LocoRoco updated hands-on

The object, as in the demo, is to add as many LocoRocos to your posse and roll to the end of the stage, all while bouncing on flowers, ferreting out secret caverns and finding elusive, cactus-looking little guys called Mui Mui. The whole thing culminates with a long drop through flower-shaped spinners that look like they came out of a pachinko machine, followed by the wind yanking our LocoRocos through the air in a heart-shaped path before dropping us at the goal.

The full game also adds another thing for players to hunt for: pieces for the Loco House. Between levels, you'll be able to put together a big playhouse for your blobs, placing whatever bizarre gewgaws you've found in each level. When you've set up enough spinners, bouncy platforms or whatever else you want to see in action, you can set a single LocoRoco loose and watch them play. It's a little dull, but it's at least creative, and it gives you a reason to play the included crane minigame and try to snag new parts.

After we were done messing around, we moved on to the green second level, where we squirmed through tiny secret passages (we had to break apart our LocoRocos to get in), hunted for hidden berries, sang a living barrier into submission and hopped around on a trampoline. This was also the first level to feature genuine danger, in the form of stationary black blobs that broke off a couple LocoRocos and sent them off drained of color and crying.