Pato Box is certainly a different type of game that mixes a couple of genres for its PlayStation Vita debut. Learn more about it in our Pato Box review!

 

Pato Box is a game with a very unique feel. This is a black and white game that pays homage to the beloved Punch-Out!! series while doing its own thing. You play as Pato Box who is a human and duck hybrid (pato is Spanish for duck), so he has a human body and a duck face, beak and all. He’s won match after match and is riding high, but then something goes wrong, his vision goes funny and is knocked out mid-fight with a single punch. After waking up, he discovers he has been stabbed and that he was pretty much left for dead. Pato Box sets out on a quest to find out what happened and why.

The game is played on two fronts. While it feels like the main attraction are the different boxing matches you will take on, there is also an exploration element by which you will explore the tower you are in, floor by floor, section by section, as you move up the ranks of henchman in your path until you reach the president of Deathflock. Each area has some items to collect and puzzles to solve, as well as some obstacles you’ll need to punch out of your way, as well as hazards such as buzzsaws, poisonous gas, and more. You’ll also have a chance to play some mini-games!

As you progress through the game, you will collect secret documents that will allow you to learn more information about the game’s story and on the background of each character in the game. On top of the extra info, you’ll obtain, these secret documents will also give you some insight on the type of fighter you’ll be facing and the attacks and weapons he/she will use against you. There are also Patokens to find which you can collect to purchase new stuff for your bedroom so that you can make it your own.

Combat is not hard to learn, but it is hard to master. This being an arcade-style boxing game, you can punch your opponents and dodge their attacks, but it is these attacks that separate the game from the Punch-Out!! series it pays homage to. Every henchman will have a weapon or more he/she will use against you, and most of the time they are not their fists! You’ll run into a lot of crazy attacks, such as electrical attacks and grenades, to name just a couple of examples. The key to surviving is to figure out the movement and attack pattern of each enemy you face, so don’t feel bad if you fail a fight since you’ll at least learn something new so that you can give it another go!

One of the pluses of Pato Box is its humor. Because of the main character for the game, there are plenty of quirky duck puns and duck jokes that will make you giggle here and there as you take on the story for this release. There is an arcade mode to enjoy but, unfortunately, to experience it, you will need to play through the story mode to unlock all the necessary characters to play in Arcade Mode. The game isn’t very long so it won’t take very long to achieve, but it is something I did want to mention.

While I did like the comic book noir theme of the game, I did miss having some extra colors here and there to spice things up, but I definitely had a lot of fun with the exploration segments, as well as during the crazy fights. The team at Bromio did a great job at giving us a game that pays homage to Punch-Out!! while also standing out on its own. So if you’re a fan of that Nintendo series, you should definitely check this one out!

Diclaimer
This Pato Box review is based on a PlayStation Vita copy provided by Bromio.