Harmonix is a developer that has been working on music games since the early 2000s.  Titles like Frequency and Amplitude weren’t as widely known as most other PS2 titles, but they paved the way for Harmonix’s more successful later titles which include the original Guitar Hero I & II, Rock Band, and their upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band.

Rock Band Unplugged is Harmonix’s fray into the handheld gaming market.  The art style, graphics, and tunes are reminiscent of a full fledged Rock Band game, but the concern of most gamers were how the controls would work on the PSP.  Do music-based games only succeed if you have a plastic guitar in your hand, or could they possibly work with a more traditional control scheme?

When you first turn on Rock Band Unplugged, players will be amazed by how well Harmonix adapted the Rock Band experience onto the PSP.  The sights and sounds we all come to love from Rock Band are all there.  In fact, the game seems like it’s more of an adaptation to Rock Band 2 than the original Rock Band.  This would seem like the more logical choice as Rock Band 2 offered a number of improvements over the original title, one example would be the listing of individual difficulties to their respective instruments when selecting a song.

In the console versions of Rock Band, you would create your own character and have them perform with whatever instrument you’d like.  Even though your character was part of a band, the player’s focus for new clothes, instruments, and style was only prioritized to your character.  In Rock Band Unplugged, since the gameplay has you playing through all of the individual instruments, you create a band and upgrade them whenever you think they need a new look.  The amount of customization is nearly identical to the console version.  Hair, clothes, and instruments can all be upgraded in Rock Band Unplugged.

As I briefly mentioned earlier, Rock Band Unplugged has you playing guitar, bass, drums and vocals all at once.  This might sound overwhelming to most people, but the way Haromix handled it will keep your sanity in check.  The game has you playing particular phrases of a song.  When you complete a phrase, the entire track will auto-play for a certain amount of time.  This allows you to switch to another track using the R/L shoulder buttons to complete another phrase from another instrument.  As you’re playing, you can hear instruments going in and out from the song, which is a reminder that you need to switch over to that track to try to finish the phrase.  If one of your instruments fails, the section of that song will be completely removed from the track until you can either save the instrument by using star power or finish the song.

During gameplay, players will notice the music focusing on particular instrument tracks you’re currently playing (ex: when you are playing the vocal track, that track will be louder than the rest).  I found this to be helpful as singling out your track from the rest can really help you follow along to the rhythm, which is vital to being able to play it amidst all of the other tracks.  The controls are also pretty easy to get a grasp of, although it might take most people a couple of play sessions to get a feel for the button layout for each required note.  Once you pass the learning curve, you might shock yourself on how quickly you can play the notes.

I was surprised to find that Rock Band Unplugged doesn’t include any multiplayer whatsoever.  Rock Band & Rock Band 2 are party focused titles, so I would have assumed Unplugged would have allowed for some kind of multiplayer, if not online, then at least locally.  The exclusion of multiplayer by no means makes this a less than worthy game.  I just feel it really would have been the icing that is already a quite impressive cake.

Harmonix did include an extra game mode called “Band Survival”.  In this gametype, you play all of the tracks to a song at the same time.  Completing a phrase to auto-play a track is completely removed in this mode, so the player needs to balance all of the tracks at the same time.  This can be quite a challenge as it forces you to constantly keep an eye on the fail-meter located at the top-left of the screen to keep all of your tracks within a safe level of play.

FINAL THOUGHT: Rock Band Unplugged might be as addictive, or even more addictive than its console counterparts. With it’s easy to grasp gameplay mechanics and great choice of fun song titles to play to, it deserves as much attention as any other music game out on the market.  The only thing that felt like it was missing was multiplayer, but it’s still a solid title without it.

8/10

Related posts:

1. Rock Band Unplugged Rocks Your World In June! When we found out this past February that Rock...
2. Review: The Beatles: Rock Band In Oct. 2008, Harmonix revealed a bomb-shell of an...
3. Rock Band Unplugged Full Setlist Revealed & First DLC Tracks Let’s see.  Rock Band Unplugged is only a couple...

For the first time on the PSP, a Resident Evil game is being made specifically for the system.  Resident Evil Portable is currently in development by Capcom and is expected to be released next year.

Related posts:

1. Biohazard in Japan, Resident Evil in US Some of you knew that Resident Evil was named...
2. Versus Mode DLC Delayed for Resident Evil 5 Capcom’s upcoming DLC “Versus mode” for RE5 was supposed...
3. Capcom Releasing Classic Collection On PSN Tomorrow; Classic PSone Titles Incoming Have you ever wished you could pull out your...

Let’s see.  Rock Band Unplugged is only a couple of weeks away from being released.  If past experiences with any music based game has taught me anything, it’s that we should be given the complete setlist for the game right…about…NOW!

2000s

AFI – “Miss Murder” *
All-American Rejects – “Move Along”
Audioslave – “Gasoline” *
Black Tide – “Show Me the Way” *
Freezepop – “Less Talk More Rokk” *
Jimmy Eat World – “The Middle”
The Killers – “Mr. Brightside”

Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth”
Lamb of God – “Laid to Rest”
Modest Mouse – “Float On”
Queens of the Stone Age – “3’s and 7’s”
System of a Down – “Chop Suey!”
Tenacious D – “Rock Your Socks” *

1990s

3 Doors Down – “Kryptonite” *
Alice in Chains – “Would?” *
Blink 182 – “What’s My Age Again” *
Foo Fighters – “Everlong”
Judas Priest – “Painkiller”
Lit – “My Own Worst Enemy”
Lush – “De-Luxe”
Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “Where’d You Go?”
Nine Inch Nails – “The Perfect Drug”

