LocoRoco Remastered

Other than the poor quality of the cutscenes, LocoRoco is filled with oodles of charm, a soundtrack that delights, and the most adorable characters in any game ever. There’s no escaping the happiness you feel when playing LocoRoco.

It may come as a surprise to some, but the PlayStation Portable was a hugely successful console for Sony, especially in Japan, selling over 80 million units worldwide during its 10-year lifespan and across its several iterations. The PSP played host to several great Sony exclusives and first-party titles and LocoRoco was one of them. And late last year, Sony announced that LocoRoco along with PlayStation classic PaRappa the Rapper and another PSP-exclusive, Patapon, were getting remastered versions for the PS4, with LocoRoco Remastered being the second one to release.

Whether we really needed a remaster of an 11-year-old Japanese PSP game is debatable, but we’re elated Sony decided to update one of the platform’s greatest hits nonetheless. LocoRoco Remastered brings the joyful 2D side-scroller (or side-roller, if you will) to a whole new audience, and the best news is that its still as fun and infectiously cheerful over a decade later.

I’m glad LocoRoco is back, even if it isn’t as perfect as I remember it being when it first released 11 years ago. This remaster adds tilt controls, 4K/HD graphics, rumble, and surround sound, all for a reasonable price. If you’ve never played LocoRoco and you love cute games, now is the time. Those looking for a challenging game that will last them till the next big AAA release will want to look elsewhere.

With heavy hitters like Horizon, Nioh, Yakuza 0, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, there’s no shortage of fantastic exclusives on PlayStation 4 this year. That said, Sony continues to galvanise this lineup with a stalwart range of remasters. As with PaRappa, LocoRoco hasn’t been idly slapped together – there’s a thoughtfulness and diligence there, preserving the original look and feel of the game in a way modern audiences can now appreciate.

All in all, this game is definitely not made for children as they would easily get frustrated by the puzzles and traps in this game. It’s a puzzle platforming game at its core and if you just want to waste some time then this game is for you. But if you get frustrated easily with platforming then I suggest you look elsewhere. It’s a fun game and there were times I couldn’t take myself away from it even thought I felt ridiculous listening to the nonsensible music. Even then, it’s a mesmerizing game and it’s a fun take on puzzle platforming. Now I need to find a way to get rid of this music that...