Review of Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol for Nintendo DS

I was at one time a huge fan of Gamecube's Chibi-Robo. I never submerged myself in a video game quite as hard as I did with this particular title. When the Nintendo Wii hit stores, I was hoping that Chibi-Robo would make the transition over to the Wii with a whole new title. Sadly for fans of the little metal robot, this never happened.

The game did however manage to slide it's way into our Nintendo DS handheld consoles though. I was not sure how I felt about this, and even more unsure of how the game would be when I learned it would only be sold exclusively to Walmart stores.

It took me a few years, but I finally came across the game for a low, low price at Gamestop. I got it for under $10 in a used bin, which made me happy, but at the same time hesitant. Would Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol suck?

Plot:
 
The games plot is pretty subtle, but makes sense and adds to the simplicity of the game. Your job as Chibi-Robo this round is to restore an abandoned polluted park. The main goal is to plant as many flowers as possible, while slowly rebuilding the park by adding elements such as rides, benches, and other little extras that you would normally find in a community park.

Game Play:
 
Chibi-Robo plays out in just about the same manner as it did on the Gamecube, with of course a new objective, but the same type of plot in mind. Garbage duty!

You have similar tools to what we saw in the past that your little robot will use along his quest in fixing up the park. You play songs and dance for flowers in order to make them sprout seedlings. Chibi will then water these budding sprouts in order to grow more flowers.

Everything sounds simple in theory, possibly even boring, however the game throws in those little twists that add to the challenge. Chibi runs off of wattage, and the beginning of the game he does not get far or accomplish very much, which grows tedious and frustrating. About 30 minutes into play though as you gather happy points, your 4 inch little metal robot will acquire more wattage, which will allow him to travel further for longer periods of time.

As you clean up the park and add flowers and other little elements, the pollution enemy will make himself known by throwing in balls of pollution to wreak havoc on the park, turning colorful flowers into black ones that will eventually die at nightfall. Killing these enemies though is simple, and only requires a few squirts of water to make them explode.

Along the way, Chibi will meet toys in town which will help him fix up the park,. Their services however will cost you some wattage power, which is annoying, but at the same time adds to the challenge of the game.

All in all game play is fun, challenging, but the time limits really create an annoyance to the game which is not very necessary, and was even a bit of a nuisance in the Gamecube version.

Graphics:
 
The graphics in this game are done up rather nicely, and matched pretty well to what we all saw in Gamecube's original title. Chibi is shiny, and looks the way the way we all remember him, and even the environments are done up nicely with some realistic metallic shimmer added to certain objects. Granted everything we find on the DS is smaller and limited, the graphics dressed Park Patrol up nicely; nicer than what I was expecting.

Controls:
 
Controls are easier than I thought they would be as well. You move Chibi-Robo about using the standard arrow keys on the left of your DS. The game incorporates the touch screen below into the controls as well for Chibi to preform little actions like digging, spraying your water, cutting flowers, and the use of other items he will collect along the way.

The controls work flawlessly and I ran into no issues with the touchscreen being unresponsive or sluggish.

Music & Sounds:
 
Everything you hear in Chibi-Robo Park Patrol is low key as far as music goes, small little drum beats with no particular annoyances. Voice on the other hand in the game can get annoying as characters speak in some sort of gibberish. You eventually tune it out though and read the speech texts as they come along without any annoyances.

Overall:
 
Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol is a decent game, one worthy of picking up and playing. It is not quite as in depth as the original title for the Gamecube, but fans of the original game will find pleasure in this particular spin off.