This new logo is embarrassingly naff. Look at all the gradients! And why is that central circle off to the right like that?
According to their Chief Marketing Officer, Lawrence Flanagan, the new brand identity “follows an extensive analysis of the MasterCard brand and the value proposition it represents to constituents”, and the new logo reflects the company’s unique, three-tiered business model as a franchisor, processor and advisor.
It all becomes clear! They are obviously trying to communicate that they are an all-knowing, yet transparent advisor, with a strong emphasis on security (notice the thick perimeter wall around Mr Advisor), who are becoming increasingly friendly with their (yellow) franchisees, but without leaving the important (red!) processing part of their business out in the cold. Or something.
According to my save file, I’ve played LocoRoco for a good 36 hours so far, and I still haven’t quite seen everything. This game is just pure, distilled fun, where many games these days feel more like a chore than a hobby.
I love exploring game worlds, and the 20 berries and wealth of secret areas hidden throughout each level provide great replayability. It’s not a difficult game, but there’s enough of a challenge there to keep you coming back for some time. The music is hilarious and varied, changing subtly as you pick up more LocoRoco, with a chorus of Simlish-esque nonsense to accompany it.
Collecting secrets rewards you with parts for your LocoRoco house, a sort of Incredible Machine physics minigame, with living blobs instead of balls. And you can pick up more parts in the two minigames, a claw machine, and a sort of golf obstacle course. Finally, you can create your own levels using LocoRoco Edit, although you can only lay down parts as in the LocoRoco house, rather than full terrain editing. It’s a shame, but an understandable limitation.
I can’t really explain what a joy this game is, but anything that makes me laugh not because I saw something funny, but just because I’m so happy, must be pretty good. Go buy it.