Ratatan Review – Banging the drum

Back in 2007, thousands of PSPs around the world sang out to the sound of the Patapon. These one-eyed, spindly little warmongers loved a good drum beat and joined Sony’s array of poster children from the era, earning rave reviews and spawning two much-improved sequels. And then… well, nothing. Sony’s experimental era petered out, Japan Studio was consumed by other in-house teams, and the Patapon’s drums fell silent.

That clearly created a void in original designer Hiroyuki Kotani, and in the last few years he set about creating a spiritual successor, leaning on the same rhythm-based game dynamics and updating them for modern platforms and modern sensibilities. Ratatan is the result, a Patapon-like that draws in obvious Roguelike inspirations, while you attempt to lead a roiling mass of wayward warriors across the screen to the beat of a drum. If you’re a fan of Patapon, it’s quite a moment, while newcomers will hopefully be drawn in by the bright, crisp visuals, the addictive action, and a soundtrack so catchy you can hear it when you go to sleep.

So, just like Patapon, you’re pressing a series of different button combinations in time with the music – here with a handy timing chart running across the bottom of the screen – which give your troops the central instruction to fall in line, attack, defend, or retreat, until you expand your repertoire to include special moves that can decimate your foes.

One key difference is the direct control you have over your Ratatan – a glorious little Pied Piper-like dude – making you both the drummer and the choreographer of this jolly little dance of death, while you try to physically dodge and weave projectiles and enemies in the midst of it everything else. That can mean that Ratatan feels even more chaotic than its forebears, and it takes some amount of time to add a further spinning plate to the mix. It does work though, and once you’re locked in, there’s the sensation that they’ve meaningfully updated and improved on Patapon’s tried and tested gameplay.

While Ratatan wears its roguelike affiliation on its sleeve like a badge of honour, Patapon existed in a time before everything decided it was a roguelike. The thing is, Patapon already had some roguelike traits, with a central loop that revolved around repeated runs through the same levels, fighting the same bosses, all in the hope of hoovering up the right tree branch or rock to turn into an upgrade to make your way onward.

Ratatan retains that central premise, with you able to choose from eight different Ratatan, who lead your Cobul troops across the same levels, over and over again, building your inventory, experience and army, though with the added element of random upgrades to apply to your group.

This is where the fun begins. Fundamental upgrades improve your basic attacks and Technicals, with one of each to slot in, but you can build up a massive deck of upgrades, effects and special conditions that work alongside them. The key aim is to find the right kind of synergy, whether that’s focusing in on water attacks, with additional splash effects and damage, or finding out if mixing fire and ice conditions together will work. Sometimes, you’ll find yourself down a cul-de-sac, hitting a point where the upgrades you’ve lined up just don’t work, or equally you can find yourself romping through sections where you’d previously struggled, having had the luck and/or judgement to pull everything together.

Runs can go on for a while, and there can be some serious sense of familiarity, even when you’re in your latter stride and you can plough through the early levels in no time at all. That’s the nature of the beast, though, and with the random selection of upgrades, and the fact you’re unlocking even more as you go, there’s still plenty to explore and play with.

It helps that the core gameplay is just as fun, and just as addictive, as Patapon’s greatest moments ever were. Whether you think the music is as catchy, or the boss battles are as fun, will come down to personal preference, but having spent an eternity playing the original games, Ratatan strikes a great balance between improving and upgrading the visuals and gameplay systems, while keeping the core relatively unchanged. This is a modern take on Patapon, from some of the best minds to put that into practice.

I especially love the bright and vibrant visuals, and like the core upgrade materials of pink donuts and wrapped candy, there’s a sweet sugariness to everything here. It’s not twee or overwhelming, it’s playful and lighthearted, even as your delightful little troops fire a barrage of arrows at their adorable enemies. Occasionally it gets a bit hard to follow everything that’s happening on screen, especially when you’re playing in handheld, but it’s a minor niggle in an otherwise excellent package.

That said, I really wish the performance on Switch 2 was just a little more consistent. Transitions between areas can hitch, and the graphics just aren’t as sharp as they are in the PC version. While it doesn’t change the overarching experience, or the gameplay, I’ll be hoping for a couple of patches in the near future to take things up a notch.