Hands-On: Chibi Robo: Park Patrol

Not many will argue that Nintendo is known for creating some off the wall quirky games. One that was released not to long ago on the GameCube was Chibi-Robo. This was to many a sleeper hit. It didn’t get any advertising, fan fare, or even as much as a big announcement when it was released. However it seems to have sold enough to warrant a sequel of sorts. Nintendo has announced that our favorite little robot has jumped to the small screen in the new game Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol for the Nintendo DS.

Instead of being in a house, this time you are taken out into the park. The challenge still stands that Chibi has limited power and must recharge before it runs out like in the console version. In the game, playground equipment has mysteriously been disappearing and the flowers have been transformed by monsters. By making the flowers bloom again, you would get more hearts to fill your power (life) and bring life back to the park

As you leave your little recyclable home by using either the d-pad or face buttons, you have to find the flower buds sitting on the ground. When you find one, walk up to it and squirt it with water. But this is no automatic task. After selecting the syringe with the button on the side of the screen, you slide the stylus up and down on the touch screen acting as the plunger of the syringe. The faster you do it the more water comes out and awakens the flower. Now that you have the first part done, it’s time to get funky with the flower. By selecting the stereo button on the left of the screen Chibi will pull a boom box out and start dancing to the music. The more the flowers join in the faster they grow. When they are fully grown, hearts will appear on the ground that you pick up simply by walking through them.

You can only go so far in finding flowers before they are out of reach without a little assistance. To aide in your quest, Chibi can use either a motorcycle type vehicle, or a four-wheeler to get around and cover more ground more quickly. To get in and drive one of the vehicles you simply walk up to the side of the vehicle with the outlet on it, and make one forward motion slide with the stylus to tell Chibi to plug into the outlet. These vehicles can also help you to reach mini-games to win more hearts, and to avoid obstacles like water. Water will hurt you, as electricity and water are never a good mix. After you have gathered a good number of hearts or need a refill, its time to head back to your home.

Back at the house, refueling is similar to how you mount the vehicles. You walk up to the container, and when the plug logo appears over Chibi just make the same action with the stylus. The heart container will suck the hearts out filling up. After you’ve emptied out everything, you then walk over to the outlet on the wall, plug into that, and it will refill your power so that you may go back out to continue your challenge. To add some more challenge to the mix, there are some black flower bulbs that are bent on stopping you from brining the flowers back. They will chase after and try to stop you.

The game’s graphics are very vibrant. There are reflections all the time on Chibi as he moves around in all his activity. Controls are also spot on for every action. When you go up to the edge of the park there are cars driving by, and you can see the neighborhood activity going on across the street. While simple in nature just like the console counterpart, Park Patrol is sure to make the same waves for gamers with simple, but enjoyable game-play and challenges.

We will have more on this title with an expanded hands-on report very soon right here on AMN.

— Robert Miller