I first played LocoRoco 2 on a whim after I found it within a Lego Harry Potter case. When the game first loaded, I was astounded by the colors and sounds that were definitively not Lego Harry Potter. One my confusion subsided, I couldn't resist trying it, despite never having heard of or played the first game and man, am I glad I did.

LocoRoco as a series is one of the most unique concepts for a platformer I have ever seen. The idea of titling the levels themselves to move this little gelatinous alien blob into all sorts of hijinx is an experience like no other. My younger self was completely infatuated with it.

LocoRoco 2 as a sequel builds on the first game in all the ways it should, my only complaint (as cliche as it sounds) is that there isn't more of it! I pray to one day see another traditional LocoRoco game as farfetched as that probably is.

This is an interesting game for me. Because right when I got it from my parents back in 09-ish I was convinced before ever trying it I was gonna hate it. I mean just looking at it you can see the justification from a 12-13 year old kid's mindset. It's colorful, light-hearted & the characters are cute - clearly a game made for babies! Not like 1 of the handheld GTA games for example (which I deemed more fitting) but my parents would not budge on buying an M-rated game until I had tried something more age appropriate.

So I started LocoRoco 2 begrudgingly & to make a very long story short it became my favorite title on the PSP by a mile. It became my comfort game to play while traveling & over 3-4 different saved games I have just south of 150 hours total logged in it.

It's hard to encapsulate what specifically I like about it, but its just... So joyful & charming? Like it consistently always had an effect while I was younger putting me in a good mood when playing it. The music is wonderful, its relaxing to collect all the other LocoRoco's - but never becomes so easy it feels boring, customizing the Mui Mui house is a great distraction too.
Before writing this review I did wonder how much of this was nostalgia just elevating the experience. So booted up the game to see how it holds up way better in my mind than reality - Though after an almost 3 hour session I stand by my high praise. I haven't touched the game in years, but it still managed to give me the same calming feeling it did all those years ago.

I can admit that this is a very subjective review. Because I'm not doing a whole replay of the game & checking what holds up 14 years later. Realistically it should probably be around an 8/10, but its one of my favorite of all time due to how monumental it was for me for a few years & not interested in heavily challenging that perception.

LocoRoco was one of the PSP’s killer apps and brought cute platforming fun to the handheld. LocoRoco 2 is a disappointment because of how little it changes from the first game. The gameplay and graphics are unchanged with just new levels and bosses. There are a lot of things to collect, but the mechanics a second time around just seem a bit frustrating.

You control the blobs by tilting the world with L and R and pressing both to jump. This is fine except I wanted more control. Some levels require precise jumping and tilting the world doesn’t provide that precision. There are underwater levels that feel the same way, but I really enjoyed the mini-games however, they were short lived and only last seconds. The goal is to get to the end of the level while collecting pickories, fruits to make yourself bigger, and knocking out and Moja along the way. You can help out creatures by having enough fruits and using a pretty simple rhythm mini-game to earn rewards. These rewards come in pieces to help build the Mui Mui’s giant treehouse. This is great for kids, but as an adult, this is just kind of boring and feels useless.

The game uses physics for everything and it works well enough, but just feels a bit floaty. The boss fights are extremely difficult and I couldn’t get past the second main boss. The jumping mechanics just aren’t precise enough for this, but it doesn’t make it a bad game. You have to use momentum to be able to jump up high so tilting left and right until you get enough speed then jumping becomes tedious. You get used to it, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling. After about 10 levels you start getting bored with the game, especially if you already played the first. I kept expecting new stuff to happen, but it was all the same. The level’s difficulty just varied way too much and I felt there wasn’t a good pace set. This was mainly due to that fact that Mojas can eat a piece of you and there’s no way to shake them off. If you bump them in time you can get the piece back, but when several surround you it gets frustrating.

All the collecting and stuff is fine, but it is difficult to tell where these hidden spaces are. You have to accidentally come across them because there is no hint that they are there. No wall discoloring, no breaks, nothing. I honestly felt nothing in this game was worthwhile or worth finding. Once you finish a level you never want to go back because you will eventually just tire of the game. The most enjoyable moments in LR2 are when you aren’t even controlling the game. When you go on “gumball” style rides where you break down into tiny blobs and go for a ride, those were enjoyable to just watch. It reminded me of gumball machines as a kid, especially the crazy ones.

LocoRoco 2 is full of charm, but older players may grow tired of it quickly. It’s a one trick pony and is nearly identical to the first game in almost every way. Collecting items feel pointless, and they are very difficult to find in levels. The boss fights are annoying and hard due to the finicky jumping mechanics, but it is an overall enjoyable game.