One of the best games in the PSP catalog makes the leap to PS4 with a remastering loaded with rhythm, memories and content. Leg, leg, leg, pon.
Patapon is one of those sagas that unfortunately time has not treated as it should. Spearhead of the PSP catalog, nobody understood Patapon's absence in PlayStation Vita and it is still rare that more than a decade later, Sony has not yet found a way to resurrect the series. The only threat of the company has been the remastering of the first game and the one that concerns us today, Patapon 2 Remastered, but there are insufficient steps to waste the originality, talent and color that accompanies these little creatures with the appearance of an eye. In any case, we are very happy to have the opportunity to leave again in search of the end of the world. Maybe it's because it's been too long since anyone called us Supreme Leader. Maybe it's because we want to take advantage of the path to spread the Cholo Simeone's Amarrategui style (that is, the chaka, chaka, pata, pon de la vida). And surely it is due to the opportunity that this means to return to a wonderful title, full of memories. A game that the years do not pass and whose rhythm still resonates in our head.
During the first stages of the remastering it is very likely that the joy of hearing the voices of the Papuans again floods everything. His melodies have the power to invoke in our memory dozens of memories of when we played the original on PSP more than ten years ago. It is a very beautiful feeling and we will often ask ourselves what has happened to the saga and why we have never received a new Patapon. However, overcoming the initial euphoria we will begin to realize that in this edition things do not sound as good as they should. There are dull notes and bars that have disappeared from the score. Or said in a less poetic way, some contents are not up to par and there are important absences. The most bleeding of all is the multiplayer mode.
Goodbye to multiplayer mode
One of the few novelties that Patapon 2 included in its day with respect to the first was a cooperative mode for 4 players. His name was Paraget and it worked like boss rush, that is, it was a succession of levels in which we faced the 22 final bosses of the game with an extra bit of difficulty. These fights were unblocking as we advanced in the main story and in them each participant drove a single patapon, a hero (another of the additions that this second part brought). Although they all carried the same rhythm, each player could play their own gear, which offered unique combinations and strategies in this way. There was also a certain competitive factor because the one who best did it was rewarded and the phases were finished with a minigame that guaranteed pickets and laughter with our friends. Moments that we will not repeat in Patapon 2 Remastered because the game lacks multiplayer options.
The Paraget mode is still there, but now you can only play in the company of three patapon managed by the console. Their intelligence shines because of their absence and the level of challenge has skyrocketed. It is an option that has lost its grace and now only generates anger and headaches. It's a shame because the game would seem much more attractive if it included, not only online functions, but also a local cooperative mode. Instead of trimming content, an effort could have been made that would have compensated to invest in remastering. It is a strange decision because when it was launched in 2009, one of the great successes of the game was precisely that, playing with friends, to the point that his successor, Patapon 3, bet everything on the multiplayer and included games versus for 8 players. It's a shame, but with this precedent, a hypothetical third-party remaster doesn't invite you to be too optimistic.
Visual symphony
It is not the only problem of Patapon 2 Remastered. The cinematic sequences that tell the story of the game, however few, are not in high definition and are blurred and pixelated. They have been taken directly from the PSP version and it is obvious that they needed the odd technical touch-up. Moving from a four-inch screen to televisions over forty does not suit anyone. Fortunately they have the fingers of one hand. Kinematics aside, Patapon 2 Remastered is a visual delight whose resolution reaches 4K and its framerate 60 images per second. Of course, only in PlayStation 4 Pro. The common of mortals will have to settle for 1080p and the occasional pull, nothing alarming.
