PixlBit

Half-Minute Hero is one of the more abstract and crazier titles to come out of Japan as of late. The game features numerous types of gameplay, but all are based around a single underlying concept: time. Within each of the game's four modes, players are given a total of 30 seconds to complete the objective at hand. Accompanying the unique gameplay is an equally original presentation comprised of highly pixelated sprites and 8-bit backdrops. The title as a whole is simply unlike anything before it.

Though the game contains five unique modes, the Hero 30 mode is arguably the centerpiece of the title. In this mode, the game takes the core concepts of an RPG and speeds them up to a lightning fast pace. Players, as one would expect, take the role of the Hero, and like most heroes, must save the world. Unlike most RPGs, Hero 30 features a collection of levels, each with their own set of objectives. In every level, some evil entity is trying to destroy the world, which leaves the hero with only 30 seconds to save it. In order to accomplish this goal, players will first run around a NES-like 2D world, encountering random battles with overworld enemies. This will earn them both money and experience.

Players will use the earned funds to pay-off the Time Goddess; a deity capable of replenishishing the 30 seconds the Hero has to save the world, however each successive request will cost players 100 more coins than it did the previous time. Coins can also be used to purchase items and health in the towns where the player finds the goddess. The overarching point of the mode is to become strong enough to defeat the evil entity in its castle as quickly as possible. The quicker players accomplish this goal, the higher the rank they will receive come rating time at the end of each level.

The mode is extremely simple in concept and execution, but unbelievably rewarding and fun. Because battling is done through an animation and requires players to provide no input other than running away when necessary, the game keeps a blazingly fast pace. All of the minutae typically associated with RPGs is completely removed here, boiling everything down to the numbers game it really is. Each successive level provides players with more and more complicated tasks in order to reach the castle fight, giving the mode more depth than it appears to have initially.

Interestingly, the mode has an unique approach to death, in which players only truly die if the timer runs down to zero. This concept is carried across the other modes in the game as well. These other four modes, Princess 30, Evil Lord 30, Knight 30, and ad-hoc local multiplayer, are all also enjoyable in their own way.

In Princess 30, players will control a group of knights who carry a rapid-fire bow toting princess who is on a quest to save her father. Like the other modes in the game it features simplified gameplay and a time-based concept. Typically, players will venture out into the world as the princess in order to retrieve some item that will help her father. Along the way, they will have to gun down enemies and even defeat boss monsters. Keeping to the path is necessary to reach the desired destination quickly, and making sure to cross over time recharge pads is also important, and eventually necessary, to win.

Again, the gameplay here is fast-paced and enjoyable. It takes some concepts from a shoot 'em up title and matches it with the theme of the game. The quick levels make it easy to sit down and play for five minutes and still feel as if you have accomplished quite a bit.

Evil Lord 30 takes the concepts of a real-time strategy game, and again, tweaks it to match the style of the game. Players will control the Evil Lord, who (with the push of a button), can summon monsters to fight at his side. Using a Rock-Paper-Scissors style approach, each of the Evil Lord's troops are more or less effective against the human troops, depending on what type of monster is summoned. Players will need to strategically deploy troops in order to succesfully complete the plans of the Evil Lord before sunrise breaks and ruins his "beautiful skin."

Part of the game's success is its great sense of humor as demonstrated across all of the modes, but becomes most apparent in Evil Lord 30. As with the rest of the game, this mode is unique, interesting, and takes a typically long, drawn out concept, and condenses it into a short 30 second time frame. As usual, a mechanic exists to extend the time frame, and as the levels progress it goes from being helpful to necessary.

The final mode, Knight 30, must be unlocked. This mode flips the game's concept on its head, requiring players to force the timer down to zero. Players must use the knight to protect a wizard from the level's enemies. Protecting the wizard is as simple as picking him up and moving him to a safer location while knocking enemies unconscious with your weapon, then picking them up and throwing them out of the way. Moving the wizard causes the timer to stop and will prolong the round. Knight 30 is also entertaining, but along with Evil Lord 30 are the least enjoyable offerings of the title.

Half-Minute Hero is an unbelievably unique title comprised of four fantastic modes. Each of the modes manages to take a genre that is typically complicated and slow and simplify and accelerate it to breakneck speeds. As such, the gameplay is always fulfilling and players will always feel as if they have accomplished a lot after each and every play session. All PSP players should look into Half-Minute Hero, it's one of the best offerings on the system to date.