titles, rather than the "fisher price" glitz and glam of a traditional Reflexive/Popcap title.

I suppose I should make it clear that I am virtually in love with the game Plants Vs Zombies, and would urge people to snap it up and gorge themselves on it now. I even find the viral marketing they did beforehand charming to some extent, and I "get" the jokes they present during the game. I just think it would make me more happy if the game was presented more credibly rather than as a bit of a joke. Stacked up against Stalin Vs the Martians, PvZ blows them out of the water, with tangleweed.

UKGamer lifts off!

It's time our 15 year old mailing list community had their own blog.

Spelk but with no added Sugar!

Demon's Souls: Multiplayer Rant

I think its time for a rant.

I love the game. But the online component is getting to me a bit.

1) theres quite a faff about to get a co-op game sorted

• a) you have to be a revived human to draw others into your game, if you want this, you have to have recently killed a Demon, and not died. Easier said than done in this game.
• b ) you have to have your friends in a soul level range +-10 from your main, revived character.. and you have to tell them somehow which unmarked summon point in which level area to meet up.
• c) they have to all be in phantom form to join your game, and be within 10 levels and be at the same place
• d) you can't talk to them within game, easily.
• e) you take them through the level, they get nothing but a share of the souls, you get everything loot wise and a share of the souls
• f) If the die, they're booted. If you die, they're all booted. Repeat and rinse the whole getting together scenario, only this time, your a phantom, and you'll have to wait till one of your mates beats a demon boss to be revived to invite you.

2) PUGs are easy to join

• a) You can pick up virtually anyone, if your alive, and they drop their stone somewhere you can find.
• b ) Most players rush through the levels without thought or concern about you
• c) Most players seemed to be tooled up to the bollocks whilst you're a level 6 ranger with a pissy scimitar
• d) If you die you're booted, if they die, you're booted. The only way to relay any thoughts or feelings is by a ratings scale which is artbitrary to say the least. Most rank you S or A, unless they didn't like what you did, then they rank you D.
• e) If you summon someone into a game, but you've cleared quite a few of the nasties, then you're dragging them along just for the boss ride... I unintentionally did this, and on the way to the boss the guy charged out and got himself killed, so he got no souls reward, and he didn't make it to the part of the level where we could have faced enemies together, let alone have a stab at the boss. With a die once, and you're out policy its very harsh on the summoned player.

3) Black Phantoms are a pain

• a) If you're a revived human, you've managed to summon two other phantoms into your team, with all the buggery pokery that that involves, and then a Black Phantom invades your game, stalks you, and takes you out, thus kicking the other players.. you then have to try and be summoned into a co-op game, or beat a demon boss to get to the point where you left off, before this Black Phantom griefer turned up.
• b ) You can sometimes hear them coming, but most of the time, they're beefed up "evil" teens, who take you in a hit or two. No level playing field, just added threat, to a game that already exudes threat and loss, particularly in the online game.

So, as a single player game with some "Fable 2 like" ghosts and shadows its great, the messages are a cool idea, the limited death replays are cool. But as a multiplayer game it lacks presistancy between the party assembled, the forming of a party requires quite a hefty starting price, that can be lost so very easily, the joining of a co-op game as a phantom results in little rewards apart from shared souls.. but if you make it to the end and the boss fight, you can then host your own co-op game and draw upon other souls. However, there is always the persistance danger that a Black Phantom will turn up and mess it all up for everyone involved. Theres no method of direct communication, and the party assembled is disbanded if the host dies, and any invited phantom who dies is lost forever. But you can pin a more or less meaningless rating upon that player that will affect their co-op game uptake in the future.

As a single player game and an action RPG with top notch twitch based strategic control, and an artistic bent that ICO itself would be proud of, its brilliant, and well worth the extra 20 quid for import. As an online multiplayer game, it lacks features severely and what it does provide it does badly (compared with most multiplayer co-operative and competitive console games out there)...

Ok, rant over.

I've been approaching the game as a bit of a single player workout for a multiplayer game, but I see now its a single player game with tiny multiplayer novelties. I think I've been coming at it from the wrong angle.

