LocoRoco Cocoreccho Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 28 September, 2007

Interactive screensaver my foot.

Version tested: PlayStation 3

LocoRoco Cocoreccho might just be the boldest PlayStation Network release yet. We all expected Sony to replace the shoulder button tilting of the PSP version with Sixaxis motion sensors and then sit back and count the money. Instead we've got an entirely different game made out of the same parts - not just a decent sequel, and certainly not an "interactive screensaver", but what's actually a better game all round.

As with the PSP game, your job is to herd little singing blobs around 2D platform levels, trying to get to the end with as many as possible in tow. But Cocoreccho gives you even less direct control. Your role is a sort of mystical butterfly, who can beckon the blobs and encourage them to jump this way and that like a flapping mentalist Pied Piper.

Left to their own devices, the blobs will happily march around a small section of the game's one big level tumbling down slides, rotating through water wheels and riding along on air currents, but by coaxing them off course at different points you bump into other, dormant LocoRoco who then spring to life and join the procession. Collect enough and you can open a gate to another section.

The key thing to understand is that your gloopy friends are quite safe without you. Where LocoRoco was about keeping half an eye on the world around you and most of it on your pals, in Cocoreccho you concentrate on the world and reach for a helping hand when you need it. Once you accept this, you stop trying to constantly baby-sit them all like you did on the PSP, and instead concentrate on the bit of the level you're in, eyeing up different paths and potential secrets and then dragging a few LocoRoco off their merry course to help you explore.

'LocoRoco Cocoreccho' Screenshot 1

Instead of trying to keep all your LocoRoco safe, instead you play with the environment and call for help when you need it. Genius.

You do this by holding the circle button, which creates a ring of authority that gives you a certain amount of influence over the blobs. Hammering circle encourages them to "try harder", which basically means "jump", which they will do when they get round to it. Like the PSP game, there are lots of telltale indentations in the walls that hint at hidden LocoRoco, and glowing plant stems that you can touch to unfurl additional platforms hung with new friends.

There are still elements of danger to contend with, mind you, including those black, dread-locked nasties that eat your LocoRoco if they get too close, so watch out for that - but the normal route through each section is safe from enemy attention. You basically have to go looking for trouble to find it.

What's more, it turns out that the decision not to use Sixaxis for basic control is something of a masterstroke, because the way it is used is critical to Cocoreccho's charm. Shaking it will dislodge hanging LocoRoco, uncover helpful Mui Mui creatures, deploy weird fish to push you down alternative pathways, charge up fountains that fire your LocoRoco into the air, and clear away obstructions.

Sixaxis is also used to tilt platforms and operate flippers, allowing you to fire the LocoRoco into new areas. Again, it's all about playing with the environment and coaxing blobs into helping you where necessary. Basically you're a sort of opportunistic shepherd, keeping one eye on the flock and rummaging around in the bushes when you get distracted, occasionally lobbing a sheep into the unknown if you can't see over a hill.

'LocoRoco Cocoreccho' Screenshot 2

There's so much to interact with that you'll be finding new things every time you play. Shake the Sixaxis over this bubbling spring and it fires your friends upward.

As you build up an ever-greater number of LocoRoco (there are 200 to find in total), you're able to go through Mui Mui gates, which require a certain number to open. On your first run through, you only get access to two sections of the world before going off to do the boss-fight (a mad game of firing your friends into enemies' faces), but on subsequent tours you unlock more. All paths eventually lead to the same conclusion, but you won't mind the repetition because, like the PSP game, you inevitably find more LocoRoco and learn more about how to uncover them with each circuit of a level.

As you dig further, you also uncover a trio of mini-games. They're nothing ground-breaking, and you probably end up repeating them a bit too much in an attempt to drain them of all their additional LocoRoco unlocks, but they are certainly likable enough.

And of course the whole thing sounds brilliant and looks gorgeous. LocoRoco's bright, cheerful graphics, dozy clouds and dancing vegetation couple themselves adorably to the splendidly upbeat music - sadly only a retread of the PSP soundtrack, but nevertheless quite lovely - and if you've got the kit to run it in 1080p then you will struggle to find a cleaner cut, prettier or happier spectacle in all of Sony-land.

All in all, you can't go wrong. Even the occasions when the LocoRoco refuse to cooperate, or mistime their jumps and slip down a hole, are usually forgivable because they're so disgustingly cute, and of course because there's a steady stream of candidates marching around the level to reinforce whatever you're attempting to do. If there is a criticism, it's only that once you've decided to go through a Mui Mui gate you have to wait a couple of minutes for the troop to assemble, with no way of speeding up their progress.

'LocoRoco Cocoreccho' Screenshot 3

Once you're done with a section, you shake the Sixaxis to lower the Mui Mui gate and collect your friends for a trip elsewhere.

