I don’t own a PSP but I had some time to play with my friend’s and I got to try LocoRoco which came out this September. From the beginning, the game oozes cuteness as the titular character is a yellow blob with a smiling face. The goal is to roll around each level, collect flower buds, and rescue MuiMuis. Each level contains 20 flower buds and each time you get one, your LocoRoco grows: the goal is to get all 20 in 1 level while rescuing all the MuiMuis. So how do you control LocoRoco? You use left and right triggers to rotate the world, which causes the friendly blob to roll. Pressing both at the same time will make it jump. And if you grow too big to fit in tight spots, quick press on O will make your LocoRoco disintegrate and a long hold on O will put it back together.

Surprisingly enough, there’s a storyline to this game. Apparently the planet of LocoRocos is under attack by Moja and it’s up to the player to battle the forces of evil by… rolling around and collecting flower buds. As you can plainly see, the depth of the storyline and character development take second-place to the art direction and the charm of this game.

Everything in this game is overly cute: from the incredibly upbeat soundtrack to the cute noises your LocoRoco makes it’s happy time for everyone involved. Except after playing a couple of levels, I realized this game isn’t all it’s reputed to be. It’s incredibly easy and boring as all you do is roll around. Of course there are different levels with different art styles but they all play the same way. It was fun for awhile controlling your own yellow cute blob and listen to it chirp and sing along, but that’s all there is to this game.

Great art direction, unique gameplay and easy controls don’t make LocoRoco a great game. Its first impressions are positive, but only children will be able to enjoy it to the end as monotonous gameplay will deter everyone else.

Rating: Â (1.5 out of 5)