There have been many rhythm games to come out in the past few years, but they’ve all just focused on the music. Elite Beat Agents made you dance to save the world; Dance Dance Revolution just made you dance. Wouldn’t it be nice if a rhythm game was just a tad more…creative? Well, Patapon has got to be one of the most creative games I’ve played in some time. Like the great chocolate-peanut butter and less filling-tastes great debates of the 70s, it’s hard to pigeonhole this game.

You definitely need rhythm to play the game but you also need to take strategy into consideration for combat in what could be considered an RPG. Hey, your rhythm game is in my turn based role playing game! It’s two great tastes that make a wonderful synergistic gaming experience!

Now that we’ve gotten the clichés out of the way, let’s talk store: you are the “Great Patapon,” the long lost leader of the…Patapons. Using your minions which include Yaripons (hunters with spears), Yumipons (warriors with bows and arrows) and Tatepons (defenders), you’ll need to use your drum beating abilities to order these characters to move and enter into combat against the Zigotons— the evil clan that took over the Patapons’ domain.

Instead of using the analog stick to move your characters around, you order them around by using a series of commands. The buttons on your PSP are drums, and each button is a command. So in order to move forward, you have to press square, square, square, circle; this command is known as “pata-pata-pata-pon.” The commands are given out in song and your warriors sing the song back.

The attack command; instead of circle, circle, square, circle becomes “pon-pon-pata-pon.” Remembering it as a song instead of a chain of button presses is genius. However, it’s not just about remembering the button presses; instead you also have to get the timing right with the music. If you don’t drum to the beat, the command won’t be accepted by the “pons.” In addition, by chaining the commands, you will stir the pons into a fever mode, which will increase the amount of damage they cause – miss one button press, and you’ll have to rebuild the chain to get back to fever mode.

There’s no doubt that you need to play this game in a quiet room or with headphones – it’s not for the hearing impaired as there’s no way to do anything without getting the timing right by listening to the music. The graphical style of the game is very impressive – it looks like paper cut outs that are straight out of a children’s picture book. The drawback is that as you defeat enemies, they usually drop items – some are very easy to figure out, like an improved bow…while others you’ll have no idea what they are until you finish the level. If you don’t finish the level, you don’t get to keep the merchandise, which is a bit frustrating.

When you see the Patapon map, you’ll think the game is pretty linear and you just have to progress from level to level…right up until you have to cross the desert and make it rain – to do so you need a rain idol. Good luck figuring out how to get the rain idol on your own! Here’s a hint: you’ll note at the map/mission select you’ll see certain stages have a “level” indicator – so the first time you beat this monster you think you’re done…but then it will say “level 2” and then you’ll beat the monster again, and then it will say “level 3”….but there’s no mention of this in the manual; instead one of the patapons, if you talk to them at the right time, will tell you to go back and replay missions.