Although it doesn't have the biggest name or the best graphics, Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure proves to be one of the most compelling action/RPG games currently available for the Sony PSP. It's full of memorable characters, a unique story and a lot of short levels that are perfect for a portable video game system. It may not be as good as The Legend of Zelda and some of the other games it is clearly influenced by, but that shouldn't keep you from having a great time while playing this quirky action/RPG.
Gurumin tells the story of a young girl named Parin who is shipped off to spend some time with her grandfather in a small town full of adults. But just as Parin is starting to accept that she's going to be the lone kid in town, she stumbles across a clumsy little girl who apparently can't be seen by other people in the town. It turns out that this mystery girl is actually a monster, and she comes from a whole town full of monsters. But don't worry too much for Parin's safety, because these monsters mean her no harm ... heck, I'm not sure they could hurt her even if they wanted to.
Unfortunately Parin has some pretty bad timing, because the day she discovers Monster Village is also the day that a group of evil creatures known as Phantoms destroys the surprisingly peaceful monster town and kidnaps many of the inhabitants. Luckily Parin is more than willing to help these friendly monsters rebuild their living area and save their friends ... but then again, what else is she going to do, hang out with old people?
Parin's adventure is pretty straight forward, she must go from area to area battling her way through short levels until she finds all of the furniture (and consumer electronics) that has been scattered around the map. Her weapon of choice ends up being this large magic drill that once was used by another heroic human to combat the evil overtaking the world. Along the way Parin will be able to add abilities to the drill (such as fire, lightning and ice) and buy new special attacks, all of which goes a long way to make the action elements more fun and diverse.
At first Parin will be limited to where she can travel on the map, you see the Phantoms have covered the world in this strange dark smoke. Much of the game is spent going to the locations you can get to, killing all of the enemies in side, taking all of the money and special items, and then retrieving some sort of furniture. After you've done all that you can travel back to Monster Village and return the furniture (which includes a table, stereo, shoe rack, lamp, etc.) to its rightful owner who is busy trying to rebuild his or her (or its) house. Complete one of these quests and another part of the map is opened up and you're off on another exciting quest to kill enemies, find the money and retrieve the furniture.
The nice thing is that there are usually a few different levels you can tackle at any given time, so you won't have to beat the levels in some predetermined order. Along the way you will also run into new characters (many of whom will help you on your quest) and large boss battles. The bosses in Gurumin are generally large and difficult, but like any good boss, they also have a predictable pattern that you will have to use against them. One thing that is cool is that many of the bosses are introduced long before you have to battle them, so they feel like they are part of a larger story and not some tacked on beast. Beat the boss and you'll save one of the kidnapped residents of Monster Village, who will be excited to go back home (and will need you to help them find more furniture).
But Gurumin is about more than just furniture, it also gives you the ability to buy special abilities and clothing items that will enhance your stats. For example, you'll be able to buy a bandana that will make your attacks even more powerful, a gas mask that will keep you from taking injured by poisonous plants and goggles that will allow you to travel through water without being hurt. You will also be able to upgrade these items to make them even more effective, assuming you have enough money. The special abilities are also very useful, and in an inspired move Falcom has made somewhat challenging the pull off. I won't go as far as to say they are hard to manage, but most of them do require you to learn some sort of D-pad and button movement. This means that when you're in the middle of a battle you will have to rotate your D-pad (or analog stick) around 360 degrees and then push the appropriate button, which goes a long way to give these attacks some importance. Had they been simply mapped to a button there would be no reason to use anything but those special abilities, it's nice to see the developers adding in some risk reward to this adventure game.
While early on it feels like all of Gurumin's action is going to take place in large castle areas, the game quickly switches gears and gives us quite a few other diverse locations to fight. A number of the levels will take place in caves and caverns, and when you're done with that you will be able to journey to a forest and then even a snow-covered mountain. These levels don't just look different; they also offer different enemies and obstacles, some of which include slippery ice and plenty of ridiculous floating platforms to worry about. Thankfully if you decide you're sick of one particular area you can move across the map and tackle some other area that looks (and feels) completely different. None of these levels are extremely difficult, but as you get deeper into the game you will certainly find that you have to be a little more careful in what you do and where you jump.
The reason all of this works so well is because Gurumin is actually a lot of fun to play. While some of the combat can be a little repetitious (and the game is full of not very original moments) it's a game that is hard to put down. The various levels you play through aren't very long, so you never feel like it's real work to get through them. Instead I found that as soon as I got one done and another part of the world map opened up I couldn't wait to see what the next area would look like.
Another thing Gurumin has going for it is that the story, while silly and overly animated, is actually pretty fascinating. The dialog and story elements are a little unusual, but no more so than your usual Japanese role-playing game story. Even better is the voice acting, which includes some genuine voice acting veterans, such as Justin Shenkarow, Amber Hood and Kim Mai Guest (who has worked on close to 70 different video games). Some of the acting is a little over the top, but that's perfectly understandable given the animated nature of the game.
The game itself is actually pretty long, it will take the average player a good 15 hours to go through every level and beat every boss. And even if you do beat every level, there are real incentives for you to go back through each level again to get a better score (which you can use to unlock more clothing and special abilities). Better still, there are five different difficulties for you to go through, each giving you the ability to unlock bonus game modes and even another playable character. If you really sit down and want to do everything in this game you could be at it for dozens of hours, which makes this a solid portable adventure game.
While the graphics aren't nearly as detailed as some of the other PSP games currently on the market, they have a simplistic look that works for the most part. It would have been nice to see a little more time spend on the level details, but the game has a unique look that generally works. The characters are also good looking, because they are both large and unique. Some of the monsters you run into are very unusual ... which makes sense considering that they are monsters. The game has a nice art style, even if this isn't the graphical show piece game you might be looking for.
With its fun story, memorable characters and exciting combat, Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is an easy game to recommend. While it looks like the type of game that only kids will like, there is a surprising amount of depth to be found here and an adventure that even grown-ups will get into. It's not without a few unoriginal moments, but thanks to the other elements being so strong these complaints are hardly worth bringing up. If you're looking for a great action/RPG for the PSP then you can't go wrong with Gurumin.
