To the uninitiated, that may read like little more than a line of random gibberish, but it’ll make perfect sense to someone who’s played Patapon.

The forlorn tribe of Patapons are best described as eyeballs with arms and legs. These once–mighty creatures have fallen on hard times and at the beginning of the game the player takes possession of a tribal drum; becoming their new God who, it is foretold, will lead them to the Promised Land.

From the first time it was shown, Patapon’s presentation and punchy visual style was one of its biggest assets in grabbing people’s attention and it remains strong throughout the course of the game. The bright colour–palette makes a striking contrast with the deep blacks of the character designs. Like vector–art brought to life, the whole game oozes an air of simplicity that hasn’t been used to such charming effect since LocoRoco.

There is no direct control over the Patapons, but by pressing the shape buttons on the PSP, the player uses the drum to tap out a rhythm and issue commands. Once the corresponding drum has been unlocked, each button produces a different sound and combining these 4/4 beats orders the Patapons to advance, attack, defend or retreat. The concept is simple and the command patterns are made easier to remember by their staggered introduction. Because there are only a handful of main commands, the player will become very familiar with them – to the point where they become ingrained upon the brain. However, the initial stages can prove frustrating due to the odd decision not to give the player the retreat command early on – meaning some of the battles are extremely difficult." Once this is obtained, things certainly become a lot easier, with the player able to attack and retreat in waves.

As you would expect from a rhythm game, the music plays a crucial part, and Patapon is unconventional in its approach. Heavy, tribal drum–beats combined with instruments like bagpipes and Spanish guitars are mixed with a dollop of the same childish, exuberant chanting found in LocoRoco. It manages to blend perfectly, and, even though you get the feeling it should really have ended up as a noisy cacophony, there’s at least one tune or sequence that’s guaranteed to get lodged in your brain.

Keeping up the rhythm whips the Patapons into a frenzy and eventually puts them in “Fever mode”: increasing their attack power and also allowing the player to use special JuJu charms. This, in turn, triggers a sequence where the player must match the chants of the Patapons with the right beat. Depending on the charm equipped at the time, this has a temporary effect on the environment. For example, it can cause rain storms which can be used to dampen a scorching desert heat and enable the Patapons to cross, or reverse strong winds which are blowing your Patapons’ arrows backwards. Fever becomes increasingly vital as the game progresses, but for some reason the developers felt the need to exclude a pause function; particularly annoying for a portable title and especially when missing beats causes the Fever meter to reset.

Players will need to make full use of each drum command to ensure their outnumbered Patapons survive against enemies which become much more aggressive. These range from the Zigaton tribe (evil creatures similar to the Patapons), through to huge Dragons, Sand Worms, giant Crabs and even Zigaton castles and war machines. The game keeps enemies varied and players will need to determine what units and tactics work best against each.

New Patapon types are awarded as the game progresses, with basic warriors upgrading to spear throwers, archers, horse riders and eventually the Patapons’ own war machines. Each unit can be fleshed out with a set number of Patapons, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, archers are great for long–range attacks, but useless in close–combat; meanwhile horse riders are powerful and difficult to hit, but require a good sense of rhythm to maintain the Fever bar. This means relying on one troop–type and tactic will result in defeat, so a mixture is essential. The game doesn’t make this easy, since troop selections can only be made before starting a stage. In some cases you’re given very little idea of the types of enemy to be faced, and this means a player may need to fail the level at least once to get a flavour for how best to proceed. Thankfully, defeated Patapons can be restored easily at the end of a level by collecting their dropped headdresses, and total defeat returns the player back to their Patapon camp where they can simply try again.

The heart of the game is rhythm–based, but there’s also a twist: a very strong element of item management and levelling up. Starting out with the basic black-and-white Patapons, defeated enemies drop new equipment, some of which can be used to inflict more damage, while others increase defence against attacks. Thankfully, the game has an ‘optimise’ option for each unit, which will result in it equipping the best items automatically; making things a lot simpler.

There’s also an element of management to the Patapon birthing process (the system used to bolster the ranks of your army). By spending ‘Ker-ching’ (the game’s currency) and incorporating items like rocks, meat or vegetables during the birthing process, different coloured Patapons are born. Combinations of items create different Patapons with properties such as fire– or ice–resistance, while using more powerful or rare items results in them having greater strength or more hit points. Because units can only hold a set amount of Patapons, upgrading is a fiddly process if units are already full. The player can dismiss existing members to make room, but this is a long, drawn out process of switching between screens and pressing buttons; it would have benefitted greatly from being simplified. Some aspects of the birthing process can also be drawn out: special Patapons have to travel the full length of the Patapon camp before you can use them.

Certain stages are also hunting levels where you take your party of Patapons to hunt for items and food. This involves getting close enough to strike creatures without scaring them off. Thankfully, hunting levels and boss fights can be replayed over and over, so players can stock up on items and Ker-ching as much as they need. However, this element of level grinding can get repetitive. On a positive note, being able to use JuJu to change some hunting plains does add an element of experimentation, which keeps things interesting.

During certain stages additional skilled Patapons are unlocked that produce items which can be used in birthing. These take the form of musical mini-games, such as: playing the trumpet with a singing tree, chiming on the toes of a giant mountain baby, chopping food to the beat to feed a giant pot and tending to a rather excitable lady plant.

All the management elements are deeply ingrained within the game and the player who tries to ignore them does so at their own peril. Instead of weighing down the game, they actually help keep things varied.

Patapon is one of the PSP’s more original and interesting titles of late. The combination of the Patapons themselves, the game’s pleasing visuals and the whole thing being a lot deeper than it first appears, means PSP owners once again have a legitimate reason to switch on their system.