by Greg Miller

Without trying to sound like I’m looking to get a quote on the back of the box, the impending release of Half-Minute Hero is currently at the top of the list of reasons why it’s a great time to be a PSP owner. Sure, the PSPgo is here and Sony’s got some big first party stuff coming soon in Jak and Daxter, SOCOM, and LittleBigPlanet, but Half-Minute Hero is just days away, cheap, funny, built for short play sessions, and clever as all hell.

In short, thank you for reading this review. Buy this game.

Oh, you actually want to know what it’s about? OK. Half-Minute Hero is basically a collection of four gameplay modes that revolve around one of four characters — the Hero, the Princess, the Knight, and the Evil Lord. These tales span hundreds of years, but they are all connected by the fact that the Ultimate Evil is back and trying to end the world; it’ll be up to you and these characters to stop the bad men.

Of course, the story is actually in the backseat for most of this game because Half-Minute Hero is so eye-catching and funny. For starters, the game features these carefully drawn images that setup whatever story part you’re about to get into, but once you start playing, you’re treated to this parody of an 8-bit classic. You’re looking at a flat, 2D world where you’re a little sprite zipping around a bright map. When you run into the Time Goddess or villager, their giant blown up sprite will appear on the screen to talk in a blurred, jaggy mess that’s meant to look goofy.

When a carpenter’s wife thanks you for finding her husband’s hammer so that he can work again or you watch your hero rush in from the left and his enemy rush in from the right and the hit points fly off as they run into each other over and over again, it’s going to be hard not crack a smile and find this title earning a special place in your heart.

So, let’s talk about how this title actually plays. The first of the modes is Hero 30. This is the one that’s gotten the most coverage here on IGN. You’ll start as a simple blond boy who gets charged with saving the world. Seems an evil dude has been wandering the countryside giving slightly less evil dudes a spell that destroys the Earth in 30 seconds, and it’s up to you to stop these plots. Along for the ride is the Time Goddess. Aside from briefing you on the situation every time you start a quest, the Goddess will also give you a fresh 30 seconds every time you pray to one of her statues. The catch is that praying costs money, and the price of prayer goes up each time you use it.

Now, you’ll be earning these gold shillings by battling the monsters roaming the maps. Just like the RPGs of old, you’ll walk around the map, enter into a random battle, and be transported to the fight screen. Rather than input any attacks, you and the monster will just run at each other from different sides of the screen while HP flies off of each character. The battle will continue like this until one of your health meters is empty.

When you’re hurtin’ for health, you can pop into the towns you pass on the map (which stops time) and purchase healing items such as herbs and soups. This is also where you’ll get new weapons and armor as well as talk to people to find out about locations you need to hit up.

The battles you’re engaging in are also causing you to level-up at an alarming rate, so expect to be struggling with low level guys one second and creaming them the next. When your level’s to the point that you can cream the baddie casting the spell, “You>Evil” pops up on the screen and you can rush to the boss.

All of that is super-technical and I’m sorry for it. The thing is that Hero 30 is the best mode in the game, and it might not sound awesome until you sit down and play it. When you run into the woods on a map, the fight screen changes to there. Before you set out on a quest, you can dig through all the equipment you’ve purchased and choose what you want to wear. When you start a quest, there’s a big title screen like you’re starting a massive RPG and when you beat said quest, the credits roll like you just put in 35 hours. You can buy and ride a horse, the Goddess is full of funny quips, and one of the girls the Hero befriends at the end actually leads to a touching/bittersweet moment. On top of all that, there are different endings for quests based on how you decided to tackle the situation — befriend someone or ignore them — and you get to fly around on a dragon for a couple of levels and it flips the point of view so you’re flying over the 2D world on a 2D sprite in a 3D way.

It’s just awesome.

In my opinion, Halo 3: ODST is the best Halo game yet. The campaign is shorter than in previous games, but the quality makes for a punchier, action-packed thrill ride from start to finish. That’s about six hours on Heroic difficulty if you’re an experienced shooter like myself. Then there’s the new Firefight mode, where four players fight against waves, rounds, and sets of increasingly difficult Halo enemies. Even more fun, addicting, and offering more replayability than the campaign, Firefight is in large part what makes Halo 3: ODST the best Halo yet.

Because you’ll be exploring the wreckage of New Mombasa at night as the Rookie, the night vision visor shines new light on your tactical situation.

I can’t pass off the shortness of the ODST campaign as worse or on par than Halo 3’s though, because it truly is a more fulfilling experience in every way. The story actually makes sense, and each flashback mission is beautifully crafted to cater towards the elements that make Halo such a great shooter. For example, driving vehicles in Halo is the most responsive and satisfying vehicle experience compared to driving in any other console game, and the Uplift Reserve flashback mission features just that-massive arenas built for epic vehicle combat. Another example is the pure versatility and balance in Halo’s weaponry against the Covenant, where in the Tayari Plaza flashback you’ll be challenged to use every weapon if you’re going to come out alive.

The flashback missions in ODST are Bungie’s best yet; I enjoyed playing them solo and look forward to teaming up cooperatively and playing each level again on the Legendary difficulty.

The Hunters in Tayari Plaza couldn’t come at a more vulnerable moment. You’ll be nearly exhausted after the shootout before these giant worms roll in.

Shocking Flashbacks

Now you might be wondering what a flashback mission is. In Halo 3: ODST you play as not one supersoldier, but four unique ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) soldiers that have been split up from each other. The character you primarily play is the Rookie. Your mission is to regroup with your ODST squad after a botched landing in New Mombasa where each ODST gets split up. You’ll search for beacons that lead back to your squad, but each beacon (or item) has a back story that you’ll play through in the form of a flashback mission. These flashbacks are the stories about what happened to the other ODST soldiers. As you discover more beacons and play more flashbacks you will begin to peace together the full story of what happened to each member of your squad.

The flashback missions are an awesome way to tell the story. They keep you guessing about what happens next, and they can be played in any order. However, even though the missions can be played in any order, my first play through felt as though I was being led through which order the stories are supposed to happen in. During my second play through, I switched the missions up and could tell the stories didn’t transition as smoothly and a scripted order became apparent.