You also might whinge that really there's only one level in Cocoreccho, and that your first run through only takes about half an hour. But that seems to miss the point. This is a game about merrily exploring a world of secrets, many of which you only get access to the second or third time you play it, and replaying the same bits is anything but a chore. Even ignoring that, you can't really fault it for value, because, for GBP 1.99, the few hours of brilliant entertainment you get here are well worth it. A big, warming, chain reaction of delight that you'll want to revisit again and again.

9 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (52) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • charming_fox #1 4 years ago

    8th!
    Edited by 6 at 28/09/07 @ 07:46

  • TripSkyway #2 4 years ago

    Spot on review, an excellent game.

  • wowami #3 4 years ago

    ^
    after him!

    I want to play this but not gonna pay a melllion dollars to do it...
    /stares at SoE

  • sugapunk #4 4 years ago

    what? it's on the UK store now for £1.99

  • Myre #5 4 years ago

    I personally found the controls a little tiring, sometimes it seemed like hammering the circle button for hours was the only way to get them to understand that, yes, I wanted them to build a tower and then jump off the top. Somehow a little more direct control wouldn't have gone amiss. Also, when you do go exploring it felt like there was little you could do to defeat the black dreadlocked foes you encounter with no ability to time the loco roco's jumps I wasn't even able to test if it was possible to land on their heads and destroy them (as I recall doing in the PSP version). I lost a few brave scouting loco roco and felt powerless to stop the carnage.

  • Virvel #6 4 years ago

    My kids just loves this game!

    Remember to turn the music off though, or you will go utterly insane.

    Nice to see more kiddy games on the network.

  • betahoven #7 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:36:16 17-12-2011

  • mkreku #8 4 years ago

    Why does it feel like the Xbox 360 never gets games like these? Unfair!

  • Phreedh #9 4 years ago

    disc: No, he's calling you HIS kids... in other words, he's your daddy. Question is: What does he do?

  • Phreedh #10 4 years ago

    mkreku: Because it doesn't?

  • Beano #11 4 years ago

    Not as good as Halo 3 then...

  • Pike #12 4 years ago

    PC?

    Way to get my hopes up for nothing.

  • Kazzahdrane #13 4 years ago

    I have no desire to buy a PS3 for retail games (nothing I want to play), but I can't fault Sony on the pricing of its PSN games. If I had a PS3 I'd have probably spent a bomb on the small games, because they are really nicely priced.

  • dr_swin #14 4 years ago

    I loved the music in the first game. guaranteed to make me feel happy.

  • Guv #15 4 years ago

    Games... on a PS3? Surely a sign of the comming apocalypse!

  • 3william56 #16 4 years ago

    Mkreku - I guess its one of the main bad points about MS not doing so well in Japan - you won't get the Japanese mentalists developing these off the wall things for the 360. But it's not all bad - you've got Katamari coming your way - which is probably the grandaddy of them all.

    Mind boggling sensory overload genius. Don't know what these guys are smoking, but I want some.

    200 of the little squashy b*stards???? Bl**dy hell. O_o

    Myre - you realise that most of the time you can just hold the button down to manipulate the Locos - you only need to pound it to make them jump really high or stack up.

    Here's hoping for a series of budget one levellers, or a full game.

    BTW: is there some japanese word for this subgenre of Katamari type cartoony surrealist bonkers-a-thons?

  • Pachinko #17 4 years ago

    Actually, I DO mind heavy repetition, leading to ever the same boss fight. I certainly mind not being able to save anywhere, leading to spending an hour looking for bloody lost loco rocos (and the game not helping me in any way whatsoever). I mind always having to save the same locos over and over again. And I very much mind the score inflation going on at EG. You're getting worse than American sites.
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/07 @ 09:02

  • Steroyd #18 4 years ago

    Yeah when I bought this I was wondering where the f**k is the Screensaver part Marketing dept needs to be sent to Iraq and think about what they have done.

    At least I can pride myself in saying I was the second ever person to catch all 200 locos. :D

    Probably slid down the leaderboard hardcore by now. :/

  • DB2k #19 4 years ago

    why this in PC section?

  • Artemis_Matsas #20 4 years ago

    Great game, i'm really enjoying it. It's repetition does get tiresome after a while, but at this price you really can't go wrong.

  • Tomo #21 4 years ago

    I hate Locoroco. And, I'm spent.

  • Bigglesworth #22 4 years ago

    @Pachinko:

    Why do you spend "an hour looking for bloody lost loco rocos"? There's absolutely no reason to do that.

  • tonynibbles #23 4 years ago

    Spot on. Really fun game. Once you get used to the new gameplay = w1n.
    Another class PSN title ;)

  • lasermink #24 4 years ago

    "occasionally lobbing a sheep"

    All games should feature this.

  • Xerx3s #25 4 years ago

    Not as good as Halo 3 then...

    And so it starts... ¬_¬

  • drumbaby #26 4 years ago

    It IS fantastic.

