Patapon has finally arrived on the PSP and, more importantly, delivers on its promise as one of the strongest titles yet for Sony's handheld, a machine that keeps searching for an identity. Created by the same mad geniuses who concocted LocoRoco, Patapon presents the player with a new experience and a new addiction.

At a time when most games are nothing more than clones of everything that has come before, Patapon stands tall as a creative and original work, blending so many genres that you'd think the result would be a disaster. Imagine mixing God Game elements with Rhythm, add a little dash of RPG and RTS, wrap the whole thing with a superb art style and you somehow end up with Patapon.

The concepts behind Patapon are introduced slowly, allowing the player to come to terms with skewed gameplay the likes you've never seen before. You assume the role of a God who goes by the name Almighty and it's your job to guide the Patapon, a tribal band of round-headed, one-eyed warriors through a series of missions in search of sacred objects and your ultimate destination, Earthend.

Your band of Patapon are controlled by issuing commands, which are nothing more than rhythm-based drumming performed with the four main PSP buttons. Want to move your Patapon forward? Press square-square-square-circle. Want to attack? Press circle-square-square-circle. Your ability to maintain perfect rhythm while issuing a variety of commands is the essence of Patapon. Now add to this mix that you have three types of Patapon, including close-combat axe-wielders, mid-range spear-throwers, and long-range archers and you now have strategic elements to consider as you travel through each level. Along the way you'll acquire a wide-variety of items, including tons of equipment that you can use to upgrade your Patapons and you now have RPG elements that guarantee your inevitable addiction.

Patapon includes a nice variety of mini-games and plenty of Boss battles that will give you a work out, and even the intermittent backtracking through previous missions doesn't lessen the overall enjoyment of the game. Before you know it, you find yourself actually caring for your little Patapon and this goes directly to the real strength of the game: style.

Patapon wields an engaging artistic style, like some kind of demented medieval puppet show that was displayed via silhouette by rear-candle projection. Characters actually have character, animations are smooth and lively and, well, I just can't say enough about the creativity on display here. Patapon single-handedly dispels the belief that games will never be art, as it stands tall as functional art that demands interaction.

An interesting aspect of Patapon is that there is no reason the game can't exist on multiple platforms. There's nothing about the PSP that keeps it on that system and I suspect the game could even be more stellar on the DS, which would allow players to actually tap the screen instead of pressing buttons, introducing a new aiming aspect to the proceedings. No matter, the PSP is fortunate to have Patapon as part of its library. It's one of the strongest titles I've seen yet for the handheld and, frankly, one of the better games to be released on any platform in quite some time.