"Score Another for Chibi-Robo!"

The first Chibi-Robo for the Gamecube delighted players with its cast of quirky characters, solid gameplay, and unusual charm. Though well-recieved by critics and players alike, it did not gain much popularity with most of the general gaming public, perhaps mostly due to its unusual premise. As the game's tiny robot hero, Chibi-Robo, you were assigned to clean and take care of a dysfunctional family's (named the Sandersons) household. But what seemed like a slow-paced and dull game at first quickly turned into an incredibly endearing adventure. A cast of talking toys were introduced with their own troubles and secrets, and the Sandersons' family issues quickly became the focus of the main storyline. As you are busy trying to help the Sandersons, a whole world is opened up to you as you explore the house, where climbing even a chair would seem a daunting task for the small robot.

A year and half after its initial release, Skip released the second installment in the series, Chibi-Robo Park Patrol. It stars once again, Chibi-Robo as the hero, albeit a different model, than the one we are familiar with in the Gamecube version. "Blooming Chibi-Robo", as he's nicknamed by his creator when you first start the game, is assigned to restore a run-down park and make it flourish with flowers and plants once again. However, the game's villian, Sergeant Smogglor, and his toxic smoglings will stop at nothing to hinder Chibi in his efforts to restore the park.

Gameplay- 9/10

The game starts out with the whole park as a barren wasteland of sorts. Nearly 80 percent of the park will be covered with sand when you begin, with only a few spots here and there and near the entrance with soil. The object is to use Chibi's handy squirter to water the flower buds until they mature and become full-grown flowers. This is accomplished by stroking up and down on the touch screen and it works very well. After the flower is fully grown, it can sprout seedlings by use of the boom box. In using the boom box, you must spin the record on the touch screen to a certain beat which will produce a dance beat. The more accurate your tempo is with the beat of the song, the more seedlings the flower will produce. The park is divided up into a 7 x 7 square unit grid.. 30 flowers produced on a single square unit of land will cause it to turn from soil to green grass. When you produce a flower, you are rewarded with "happy points" (symbolized by hearts) which are then converted into watts, which you can use to refill Chibi's limited battery or use it as currency to buy Chibi-Gear. You can also do other things to get happy points as well.

If the watering flowers part sounds incredibly tedious to you, don't worry, it's really not. Its incredibly rewarding to see your park grow during the game and watering the flowers rarely gets old. The game also provides much more activities in that you will also be designing every aspect of the park. You will do this by use of the Park Projects mode which you can access from the Chibi-PC. There is also a small downtown area outside of the park that you will need to explore and go to for certain things. In this area, you will find 7 toys who will lend their assistance to you in your quest to restore the park All of them have short side-stories of their own which players will unravel through the game as well. They will help you with the designing of certain features of the park, such as adding trees, shrubbery, drinking fountains etc. as well as tilling the sandy square units to turn them into soil and making needed repairs on some of the park's utilities. You can also add rides and games to the parks, some of which are neat little minigames in themselves (i.e. a bowling lane) and are a nice diversion from the creating aspect. Also, four Chibi-Rides (vehicles) are provided throughout the game to help you move about in the park.

It should be noted that, unlike the first Chibi-Robo, there is NO vertical exploration in this game. However this does not detract from the game's fun at all. THIS game's charm comes from its creative aspect and not exploration like its predecessor. Camera angles can prove to be a bit tricky at times and you may find yourself trying to readjust the camera during a critical moment. I encountered slow-down only when I was in the end boss battle, otherwise, it is virtually non-existant. The gameplay is not difficult at all but presents some challenge in the form of defending your flowers from the smoglings. The game is designed so that you can either play in short spurts or long sessions if you like. The controls in this game are magnificently done. Everything from the use of the different tools to the Chibi-Rides to the mini-games are superbly and easily executed on the touch screen. Very user-friendly. Actual movement of Chibi is controlled by the D-pad. This control scheme works flawlessly and I hope to see it used in more DS games in the future.

Story- 9/10

The story in this game is very well done and makes excellent use of cut-scenes. These cutscenes will happen after you plant so many flowers (which is kept track of by your robotic companion, Chet). The cutcenes themselves are very impressive in terms of graphics and are most often humorous. You can tell a lot of work went into getting them done. Skip also did a nice job of sending out a message about the environment and how we can help preserve it (which is the real story behind the story).

Graphics- 10/10

The graphics in this game are phenomenal and really show off what the system can do. Everything is in full 3D, the textures look nice (especially the glossiness on Chibi-Robo himself), and the game has a bright cheery style about it, most often using pastel colors and shades. The aforementioned cut-scenes look absolutely amazing using varied camera shots and close-ups and what-not. Even up close, the character models don't look incredibly pixelated like they do in many other DS games. This is about as good as graphics get on the DS.

Sound- 8/10

Much like the GCN Chibi-Robo, I really enjoyed the music and sound in this one. Fans of the first game will appreciate that many of the sounds were re-used for this game, and the classic "make a sound for each step you take" is back as well. However the background music only comes on during midday at the park which means there is no music in the morning or at night-time. The downtown area, however, has three different tunes and changes for the respective time periods: morning, noon, and evening. Once again, gibberish is also used to simulate character's speech, which, can at times be a little bit grating (especially listening to Chet all the time). All in all, the sound quality in this game is definitely above average but could've used a few more music tracks. There are definitely some tracks to keep an ear out for though.

Play Time/Replayability

It will take the average player anywhere from 10-20 hours to complete the story. Even after you beat the game though, you can keep playing and tuning your park to perfection. This is a solid game though, and the replayability factor is quite high because you can design the park any way you want it.

Final Comments

Chibi-Robo Park Patrol is an amazing, enjoyable game that has a lot to offer. Fans of Chibi-Robo especially will eat this one up. Highly recommended and a must-buy for every DS owner.

VERDICT - 9.0/10 - The quality of this game is unbelievable. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/07

Game Release: Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol (US, 10/02/07)