LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival

The LocoRoco series has followed an odd path – one that befuddles those of you used to endless full-price sequels to games being churned out for no real reason. The first title, which we loved, was a top-tier PSP release; the second was a budget release, and rightly so; the third, Cocoreccho, wasn’t even really a game, and was priced accordingly. Now we have Midnight Carnival – a continuation of the series, definitely a ‘proper’ game and with an even lower price point, thanks to its PSN status.

If you’ve played a LocoRoco game before (discounting the ‘interactive screensaver’, of course) then you know what to expect: tilting. But wait! For there is a new mechanic in Midnight Carnival, opening up a whole new style of play. The addition in question is the little squidgy ball of glee’s ability to ‘Boing’ – or ‘jump higher’, as we would say. Timing another jump as the initial one is landed will cause your singing little blighter to jump again, higher, and give a small points boost.

Chaining these jumps together offers higher rewards and is necessary to progress through many of the 16 main levels and a handful of bonus stages throughout the game. The addition of the ‘Boing’ mechanism pushes Midnight Carnival far more in the direction of a platformer than any previous titles in the series have been, and it can take a fair bit of adjusting to get to grips with what is needed from you as a player. Basically, the later stages can be punishing with how exacting Sony Japan expects your jumps to be – millimetre perfect, or you’re dead. Say hello stage 12, you utter bastard.

Other than this, and some underwater segments, this is business as usual. Choose from seven different characters – each with a different catchy song – dress them up and roll your way through short stages designed perfectly for portable gaming. It’s nothing we haven’t really seen before, but it’s an established formula and you can’t argue this isn’t a good deal for the price.

Midnight Carnival does suffer from some infuriating difficulty spikes as you progress, it really doesn’t bring anything revolutionary to the series and ‘Boing’ing can be fiddly. But it’s still just as charming, good looking and fun as any of the previous LocoRoco games, and is a good, though not great, addition to the PSP line-up.