In general, the graphic section of the title, in two dimensions and minimalist aspect, had never looked better. The designs of the artist Rolito, authentic Supreme God of the patapon, are claimed once again with a new festival of colors, environments, climatic effects, troops and types of enemy. Sony's laptop had few such exuberant games at the artistic level. The amount of different characters and levels is overwhelming (of the latter there are more than 80, for example) and all of them are well differentiated, wasting charisma and personality. From time to time they sing a little some animations and menus, or the typography for the blind, but it is a type of aesthetic that has aged very well and that barely passes the years. It is difficult to take your eyes off the television, if not impossible in the final contests, when the fever mode is activated, there are dozens of units on screen, objects fly from one place to another, a storm roars in the sky and various constructions They fall apart. Patapon has always been visually powerful, attractive and genuine.
Without the mistakes of the previous remaster
Perhaps the last drawback we see in this version is the sound and the strange input lag of the remote. If you were one of the “lucky ones” who bought the remastering of the first outing, this probably sounds like something. In fact, we would not be surprised if it was one of the main reasons why three years have passed between one remaster and another. For those who do not remember the controversy, in Patapon Remastered the metronome that bordered the screen did not always correspond to the music and drum sounds that we marked with the remote took a while to take effect. The result was chilling because the saga has never been too simple and something like that ended up making it unplayable. These are titles in which rhythm and precision are very important and that nonsense caused many negative criticisms and the need for several updates. On laptop the different deliveries worked like a clock, but on desktop, although we don't know why, it has cost them a lot.
In Patapon 2 Remastered the situation is not as tragic as it was then, far from it, but if you look at it with an expert eye (and ear), sometimes you can still notice very slight divergences. You have to play the melodies faster than they sing and mark their bars, so at the beginning it will cost us to start. Luckily with the passing of the hours we will get used to that speed and act automatically, although it does not stop being bad. Above all we will be participants of such a problem in the mini-games, in which the tempo is changed, it is played by imitation and the thing is not too intuitive. In any case, this time is not serious and the truth is that you have to look to notice. You can enjoy from beginning to end and do not need the touch-ups of the previous one, for which it was advisable to wait several weeks before your purchase. However, between one thing and another, the truth is that the work is far from outstanding and slightly tarnishes the image of the franchise, which should precisely be unpolluted if you want to resurrect and return one day.
A timeless work
But even these remastering gaps are not able to overshadow the quality of Patapon 2. A memorable adventure full of content, for many the best in the series. The saga, more than ten years after its launch, has not lost an iota of its innovation and originality, as there have not been too many brave people who have dared to pick up their baton. Under the signature of Hiroyuki Kotani, Patapon dared to devise musical strategy ”, and today it is still a brilliant, surprising and highly recommended mix. At the time, this sequel promised to expand the original story by 200% and go if it succeeded. It contained all the biomes, troops, missions, miracles and mini-games of the first, duplicated them several times and added notable improvements, such as the figure of the hero, the warnings when we lose the compass in fever and the possibility of entering climax according to our ability and not according to the combo we are in. Patapon 2 Remastered has some must, yes, but as we said, despite them it is still a safe bet, the best way to get into the franchise and a game that can give us tens of hours of quality and fun.
CONCLUSION
Patapon is one of those games that give off its own light. A unique and inimitable title to which we will always be happy to return. This second part, for many the best in the series, doubled the contents and the benefits of the original, forcing us to play while we sang and always with a smile on our faces. It is still a torrent of energy that gives off good vibes and that is why it is still a very long, fun, varied, complete and deep game. This remastering is far from being perfect, but at least it raffles the collapse of the previous one. Although his treatment does not do justice to what the series deserves, so many years have passed, it gives off so much quality and we are so happy to see the patapon again that it is impossible not to enjoy it. Hopefully someday it will rain again deliveries of the saga, or in other words, don, dodon, dodon!
THE BEST
- Visually powerful, attractive and genuine. Now in 4K and 60 fps.
- Years do not pass by him. It is still a unique and wonderful game. Long, fun, original, deep innovative …
WORST
- Multiplayer functions have been removed.
- The kinematics are extracted directly from the PSP version.
- It is inexplicable, but as the first remaster, it has a bit of input lag.
Good
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, it has quality and does not present serious failures, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
