Review: Loco Roco Cocoreccho!
From the announcement of the “interactive screen saver” that is Loco Roco Cocoreccho!, I was instantly confused about this game. First off, it is a real game. Don’t misconstrue that cryptic description. The object of the game is to collect sleeping loco rocos as they travel clockwise around the various laps of the level.
The game begins with a lone loco roco as it wakes up on a teeter totter being held my a little black mui mui. Whenever you see the mui muis, you can control them with the sixaxis controls by shaking or tilting the controller. Also, shaking the sixaxis at different parts of the level will allow you to interact with different limbs, flowers, and geisers around the stage. As you dump your first loco roco into the water, the game begins and it bounces happily to the shore to start the game. A butterfly flies down to greet the loco roco and that’s how the player influences the happy little blobs.
Essentially you don’t actively control them, you influence them by flying where you would like them to go, and hold down the circle button to guide them along. Holding down the circle button expands a circle of influence around the butterfly, so whenever the locos are within the circle, they will go where you tell them.. As soon as you let go of the circle button, the blobs turn their attention to making their laps around the stage. The loco rocos will travel on their own accord through the level until you tell them to do something.
Tapping the circle button will make the rocos try harder to go where you tell them. For instance, if you set the butterfly on the other side of a gap and tap the circle button furiously, they will quickly jump in that direction. If you want them to reach a higher ledge, simply set the butterfly above the ledge and tap the circle button, making the circle of influence touch them at the very bottom edge of the circle. The locos will look at you as their hair shakes back and forth, and start to build a totem pole of rocos. It’s hysterical to watch the little blobs try to jump on top of each other, often missing and toppling the tower. Once the last one reaches the top, it will jump straight up.
The game is one huge stage, comprised of several laps for the loco rocos to travel along. Periodically there are gates controlled by the mui muis that allows you to access the other laps of the game. Once you close a gate, there is a loco roco quantity requirement posted on a flag beside the gate. After catching enough locos, the gate will open, granting you access to another lap. This system works really well, because if meet the loco roco requirement and close a gate, you don’t have to wait around to see if the rocos will all get to the gate. As long as there are no obstructions in their lap, the rocos will eventually gather at the gate and it will open when the requirement is met.
The graphics are bright and cheerful, as you would expect from this game. You can’t help but smile and giggle along with the locos as they bounce along the stage. Since the game is on a home console, it allowed the designers to create more intricate stages than seen in the previous iteration on the PSP. The camera will pan back when there is a huge contraption that the loco rocos are bouncing through, giving the player a better vantage point on the action.
The music is recycled from the original game with the main theme playing throughout the game. Various tunes are used for the three mini game s that appear and the boss stage, from the original also. In the original, each colored loco roco had a different voice, but you had to pick it at the beginning of the stage, and that one sang the whole time. Now that all of the colored loco rocos are included in one stage, each voice becomes part of the chorus, so the song is dynamically changing as the locos gather at different parts of the stage. You know something is up when you do not hear any music, so a quick fly around will uncover an awaiting mass of rocos, and the music kicks in with a joyous chorus.
While this game was nothing what I expected from a sequel to the screen-tilting Loco Roco on the PSP, it is a welcome edition to the series. This isn't a direct sequel, more like a side story from the original. The controls are not nearly as intuitive as the original, but the fun of the game is figuring it out as you play and laughing at the silly blobs. Loco Roco Cocoreccho! is only available on the PlayStation Network for $6.99, so don't go to your nearest GameStop and ask for it. You probably will just confuse the hell out of them, and cause a meltdown at GameStop master control.
Toots
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 29 September 2007
Other stuff like this: loco roco coreccho, playstation store, ps3
