LocoRoco: Crazy for LocoRoco
Company: Sony Interactive Entertainment America
LocoRoco was one of Sony's downloadable trials at this year's E3. I recently got a chance to get a bit more of an in-depth look at this new title. Like other "crazy Japanese games" (i.e. Katamari, Cooking Mama...), LocoRoco has a very different graphical and gameplay style. In this new odd-ball title, you are a planet that is filled with tons of little creatures, called LocoRoco, and they roll around your surface. When an invading race, the Mojas, appears on you and starts eating away your friends, you must tilt and shake all of the little ones into safe havens all the while avoiding the spiky black beings that like to eat your inhabitants.
As you roll the LocoRocos around, you will try to collect red flower buds with them. With each bud you collect, you will add a new LocoRoco to your collection. In order to get by certain enemies or obstacles you will have to split up the creature into smaller ones and other times, most of the time it seems, you will want them to group back together into one giant LocoRoco to make it easier to maneuver them. The demo of LocoRoco had obstacles like gears that you had to separate your creatures into individual LocoRocos in order to slip between the gears as well as small tunnels that can only fit one LocoRoco at a time through.
Along with the Red Buds, there are also various other fruits and collectibles to pick up along the way. Some of these collectibles have to be coaxed out of bushes by rolling back and forth over them. The 2D-style gameplay of LocoRoco uses the shoulder buttons to tilt the level left and right and by holding down both buttons and letting go, the ground shakes and it causes the LocoRocos to "jump". Combine the jumping with the ability to tilt the ground under them while they are in the air and you can get the little buggers into some pretty hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.
Like I said above, LocoRoco looks like it will be another one of those unusual games that will take off. Look for this title to hit the shelves in early September, and keep an eye out for it because I have a feeling it will be worth the wait.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Related Links: LocoRoco -- Official Site LocoRoco -- Flash Demo
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