No-Fi

As entertaining as beating up hookers and shooting pedestrians can be in Grand Theft Auto, one of the most fun games I’ve played so far on the Sony PSP is Loco Roco. Hit the left button, move left, hit the right button, move right, and hit them at the same time to make the little guy jump. It’s simpler than Pac-Man. If Grand Theft Auto is a compendium of references to such auteur directors as Brian DePalma, Martin Scorcese, and Francis Ford Coppola, than Loco Roco is a homage to the art of Mondrian, Piccasso, and Matisse.

It never ceases to amaze me how the best games are frequently the least complicated. I played chess for years. It’s fun, but after learning to play backgammon, it occurred to me that all my chess playing had been nothing more than a masochistic ritual. Backgammon can be a ruthlessly logical game, but the dice introduce that random element that can upset any carefully laid plans, and it adds a lot of zip to the game. And not unlike backgammon, now that I’ve finished the last level of Loco Roco, it’s a game was deceptively more complicated than it first looked.

Update:
Gamers can't get no respect...