PSP Game Review: Best RPG+Something-Else So Far

I was going to write about the good racing games today, but decided instead to tell you all about a jewel I found not too long ago, called Half-Minute Hero.

Developed by Marvelous Entertainment of Japan, Half-Minute Hero uses old-school 8-bit style graphics, a rock/techno soundtrack and lots of pop culture and videogame culture references mixed with a countdown timer. That's right, a countdown timer. See, the idea behind this game is to finish every one of it's levels in less than 30 seconds, hence the name of the game (duh!). It may sound hard (and sometimes, it is) but, thankfully, there's plenty of divine intervention to help the hero in saving the world.

The game is actually a hybrid RPG/Real Time Strategy/Shoot 'em Up, where you first select the mode and the way the divine intervention is provided depends on that. For example, on Hero 30, the RPG mode of the game, the player must pay at Goddess Statues in towns for the countdown timer to reset to 30 seconds. In Princess 30, the Shoot 'em Up mode, the player must travel over a red carpet, where the Goddess starts draining money from the player in exchange of making the timer count up to 30 seconds instead of to 0 and to the end of the princess' 30 second curfew.

All in all, this game is lots of fun, not only because of the quick-paced gameplay, but also because of the imaginative dialogue and numerous references all over the place. The soundtrack is also very good, giving the player a sense of urgency and rush. The replay value is also good, since every level has several achievements and, in some cases, different outcomes depending on what you accomplish, which means you'll be going back (if you're like me, at least) to the earlier levels to play them again and try to get everything. There is also an ad-hoc mode, but I haven't tried that one out yet (HINT, David and Hyatt-kun!)

So, Half-Minute Hero, highly recommended, get it if you can, you won't be disappointed.