  • andromeda #27 4 years ago

    what wowami said..

    i'd love to play this, but not shelling out £400 on a large shiny box of poo in order to do so...
    sadly it'll never hit XBLA

  • Scimarad #28 4 years ago

    Excellent game. Definitely need a 'proper' sequel with lots of levels or at least more levels to buy.

  • miiiguel #29 4 years ago

    "EG ratings suck"
    "9/10 for a screen saver"
    "I'll wait for the Edge review"
    "I know better, these reviwers were all bribed"
    "Don't buy please"
    "I played it 42354 days ago and can say this is a lie"
    ... and so on.

  • Chaote-Imagicka #30 4 years ago

    Myre:
    "sometimes it seemed like hammering the circle button for hours was the only way to get them to understand that, yes, I wanted them to build a tower and then jump off the top."

    I find jerking the controller up and down while hammering the O button builds towers quite quickly.

  • Darren #31 4 years ago

    I thought it was very cute, having never played the PSP version, the £1.99 asking price was worth it for the charming music I reckon. Not too sure about that 9/10 score though as I was slightly less impressed with it as a game. I thought the SIXAXIS was used to tilt the levels and move the LocoRocos around but it doesn't work like that at all. Still at that price, it's worth checking out.

  • Davey #32 4 years ago

    Based on this review, I have JUST purchased this game :)

  • Beano #33 4 years ago

    Agrees with Darren - at this price it's well worth checking out.

    Bought it last week and played it a while... pretty cute and got more to it that it might look like. Not a 9/10 though IMO... more 6'ish ;)

  • r0gerr0ger #34 4 years ago

    I haven't paid £1.99 for a game since the eighties. Thumbs up.

  • deaner #35 4 years ago

    I played this today and virtually fell off the couch!

    Most fun I've had with my trousers on.

    Almost as good as Wii Sports Tennis.

  • zuljin #36 4 years ago

    @NickM40A3
    Maybe start reading the actual review? :)

  • Hughes. #37 4 years ago

    Only one level is something I don't mind so much, only one tune is the worst thing, I was playing for about 2 hours solid trying to find all the LocoRoco the other day and was going ga-ga. Most I've got so far is 166, after losing a few to Mojas.

    I'm hoping we'll get free extra stuff like the utterly brilliant free demos they kept doing for the PSP even after the game came out.

    Playing the PSP one again I wished it controlled like this version, although I didn't get so carried away as to try shaking it, almost though. Now I can't wait for Patapon.

  • BobsUncle #38 4 years ago

    "More lobbing of sheep please."

    Get Cloning Clyde from Xbox Live Arcade. Best XBLA game EVAH! You can throw sheep, ride sheep, kick chickens, turn into a frog, or a sheep, throw frogs, kick sheep, kick frogs, clone yourself, kick yourself.....

  • olver #39 4 years ago

    maybe it would be a 6/10 if it was a full price game, but in the 2 quid department of games, this looks like a fair score. context, people.

  • dsmx #40 4 years ago

    better than gears?

  • urban #41 4 years ago

    damn it.

  • JYM60 #42 4 years ago

    Good game.

  • afghan_jones #43 4 years ago

    @ deaner

    "Most fun I've had with my trousers on.

    Almost as good as Wii Sports Tennis. "


    So you take your trousers off to play Wii Sports Tennis? why, deaner, why?

  • darc #44 4 years ago

    "actually a better game all round"

    Better than the original?? I loved that game. (Sadly, the only game I can stand playing on the PSP - but probably because the PSP's controls are all in the wrong place and LR happily ignores 90% of them.) I recently put LocoRoco in a friend's hands and her immediate response was "Wow, a video game has never made me feel 'happy' before." :D

  • darc #45 4 years ago

    And oh by the way... I think I paid about $30 for the original. £1.99?!? If it lasts more than 15 minutes, unbelievable.

  • kangarootoo #46 4 years ago

    Bought this the other day. Got stuck eventually.

    Very nice though and for the money its ludicrously good value.

  • JediMasterMalik #47 4 years ago

    Yup, is great, was put off originaly, didnt think it'd be worth it, but it's quite a charmer. (just like the PSP version in that regard then!)

  • Ulgen #48 4 years ago

    Hmph. I still want a simple LocoRoco remake for the Sixaxis... That would be awesome, and not just for Sony's wallet...

  • AOFanboi #49 4 years ago

    <em>Bought this the other day. Got stuck eventually.</em>

    How can you get stuck? Unless you lure them away, the little buggers will continue in cycles. Remember you can activate the sleeping ones hanging from branches by woblling the Sixaxis to shake the branch.

  • jack_klugman #50 4 years ago

    Is this the highest scoring title on the PlayStation so far?

  • nuffmon #51 4 years ago

    It's nice to see a review where the person has taken the time to play the game and understand it. Excellent review and an excellent game.

  • DFawkes #52 4 years ago

    I have to say I didn't "get" it, but having read the review I'll probably play it again and enjoy it, now I understand it's not about strict parenting. Maybe whist tipsy or drunk.