Patapon 3 is Broken

It's no secret I'm a big fan of the Patapon series. In fact, there was a time I would've readily said that if Sony just kept on making Patapon games, I'd keep buying them.

Then came Patapon 3, and now I'm not sure anymore.

You see, Patapon 3 is broken -- so much so, in fact, that it pains me to even think of this game as belonging to the innovative franchise.

From the overall gameplay experience, it feels as if the creative team were at odds with one another in terms of their individual vision for what the game should be. Yes, they started out by keeping the game's underlying conceit: the rhythm-based control scheme, the tongue-in-cheek tribal warfare, the stylish graphics that made the original game a winner. But they decided that they wanted the game to be more like an RPG, and thus introduced a convoluted system of leveling up the party, their abilities, and their weapons that can only be accomplished by so much mindless grinding. On top of this, they also decided that they wanted multiplayer to be a large component of the game, with the effect of reducing the tribe from as much as fifteen to a paltry four. Above all else, it seems they also wanted the game to be more challenging, as evidenced by the sudden spikes in difficulty that will leave even the most patient of players flummoxed.

In short: Patapon 3 takes everything that was fun and charming and simple about Patapon and turns it into a game that is frustrating, tired, and painfully complex.

It's a shame, really. Like many fans, I was eager to find out if the Patapons' adventures would lead them to Gaze upon It at Earthend. The answer to that question lies at the end of Patapon 3 -- but getting there, I'm sorry to say, is so disappointing an experience that I'm afraid one's time can be better spent elsewhere.

Patapon is dead. Long live Patapon.