Developed/Published by: Japan Studio / Sony Computer Entertainment
Released: June 23rd, 2006
Completed: 28th August, 2015
Completion: Beat all the levels. Didn’t collect everything though.
Trophies / Achievements: n/a
LocoRoco is… I think this is illuminating. When I started working on Sound Shapes, I can’t remember how it came up, but I remember LocoRoco came up. Because I’d played, like, one world of it and hated it so much I put it down. In a conversation with Jess Mak, we agreed LocoRoco was an example of how not to do interesting/whimsical level design. Why?
Well, the game is about collecting 20 berries, while also finding three “Mui Mui” (wee guys that give you new LocoRoco house parts) and, if you want, collecting Pickories (coins, basically) and/or doing the level as fast as possible.The thing is though, 90% of these collectables, even the main ones, berries, are totally hidden. Not in a “this wall has a crack on it” way but in a Wolfenstein 3D-style “rub yourself against fucking everything bashing the space bar” way. There’s absolutely no joy in LocoRoco’s level design. It’s just horrible. Basically, everywhere you go you have to try all walls and potentially every bouncy pad or whatever to explore every single space of the screen or level you can. And, to make things better, levels are often designed so you can miss something and not be able to backtrack, usually by falling into a lower part of the level, or just straight up being moved to another part of the level via a feature (some blowing wind, or something.) With the “tilt the world” controls (you don’t control your LocoRoco directly) this is maddening—not to mention the enemies/spikes, who easily strip off your gained berry-weight in a way that, again, can never be fixed. You have to finish levels perfectly.
Getting to the end of a level with 20 berries is, if not impossible, so unfair that it’s just absolutely hateful. So, going back to this because I was like “man, I have a lot of PSP games” (and I just bought some more) I tried to play it properly for a while but just gave up and roasted through the levels as quickly as possible. And if you do that, they’re utterly dull!
Never play this.
Will I ever play it again? Fuck no, plus will never touch any sequel with a barge pole.
Final Thought: LocoRoco… it’s supposed to be really charming, you know? Like, you just like being with the LocoRoco, so wobbling through the levels is fun, really taking your time and “playing” around with the tilting. But it’s just frustrating and shit. If you want to play a charming Japan Studio game on PSP, it’s got to be Patchwork Heroes.
