LOCOROCO 2

It’s a common misconception that fat things are jolly, but one that the relentlessly rotund and cheerful LocoRocos do little to dispel. It’s impossible to play LocoRoco 2 and avoid smiling, singing along and laughing. It’s one of the happiest pieces of software ever released, constantly throwing tunes, trinkets and new tricks at the player simply to amuse them.

And for LocoRoco, there is no higher purpose than simple amusement. The visuals are as exceptionally stylised as those of the first game: flat slices of colour, free of textures, cram into every millimetre of the PSP’s screen, filling out the collection of bizarre creatures and weird environmental features that make up LocoRoco’s world. It’s all completely coconuts, of course, but as you fight off angry bees, bop big-eyed monkeys from their trees and collect a ‘Yummy Nut’ it becomes clear that LocoRoco 2 has the kind of skewed humour that works.

“Egads! Mojas on a rampage!” is a typical introduction to a new stage, and what more, really, needs to be said? The levels are varied and stuffed with hidden treats and features, the best of which is the ability for your LocoRocos to enter certain balls or bricks and use them as makeshift transport to crash, roll or bounce through certain sections. Each location is themed and the highlights – including a brilliantly realised water level (with a diddy pirate ship) and a reprise of the first game’s intestinal jaunt (the owner of which stands up halfway through, tilting the entire level) – make the best possible use of your squishy, slidey blob’s abilities.

Other additions see the LocoRocos’ singing incorporated into a fairly basic note-matching game, which is more compulsive than it should be thanks entirely to the irresistible music. Once again the audio team has done an inspired job of mixing poppy background music with joyful chants and tribal basslines. Though headphones are necessary to get the most out of it, it’s splendid stuff, enhanced even further by the fact that certain sections of the soundtrack are remixed according to the colour of LocoRoco you’re controlling.

It can’t all be sunshine, however, and LocoRoco 2’s weaker moments of design often spring from the same charm. The wobbly blancmange body of your LocoRoco doesn’t lend itself to precision platforming so, as with the first game, the decision to up the challenge by placing fruit in places that demand near-pixel-perfect bouncing is frustrating. The locations are also largely one-way, meaning that backtracking is often a case of restarting the level. You’ll never feel the urge to throw your PSP through a window, but it’s clear there are certain games that work better as an experience than a collecting challenge.

This also makes it harder to defend those moments when LocoRoco 2 decides it does simply want to be a rollercoaster, leaving you twiddling while the little globules blithely zip around one of its many airways or thin tunnels. These sections look great, and there’s real invention in the gadgets, pistons and toys that whip you around. They’re also fairly frequent, and a little more restraint would have gone a long way.

So for all that LocoRoco 2 is an improvement over its predecessor, these problems are carried over. Arguably they were the only things seriously wrong with LocoRoco in the first place, and while this sequel’s certainly a refinement, it’s not any kind of great evolution for the series. Equally, only one other game is as effortlessly distinctive as LocoRoco 2 – so if you missed the bandwagon first time around, now might be the time to jump aboard.

7/10