A great side-scrolling action title from the R-Type devs.
Hammerin' Hero wasn't a series I was familiar with until this release on PSP, but from what I understand it's been a semi-long running series from developer Irem, the guys who are probably most famous for the shooter series R-Type. After playing this first localized release though, I'm pretty anxious to try out other games in the series, what with this one delivering on some tough, but not quite masochistic, 2D action.
The game stars the diminutive title hero, Gen, as he battles it out against the evil Kurumoku construction company that's been terrorizing locals in Gen's homeland. The stages are divided up into single servings, with each stage representing a location theme like a Baseball field, kitchen/restaurant, haunted house, and so on. Gen's primary occupation is apparently a carpenter, but he can earn and take on other job types as you progress, including a DJ, Sushi Chef, Baseball player, etc. The jobs themselves each come with certain gameplay changes, and some are required for certain stages, like the underwater themed level requires you to use the diver form. You can switch out jobs in between levels; in addition to having dishes prepared that will sometimes alter your job on the fly if you eat one during a stage.
As far as gameplay goes, it's not exactly an innovative title, but it has enough charm to make up for it. It does do some fun things using the background and foreground elements in combination with the two main attacks that Gen can use, one of which is an overhead swipe while the other swings on a horizontal line, and can knock objects into the background for some interactions. The enemies you typically encounter are pretty easy to knock out, they don't really swarm you or use any type of devious tactic, and instead the challenge comes from the one-hit kill rule of the game. You can get power-ups that will allow Gen to take a hit or two before dying, but for the most part you'll want to do your best to evade every attack, which is definitely more challenging than you might think. The real charm of the game comes from the various level interactions, and the mid to end level boss fights. One level that stood out for me at the halfway point is the baseball field, which literally has you just rounding the bases to complete the level, with the pitcher, a Kurumoku employee, tossing baseballs at you as you round the bases and take on the other enemies. The end boss is a giant robotic catcher that uses his mitt to block attack and fires missiles out of chest that you need to bat back at him. Just about every level has some type of zany element to it, and they're all certainly unique and worth checking out. They're also fairly short, and pretty lenient with checkpoints, so while you only have two lives for each stage, even if you come to a game over it doesn't take that long to get back to where you were.
Along with the enemy and level interactions, the random citizens you come across will want your help by batting away their problems and emotions, which are shown as little word balloon animations. There's a book in the menu that keeps track of all the people you've helped, and some of them are easy to miss or difficult to hit, most likely to keep players coming back to the stages after they've finished the game. There's not a great deal of replay value outside of finishing this book, but the game is score based and keeps track of your hi-scores for each stage, so if you're into that then you'll have a reason to play it a few times over.
Still, it's a fun game, and not nearly as punishing on the difficult side as something like Prinny is, so I'd say most people could jump in and enjoy it. The levels are well thought out, the controls work extremely well, and it's a really nice looking title on the PSP. The localization effort by Atlus is once again top notch, and there's a lot of humor to the dialogue, and the voice acting isn't half bad. The soundtrack is pretty great too, and there are a few stages that have some fairly memorable tracks to them. I definitely suggest PSP owners pick this one up, it's a great 2.5D action title that's very reminiscent of something from the Neo Geo era for me, and I think a lot of people will enjoy it.