You have 30 seconds to rush across fields and mountains to stop the evil lord from completing casting his spell to destroy the world. What do you do? Do you visit the town, help the villagers and pray to the time goddess or just rush straight for the big bad and tell him what for with a good beating? That’s the basic premise of Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax from Marvelous Entertainment: take an RPG and condense it down into a tiny fraction of what it was and put a time limit on beating it.
If you have a PSP you may remember this game from 2009 when it first came out. Back then it was just Half Minute Hero, no Super Mega Neo Climax for you. The XBLA version is a port of the original with some touch ups to make it feel fresh. There is a new art style that is very anime-esque (you have the option to change back to the original 8-bit styled graphics). They also retooled the Evil Lord, Princess and Knight 30 modes to feature the same mechanics and game play as the Hero 30 mode instead of varying game types.
Within each level of Hero 30 you are tasked with the same basic end goal, beat the boss before time runs out. There are mechanics to ease this, like pausing time while in a town and being able to pay to reset the clock. The basic RPG mechanics are also present, with a combat system that consists of random encounters where you can Flee (Right and Left Bumpers together) use your item (X) or watch the combat which is completely automated. There is also a small inventory system where you can change your headgear, outfit, shoes, weapon and shield. Leveling is done quickly, taking anywhere from 1 to 3 combats to get a level depending on how high you get. The only downside is that you drop back to your starting level as soon as you beat the boss.
The controls, which really consist of just moving around, are obviously simple to pick up but seem a bit imprecise. This doesn’t help when you are rushing around the level trying to beat it and you waste a few seconds trying to get around a corner. You can use B to dash at the cost of your health, but it is a quick movement option which prevents combat.
The art styles are both interesting, but I found the original 8-bit style a bit hard to play on my TV and stuck to the Anime style. I imagine the 8-bit style was really cool to play with on a handheld but they made the right call to have the game default to the new style for console play. The sound is done in a techno-rock style that can be a tad repetitive, but at least is of a very good quality.
All in all, I am not personally a fan of this game but I can definitely think of some people I know who would love it. At 800 points it is reasonably priced, but as with most games I caution you to give it a go with the trial first.