I would say, in its defence, its one of the best single player action RPG's I've ever played... and I've played a bucketload of those.

And the cool multiplayer ideas (the player marked comment system, seeing brief ghosts of others playing, and the blood pool replays), do add to the game - but if you put multiplayer in, and then leave out the basics like communication and party persistance, it gets frustrating to those of us who play a hell of a lot of co-operative multiplayer in both console titles and MMO's. Fable 2 had similar co-op multiplayer novelties, and I didn't get to play much satisfying multiplayer in that also. So for DS, its a bit of a shame. Because if it was setup a bit more robust, or even a bit more like Phantasy Star Online (which had textual communication and party mechanics for four people), I could see me being sucked into this game's multiplayer for months on end.

Perhaps the problem is its an niche game only being marketed to Asia, and I'm judging it against Western multiplayer standards?

Demon's Souls

I cannot praise this game highly enough. Its an action RPG by the FROM SOFTWARE people, that really captures twitch combat, and strategy, along with quite a harsh progression, that ups the stakes and makes it even more tense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon%27s_Souls

Its not available to America or Europe at the moment, but can be imported (as the Asian copy has full English text and audio)

You can import it at Renchi
http://www.renchi.com/renchi/PS3_Games_Asia_Demon_s_Souls_AS.htm

Anyway, the key features to the game that make it stand out

* A detailed fantasy "twitch" combat mechanism that just feels right (without remembering strings of combo's), melee, magic and ranged combat all covered.
* Huge multi-pathed levels, that open up shortcuts and exploratory mechanisms of getting around.. some of the parts to a level require actual thought and strategy to get through without dying.. this isn't a chug a health potion diablo game, you need to use the right weapon, time shield blocks, backstabs etc..
* Impressive bosses, with an array of tactics required to take them down
* Online co-op and PvP capability
* Looks absolutely gorgeous, and captures mood and lighting very well, with some stunning set pieces as you fight your way through

Anyway, the unique features are that you play in one of two modes, either as alive, or as a soul, destined to slay demons to revive yourself. As a soul, you'll only have a smaller percentage of your original health. As you play through your single player levels, you'll see ghosts of other players souls online flash by you, for a brief moment, other players can etch ectoplasmic messages so you get tiny twitter style hints and tips (or misinformation from evil players), you'll also see pools of blood where other players have died, and by activating them you can watch their death moments as a ghost figure, so these can give you a warning of trouble ahead. Once you're into the game and have earned your soulstones, as an alive player, you can pick up bluestones and summon the phantoms of other players into your game, and they can help you get through the levels and beat the boss. You collect the souls throughout the level and share it with them.. If they beat the boss, they are then revived back to alive status. If you are a soul, you can lay your bluestone down and other players can summon you to their game.. its quite a unique mechanism for online play. After a level you can rate a player, and their ratings are shown with their bluestone, before you summon them. One thing though, as an alive player, with other phantoms in your game, you can have black phantoms (PvP players) break into your world, and hunt you and your players down!

The game has quite a harsh death mechanism, in that you respawn at the beginning of the level, and remember these levels are huge, and you have to battle everything again. You also lose your current stash of souls collected, but you can return to your blood pool and retrieve these - if you make it that far. You also have some wera and tear on your armour. However, because of this, you will tread very carefully, because getting to the boss is the ultimate aim of the level, but even then you're not secured a win, and so the penalty is just enough to make it very tense, but although frustrating at times, you can make progress, over time, if you shift your tactics, if something is not working and is getting you killed.

Overall, the game is outstanding. And if you're serious about your RPG's and you have a PS3 this is a must grab title. Its a shame its not out over here at the moment, and it comes in a little expensive on import - about 60quid in total for me (but that was with delivery that had it to me in 5 days from Hong Kong).

It mechanism reminds me very much of Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast, with its central Nexus and multilayered levels and impressive end bosses.. its just so much more intense, and so much more strategic.. and the combat plays out brilliantly. Top Marks. I was worried about the harsh death penalty, but this is so good, it doesn't feel like a penalty at times it just feels like a tactical lesson.