If at all else the Xbox Live Version of Half Minute Hero is still a fast paced frantic RPG against the clock.
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade
Developer: Marvelous Entertainment
Publisher: Rising Star Games
Genre: Fantasy Role Playing
Age Rating: 12+ PEGI
Release Date: June 29th 2011
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Game Score: 7.5/10
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Summery:
If at all else the Xbox Live Version of Half Minute Hero is still a fast paced frantic adventure against the clock.
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With a concept of Half Minute Hero on the PSP, you had just 30 seconds to complete your quest to defeat the Evil Lord and save the world. 2 Years ago on the PSP it was a fast paced and frantic RPG experience and now Half Minute Hero makes a quick time appearance on Xbox Live under it's name Super Mega Neo Climax. It's a HD remake of the same PSP adventure that carries the same formula that fans remember from 2 years ago. It manages to be as frantic as it's PSP counterpart but time isn't the only thing that's against you this time around.
Half Minute Hero follows the story where different heroes have there own stories each with their own conflicts to deal within the time limit of 30 seconds. Hero 30 follows the main hero in which he must stop an Evil Lord which has the Spell of Destruction which will destroy the world, Evil Lord 30 has one of the Evil Lords which has betrayed his master and plans to destroy statues of his former master, Princess 30 has to find a cure for her Father illness and Knight 30 follows his duty to protect his Sage and also guide her carefully to stop the Evil Lord. The storyline is impressive to follow with it's cheeky humor and funny characters but unless you've played the PSP version you'll find that there it hasn't got the same video game style references that it had before which is a shame.
The main formula with Half Minute Hero is that you have 30 seconds to clear the quest before it's too late. What's added to the package this time is the Online Leaderboards and online play which is supposed to be as frantic as the Single Player. The online mode called Super Hero Wars puts up to 4 players through 10 different locations and their goal is to grind, do quests and then finish the boss off in the fastest time possible. Unfortunately for me I was unable to go against someone for the sake of this review, I tried for a few minutes but no one showed up to challenge on it but nonetheless it's enjoyable to take the experience online with up to 3 other players and be a dirty cheater to the other player with you being able to buy equipment before your opponent so they're left with weak equipment.
The main campaign in Half Minute Hero focuses on Hero 30. It utilizes the RPG fashion of fighting monsters to earn Gold and EXP to become stronger but the game spices a few things like in the PSP version. In it you'll follow over 30 different Levels each with different sets of quests alongside the main objective which is to face the evil lord within 30 seconds before it strikes zero. In order to reset the timer you'll meet the Time Goddess and she has a secret ability to turn back the timer back. You donate money to one of her statues and the timer is restarted but with each use the costings increase so you should be careful making you move on with the Objective. When in a Village or a Castle the time stops allowing you to shop for items and equipment needed or to interact with an NPC to give you some clues to your next objective or to assist you in your goal. If you're playing the game on the Hard setting (Which is unlocked after beating all the scenarios.) the timer does not stop regardless forcing to act faster. While out in the field you'll travel through Forests, Caves and Secret passages which will reveal either hidden treasure for your next goal or rescuing an NPC that needs help from the monsters.
While exploring you'll easily run into random encounters which are automatic and you control the character to either use an item if needed or to flee from a battle. You can also dash your way through areas to make traveling and battles faster but this drains your Health. Whenever you get KO'd in battle you'll be sent to the last visited village and hopely with time left you can restock and reset the timer to try again or to restart the level from scratch. With that said in each you'll always start off at level but grinding is very because nearly any encounter can give enough EXP to Level up. Later on in the game the quests will begin to give you different paths to follow as well as different situations to overcome, these involve either stopping a Volcano at a set timer, wearing a pair of swim-trunks to swim from islands to another or to avoid an mountain avalanche as it can strip you to your underwear. There are also some unique equipment that you'll find throughout the campaign with each having it's own individual stats and you'll be amused to find items like a Ten Gallon Hat. Upon completing each stage you'll be rewarded with either new equipment for the next challenge or a title depending on the actions you took during the stage. You'll also have the option of replaying the levels upon completion to either get title you missed, follow one of the branching paths or to beat record times which can be uploaded onto online Leaderboards which adds plenty of replay value.
With all it's fast paced RPG action against the clock it begins to show it's issues. In this version the controls don't feel as fluid as the PSP version, this is because of how stiff your movement is. You can move with either the Analog stick or using the D-Pad but sometimes the controls end up putting in the wrong which kills off your seconds. You'll need to be precise of using the D-Pad before it pulls you into the wrong direction.
The main issue to address is that if you've played the PSP version before and enjoyed the extras on it then on this version the extras are downgraded and here's why. The 3 extra scenarios on this version due to the limited memory for an Xbox Live game couldn't keep the game formula from before and instead made them to follow the same gameplay formula as Hero 30. Another issue with them is that each of the unlocked scenarios only have 1 Level and they're only brief so sadly you won't find the same enjoyment with the extras or any other amusing video game references here which is a disappointment. The last 2 scenarios Hero 300 and the sadistic Hero 3 still remain the same with fastest time to complete them before the time runs with no goddess in Hero 300 and a quick rapid dash in Hero 3. Dispute these minor flaws Half Minute Hero on Xbox Live still manages to carry it's high points that what praised the PSP version. There's plenty of replay value to be found here from Online play, Leader-boards and 12 unlockable achievements ensuring that Heros can replay for better times against the clock to save the world.
Half Minute Hero gave players an 8 bit and 16 bit style feel of the classic RPG's dating back to the early Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games which remains true here but in this version it also includes the redrawn cartoon artwork with refined sprite details but it lacks much animation and doesn't give out much thrills throughout the cutscenes, you'll most likely be better with the classic graphics if you prefer.
To gamers who have played the game on the PSP will right at home with the Xbox Live. It's fast and frantic with plenty of replay value to any gamer willing to speed things up with their RPG's. Sure it doesn't carry all the points seen in the PSP version but If at all else the Xbox Live Version of Half Minute Hero is still a fast paced frantic adventure against the clock.
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The Pros:
1. Fast paced and frantic as it's PSP counterpart
2. Several side-quests and leader-boards which add plenty of replay value
3. Nicely redrawn graphics with option for classic graphics
The Bads:
1. Stiff Movement controls
2. Extra Scenarios are downgraded from the PSP version
3. Barely anyone plays this online
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (BlaZer91)
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