Stuck in a Rut

If there's one crime the video game industry is supremely guilty of, it's selling sequel after sequel. The game industry is worse than Hollywood at trotting out familiar follow-ups instead of inventing new adventures.

Game Informer magazine recently ran a terrific story detailing how deeply game designers are stuck in this rut. But if you want to study the sequel trend, just glance at the latest top 10 lists of game sales and rentals.

There are only three nonsequels -- "Assassin's Creed," "Rock Band" and "Lost Odyssey" -- on the top 10 sales or rental lists. The other 17 of 20 top titles range from "Call of Duty 4" to "Devil May Cry 4," "Halo 3" and cynically "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games."

The reasons for these retreads are simple. Sequels sell well. They're often good games. And if they earn tons of money, game companies not only rake in cash, they can afford to invest that profit in making untried titles.

One of those new untried titles is "Patapon." The other week, I wrote a small, very positive preview of "Patapon" in this space.

But I think it deserves a fuller review. It's a somewhat extraordinary little achievement. It's finally on the market. And the Sony game bravely sails into the storm of sequels.

"Patapon" is receiving rave reviews universally, with credit going to designer Hiroyuki Kotani, art director Rolito, and a cadre of demanding game testers for Rolito/Interlink.

Yet it faces an uphill battle in the marketplace, just like recent new-name games such as "Katamari Demacy," "Pikmin" and "Psychonauts."

"Patapon" is crafty, creative and quirky fun that becomes increasingly difficult to beat. You play as the god of little warrior dudes whose bodies are stick figures, drawn in thick black lines. Their torsos contain one giant eye. At first, you merely hunt prairie animals with these guys, armed with swords, spears and hatchets.

As your battles continue, you build up money and armor to create more soldiers, topping out at about 18 warriors. That's the basic strategy.

But here's the cool, crazy part. To make your men move forward, attack or protect themselves with shields, you press a series of three buttons, which mimic three different drum sounds.

So your warriors sing a four-measure rhythm on their own, then you drum a four-measure rhythm in reply, and this seesaw of music empowers your army to fight or huddle into a protective circle. This call-and-response rhythm goes on for the entirety of each battle.

For a long time, I thought this song cycle would grate on my nerves until I'd quit, but it never pushed me over the edge. It's kind of a catchy tune to inspire you to slay dinosaurs, humongous crabs and dragons.

Most important, you are allowed to backtrack to previous battles to earn special magical skills, which you'll need to defeat the final bad bosses.

"Patapon" is a little wonder. It's perfectly paced and drawn. It's ingenious and intuitive. It's so good, I'm hoping it makes enough money for Sony to deem it necessary to create, sure, a sequel.

("Patapon" by Sony retails for $20 for PSP -- Plays addictively fun. Looks cool. Begins easy, becomes challenging. Rated "E." Four stars.)