Nirvana – “Drain You”
The Offspring – “Come Out and Play (Keep ‘em Separated)”
Pearl Jam – “Alive”
Smashing Pumpkins – “Today”
Social Distortion – “I Was Wrong”
Soundgarden – “Spoonman”
Weezer – “Buddy Holly”

1980s

Billy Idol – “White Wedding Part 1″
Bon Jovi – “Livin’ on a Prayer”
Dead Kennedys – “Holiday in Cambodia”

Motörhead – “Ace of Spades”
The Police – “Message in a Bottle”
Siouxsie & the Banshees – “The Killing Jar”

1970s

Boston – “More Than a Feeling”
Jackson 5 – “ABC” *
Jethro Tull – “Aqualung”

Kansas – “Carry on Wayward Son
Rush – “The Trees”

1960s

The Who – “Pinball Wizard”

As for the DLC, here’s the first 10 tracks you can expect to download on June 9th when Rock Band Unplugged is released:

• 30 Seconds to Mars “The Kill”
• Belly “Feed the Tree”
• Disturbed “Inside the Fire”
• Lynyrd Skynyrd “Gimme Three Steps”
• Muse “Hysteria”
• Mute Math “Typical”
• No Doubt “Just a Girl”
• Oasis “Wonderwall”
• Paramore “Crushcrushcrush”
• Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”

Related posts:

1. PSP Review: Rock Band Unplugged Harmonix is a developer that has been working on...
2. 15 New Tracks Revealed For The Beatles: Rock Band MTV Games and Harmonix today announced 15 new tracks...
3. Rock Band Unplugged Rocks Your World In June! When we found out this past February that Rock...

The sounds of war are once again emanating from the world of Patapon. This time, the Patapon have journeyed from their home, across the majestic sea only to be attacked by a kraken. The kraken defeats the Patapon, leaving them to wash ashore onto an unfamiliar land. During their journey, they’ll fight large enemies, go up against mysterious tribes, and they’ll do it all to the sounds of the war drums.

The question is: Will this journey be any fun?

Patapon 2 is a music-based strategy game where the player issues commands to their units by playing a specific beat.  To issue a “March Forward” command, you would need to press Square, Square, Square, Circle (or a PATA PATA PATA PON command).  To issue an attack command, Circle, Circle, Square, Circle is the set of beats necessary.  There are a number of commands the player will learn during the game, some of which require to dig up jujus.  Jujus are power-ups players can equip their army with in order to perform miracles.  Is your adventure taking you across a hot desert?  So hot that it’s damaging your units?  Simply perform the rain juju and you’ll be able to cross the desert without a problem.

The game is forgiving if you’re not exactly on time with the beat.  Although, the more precise you’re on the beat, the more combos you’ll get, and the quicker you’ll be able to trigger FEVER mode.  In FEVER mode, your Patapons’ attack and defense are raised.  If you plan on making the most out of the FEVER mode, you’ll need to be precise with your key presses as the game warns you when you are slightly off beat.  If you are able to match the following beat precisely, you’ll continue in FEVER mode.  If not, then you’ll lose your FEVER mode and you’ll then need to build up your combos again.

One major difference between the original game and Patapon 2 is the ability to create a more diverse army.  You can create Patapons that can be spearrmen, archers, or even big, hulking Patapons that are made for all out offense.  You are then able to upgrade your units up to level 5 in their current role, but you can also evolve the Patapon unit into more diverse Patapon units by way of the evolution map.  These further evolved units vary in their strengths and weaknesses, so the player needs to be wise with their decision on how to upgrade their Patapons as you cannot retract the resources you spend to evolve your Patapons.  Patapon 2 also introduces the Hero character, which can take the form of any class you have successfully researched in the game.  The Hero also has a special attack that can be triggered if you time your commands perfectly four consecutive times.  It may be a little tricky to perform the hero’s special attack, but it became easier for me the longer I played the game.

You equip your units with new armor and weapons as you progress through the game. You can either mix and match any armor and weapon, or you can let the game do the work for you and allow it to optimize your units.  I found the game was more rewarding when I took the time to upgrade all of my units personally, but it’s good that the game allows both casual and hardcore players to make the most of their experience.

You would think a game whose focus is based on rhythm-based inputs would have an amazing soundtrack, right? Well, consider that another great thing about Patapon 2.  The game’s music really brings you into the game. The Patapons’ also respond to the rhythm of the music with chanting and sometimes singing.  You can begin to understand what is going to happen or what just occurred simply by their singing queues.  Another addition I enjoyed was at the beginning of a stage, you are told the name of the map and the name of the song playing in the background.  There have been times that I actually became excited seeing a battle I was about to take part in would have one of my favorite tracks playing, which would then help me in battle.

Patapon 2 also introduces a multiplayer mode, which allows you to take your Hero character and play with up to 4 people locally.  It would have been great if the game had online multiplayer, as finding anyone within your local vicinity with a copy of Patapon 2 could pose more of a challenge than the actual multiplayer component.  When you do find someone with Patapon 2, the experience could be mixed as playing with someone in your imediate vicinity can pose a challenge if everyone is playing without headphones.  Hearing the different beats aside from yours can be a bit distracting.  If everyone plays with headphones, then you’re playing with your friends but aren’t able to share in the experience as you’re so focused on the game.

FINAL WORD: Patapon 2 is a fine sequel to an already amazingly unique experience.  The gameplay mechanics, graphics, and soundtrack have held true to the original game’s style, which is what makes both games not only fantastic works of art, but they’re fun, interactive works of art.

8.5/10

Related posts:

1. PSP Review: Rock Band Unplugged Harmonix is a developer that has been working on...
2. Review: Guitar Hero 5 Last year’s Guitar Hero: World Tour was a huge...
3. Review: Dissidia: Final Fantasy Title: Dissidia: Final Fantasy Platform: PlayStation Portable (PSP) Developer:...