Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Patapon 2 brings back rhythm and action to the PSP. You play as Kami, the god of a tribe of simple geometric shapes armed with weapons looking for Earth End. The gameplay revolves around tapping out simple drum beats to command your army of Patapon towards their goal. With a mix of RPG, real-time strategy and action elements, the sequel to last year's surprise hit expands upon what the first game built.

What's Hot
The first Patapon was an unlikely game. There were so many working parts that needed to be orchestrated that it seemed Patapon was going to be one of those artsy games with flawed gameplay. It wasn't the case in the least bit, and Patapon gained praise for its freshness, originality and personality. Patapon 2 hits the digital shelves with the same quirky gameplay, only this time there is more to love.

Outfitting your tribe and creating new Patapons was always somewhat of a guessing game. There wasn't an elegant way of knowing what was going to happen when you threw your collected items in the pot and stirred it up. Patapon 2 lets you evolve Patapon after they are "born" in addition to upgrading their weapons. The side benefit is that it opens up a new level of strategy, because the branching evolution map will grant your Patapon different powers depending on what path you take.

Patapon 2 retains the maverick style and gameplay as its predecessor. This time the bumps from have been smoothed out considerably for an overall more enjoyable experience. It feels there is better direction on what you can do and what you have to do this time around. Tapping the rhythms needed to order commands is more forgiving this time around by offering a second chance to get back on the beat. Other tiny improvements amount to a more user friendly experience.



The most important new feature in Patapon 2 is the inclusion of the Hero Patapon. The Hero is the battle leader of your tribe and will deal some massive damage to enemy crabs (and whatever else stands in your way). These Heroes are hard to kill and have special abilities when you burst into "Fever Mode." They are vital to your success in any given mission and add more pata-diversity to your standard tribe.

What's Not
Patapon 2 tweaks and adds on to the foundation the original Patapon paved. At times, you'll feel that Patapon 2 will be overly familiar when you are out hunting or relearning rhythm commands. The level environments aren't too terribly different from the last game and the simple color pallet isn't as visually arresting as it was the first time.

For the life of us, we can't figure out why you are unable to pause the game mid-mission. It wasn't a function in the first game and it is more glaring this time around. There were a number of times we had to put down the game for a few minutes only to put the PSP in sleep mode versus a quick pause.

Final Word
It'll be interesting to see how well Patapon 2 does by being a totally downloadable game. Hands down, this is a much better game than the original Patapon by leaps and bounds. A game like this is niche enough that fans will seek it out on the PSN and reasonable enough that gamers curious to try something new and exciting will find as a gem. Patapon 2 is an easy game to recommend because it is much fun to play and infectiously happy.