"An Exciting Rent"

Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol is the pseudo-follow up to the cult Gamecube game, Chibi Robo, which had you play a tiny robot cleaning and working for a dysfunctional family. The second game takes the action outside.

-Concept-

The world is slowly being over run by garbage and pollution, so "Citrusoft" has created a solution: leave tiny robots in each park to clean it up, plant flowers, create benches and such, etc. That's where you come in. Armed with a spray bottle, a boom box, and your annoying house-bound companion Chet, you set forth to turn a park from drab to fab. The story feels somewhat cheesy, but gets the job done and has a nice environmental message.

-Gameplay-

You will start out with small jobs in a small area of the park. You will plant and water flowers to get "Happy Points." These are taken to your Chibi-House to be redeemed for Watts, Chibi's fuel. Excess watts can be redeemed for tools, rides, cartridges which allow you to build things in your park, etc. Get enough flowers in one square of park ground and it will turn green, rewarding you with happy points. Also, as you plant more flowers you will have access to more gear.

Another aspect of game is the adjacent town. The main thing to do here is recruit toys, which work for you. They do things such as tilling land from sand to soil and building structures and games. Every three uses however, they tire out and you must go back to town and recruit them. After consistent use, these toys will "upgrade" and their services will require less watts. These toys have some humorous dialog at times as well.

Building this park sounds easy, doesn't it? Well I guess the developers thought so too, because that is where Sergeant Smogglor comes in. This black-clad villain fights for all things dirty and diseased. He creates “smoglings”, small black monster that come to kill your flowers. You can kill them by spraying them with water until they explode. If they mange to get one of your flowers though, it will become black and die when night falls.

And making its return in the Chibi-Robo series is the battery. The battery is consumed by walking, using Chibi-Rides and Chibi-Gear, etc. As time goes on you will get bigger and bigger batteries, allowing you to explore farther and work longer.

Finally I will discuss Chibi-Rides. These vehicles allow you to move very quickly without using too much battery power. Throughout the course of the game you will get a bike, buggy, canoe, and upgrades for each.

-Controls-

The controls are mapped almost exclusively to the touch screen. Haters, don't worry because it works great. With the exception of movement (D-pad) and a few minor moves, you will use initiative touch screen controls to do everything. Push the plunger on the squirter to shoot water, push the pedals on the bike, row the canoe, spin the records, steer the car, etc. These are pleasing to use and do not feel gimmicky. I never had any problems of any significance while playing this game.

Graphics-

Wonderful, in short. They look great, almost the same as the Gamecube game, and do not cause big loading times. The interface is friendly and easy to navigate. Chibi is as shiny as ever, and the park is beautiful once you get it going.

Sound-

The sound, for the most part, is good. Returning from the Gamecube game is the interesting music system. The tempo of the music changes depending on how fast you are moving. The rest of the sound effects are nice, but can sometimes get kind of chirpy and annoying.

-Minigames-

Yes, Park Patrol offers some nice mini games. You get these by building them in your park. Once constructed, they can be played at any time. They include bowling, swinging, bubble blowing, “trick” benches, and many more. Some are even useful. For example, swing on the chin-up bar creates energy, which Chibi can plug into for a quick recharge. The cannon can be used to fire Chibi across the park while consuming no energy. These games do offer some replay value as well, so be sure to construct them.

Replay Value-

Fairly limited, which is why I suggest renting this unless you are a hardcore fan. The minigames offer some reply value, but much of the game's fun is finding all the exciting things and surprises you unlock by planting certain amounts of flowers. Once you know what they are, it's really not so fun or exciting. It probably takes 20-30 hours to complete, depending on how much stuff you try to collect.

Conclusion-

A blast to play the first time through, with a good message and some fun controls schemes. It should be in any DS fan's library, and everyone else should at least rent it.

Overall- 7/10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/08

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