Patapon first of the name has a unique concept, widely acclaimed by critics when it was released in 2008: it is a semi-turn-based RPG whose gameplay revolves entirely around... your sense of rhythm. For this second opus released a year later, still developed by Pyramid and still produced by the Japanese studio of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the basics remain unchanged. To tell the truth, even more than a decade later, the sauce still takes just as well: it must be said that we have here a small pearl of originality whose fundamental principle is not likely to age immediately.
ON THE PATAPON OF AVIGNON
Thus, you, the player, embody the God of the Patapons. This tribe of small beings both wild and downright friendly are recognizable among a thousand: unique eye, impeccably round shape, undeniable courage and, above all, unfailing musical allegiance. As supreme ruler, you will have to guide your troops through 2D levels strewn with pitfalls: to make them advance, attack, defend themselves or perform magic spells, you will have to use… a drum. Literally. By combining the round, cross, square and triangle keys in rhythm, it is possible to constitute the actions aroused while forming a real constant and evolving music, increasing the statistics if held and respected. 
Don't lie to us, the gameplay is always amusingly original which, yes, always hits the mark and deepens durably thanks to the rich RPG aspect. As the adventure progresses, the mechanics slowly become more complex with the arrival of new members within the Patapons: if the standard-bearer, the Hatapon, is a man who must be protected under pain of losing the game, the big arm Robopon, the magician Mahopon or the aerial Toripon also come to dig the gameplay. Above all, we have to equip our Patapons with the items gleaned during the various missions, to raise them in level, to form relevant teams according to the levels and the bosses to face... and all this requires long hours of 'application.
T'AS DEAD CA CHAKA
If Patapon 2 is even more complete than its predecessor, it also manages to impose at least as much general good humor by its simplistic (but very pictorial) artistic direction, its watered-down dialogues as by its catchy soundtrack. Going to dig into many cultures, the rhythm, the songs and other warlike sound effects bring us back to these battles that we imagined to be small or that we materialized with next to nothing in the playgrounds. A small happiness which, nevertheless, did not necessarily receive the deserved treatment in this Remastered edition. Certainly, a 4K smoothing is present but several cutscenes are neglected (for an unknown reason) and... particularly runny. 
Then, it would have been relevant to adjust the size of the menus and other interfaces, always adapted to the ratio of the PSP and, inevitably, abnormally large on a television in 2020. Another misdeed of the port, the amputation of the multiplayer function which, used to just allow co-op play (and that was a fun bonus, frankly). In itself, Patapon 2 is and will remain the best opus of the saga, solid as a rock and which has still lost none of its mischief, or even its charm. In itself, we can therefore advise you happily: be careful, however, its remastering is not small onions… and it is necessarily a bit disappointing.
