Loco Roco review for PSP

With who knows how many demo versions, Loco Roco is the closest that Sony have (so far) to a signature identity for the PSP. Mario, Sonic, and now a bundle of wibbly jelly-like Loco Roco’s? Stranger things have happened. Anyway, Loco Roco is a platform game, but with a difference. Rather than a straight left/right/jump control system, you tilt the entire game world left or right with the shoulder buttons on the P. This causes the Loco Roco to roll aroudn the world - hit both shoulder buttons and he’s flicked into the air.

And that’s it for the control system. As easy as that. All you need to do is roll your Loco Roco around the world, finding up to twenty flowers on each level that will grow you to be the biggest Loco in the world. And then you make your way to the end of the level where you sing at a giant potato that seems to grow out the ground.

It sounds simple, but as with all ideas it’s easy to roar through each level to Mr Potato Head and see all the levels. GTetting a perfect 20 is going to take more exploring and more investigation thouhg, and a lot of replays of the levels. And that’s not the most riveting of ways to pass your time. Also, if you’re steaming through as fast as the tilt will take your little round Roco’s, you do get a feeling that you’re doing nothing more than watching a cool rooling demo of how good the programmers are.

This fine balance between boredom and automatic is Loco Roco’s biggest failing. If you can play in this zone, then you’ll love this cute Japanese inspired puzzle/platformer. For most people it’s a great pasttime for a handfull of levels and then gets repetitive. Best check out the downloadable and playable demo before buying the full UMD.

Tags: psp, game, reviews, loco roco, sony, platform, demo