The earliest stages of the game are thankfully rather easy going, giving the player enough time to grasp the importance of both your growing army's make-up and load-out and the competing rhythms of the Zigaton forces. It isn't long, however, before you realize that what might appear a cutesy cash-in on the increasingly mainstream rhythm-game franchises is instead a deceptively deep simulation, as rewarding as it is taxing.

None of which is to say that Patapon isn't worth your time. It's an incredibly satisfying title which hooks you in and refuses to let go until you've stamped out every last Zigaton and gazed, ultimately, upon the mythical "it" which awaits your army at the end of their hardship. The clarity of the simple graphics are a perfect fit on the handheld platform, and a courageous challenge to all those developers bent on low-res realism. The music and audio effects are as madcap as can be - utter nonsense, and yet utterly infectious. The controls are intuitive and effective; and this is surely a fuller and better developed experience than LocoRoco offered.

Sadly, however, some of Patapon's length is a cheat: believe it or not, there is grinding to be done here, and plenty of it. Kids and the otherwise attention-challenged aren't likely to have the patience to see it through, but should you - and you should, I urge you - there is a bittersweet lesson to be learned of the uncomplicated narrative that steers your adventure, and an experience to be had that is unlike any other, in any genre of video games and in any medium of entertainment. Flawed, then, but absolutely inimitable, and unequivocally brilliant.

Patapon is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB for Mild Cartoon Violence.