Looking at the screenshots you'll probably think that this game was designed and made by a 5 year-old, it could be but it's genius. It's fantastically simple as all you have to do is guide your LocoRocos (the wierd smiley-faced ball things) to the end of the level by tilting the landscape while collecting fruit and other items. Lots of games fail because of their complex controls but in LocoRoco you only use 3 buttons (unless you want to take a picture of what's happening on screen with select), you use L and R to tilt the environment and holding them both together then releasing them makes the little bundles of fun jump into the air. By eating fruit you grow in size with a maximum of 20 LocoRocos each level so occasionally you press circle to split them up to fit through smaller gaps and then you hold circle again to put them back together. After a little while you'll master it, rolling and bouncing with incredible precision to each platform and avoiding the evil mojas. Wonderfully simple. As you progress new ways of getting around are introduced like air currents and trampolines. Even the material changes spongy one minute icy the next, this allows you to do different things as on some you can jump higher than usual whereas on some you can barely jump at all, the ice allows you to slide and if you get enough momentum get to a higher ledge. One of the best touches though is the inhabitants of the worlds, the best is some dozing creatures that block your path so you split them up and your little guys begin to sing to him but he'll only wake up if you're group is big enough. A problem though is the mojas-the invaders of the LocoRoco's worlds, get caught by one and they'll nab a locoroco from you're ball and you can't get it back ruining the chance of you getting 20/20 on the level but you can kill them by bouncing into them. There are smaller ones that just weigh you down and a few bigger ones that act like bosses who take a few hits to kill. There are plenty of sub-goals to complete like eating flies and finding the locorocos' friends the MuiMuis. These miniature waving figures are often well-hidden along with a host of other things. On your first play through a level you'll only find a handful of these items as some fruit and MuiMuis are concealed, in fact whole areas of levels are unnoticeable, there's even hidden areas inside hidden areas. There is only slight bumps in the landscape to show you where the secret tunnels or rooms are. There is a variety of LocoRocos but these just mean a different colour and a different voice for the brilliantly catchy tunes. There's lots of mini-games as well but most are boring apart from one where you get to design your own level and test it, you get lots of objects depending on how well you do in the main game and if you have them all it's superb as you tinker with your masterpieces of levels. Also something has to be said about the graphics they may look like a 5 year-old's pictures but ooze the charm of the rest of the game and are fabulous. The game is easy to finish but hard to complete with all the hidden passageways and fruit. Most of the levels only take a few minutes to finish which makes this game a truly portable game. Graphics 8 Sound 10 Lifespan 8 Gameplay 9 The charm and simplicity makes this a brilliant game and the short levels make this a superb on-the-go game but will last a while in the long run.
Fun, Fun, Fun! That's what you get from LocoRoco, yes fun, countless hours of fun in the palm of your hand. When I played LocoRoco first I was stressed after a hard day at school and it's amazing, after just 15minutes I ... Read Full Review
The first thing that comes full bore at you when you start this game is the radiant level of cuteness it presents. The little blobs you control are cute. They talk and sing cute. The music is cute. The jelly-like physics... Read Full Review
