Toronto Thumbs

REVIEW
Hammerin’ Hero

Since we all share in the spoils of the human condition, we also share a universal sense of identity as “the little guy” against the forces around us, regardless of our station – forever locked in a strange and strained relationship with the machinery that both sustains and enslaves us. Whether we feel it at a government office, a corporate institution, or a certain deli that chooses to no longer accept my business, we’ve all experienced situations that cause us to fantasize about raising our fists against a systematic force seemingly intent on imposing a continual oppression we silently accept with adulthood. Like many of my peers, I’ve dreamed of launching a guerrilla insurgency against that machinery from the dense jungles of Canada, but this writing gig is very cushy and I’m veering dangerously off topic. My point is that I can sympathize with Hammerin’ Hero’s Gen, who is forced to raise his carpenter’s hammer against the evil but humorously vague development schemes the Kuromoku gang has for his small town.

IREM’s Hammerin’ Hero lets players take the fight to “The Man” with full force, squaring off against an army of labourers, minions, and the obligatory mad scientist, all bent on thwarting the socialist styled upheaval. Taking advantage of the PSP, the plot unfolds with an animated style suited to a Sunday morning cartoon, creating a natural personality that works far better for a game. As a bonus it includes both English and Japanese audio tracks, and though the English VO is suitable, the option allows me to savour the emphasis of its original recording like all good foreign media should.

Gen’s primary weapon against corporate evil can be used in two ways. He can pound enemies with the motion of driving a spike into the ground, but can also swing the hammer sideways. The effect smacks enemies into the background with a satisfying splat that occasionally offers advantages. Gen also possesses a limited amount of power attacks per stage, with refills occasionally available along the way. Adjusting the difficulty determines the amount of hits Gen can take rather than changing the placement of opponents. Gen’s movements are heavy and lumbering as he charges into the enemy with direct purpose, creating a vehicle focussed more on breathing in the stage design, which becomes the central attraction here.

After replaying the game several times now, I’m obligated to mention the length of the stages. There’s no denying that they are all varying degrees of short, and yet where this would be the death spiral of most games, it’s the beginning of where Hammerin’ Hero takes a very unique upward turn toward a more refined and focussed gaming experience. Maybe you remember your parents being upset that you beat that expensive game so quickly, only to find you replaying it until the cart burned out? This difference between long and short is less like apples and oranges and more like the difference between dogmatic design trends and innovative, nostalgic flavoured moments of brilliance. Hammerin’ Hero takes the latter approach, with every stage following a progression of increasingly bizarre narrative that builds true sequential moments of wonder.

Each stage is dramatically different from the others, with only one that I would accuse of feeling obligatory – underwater sequences give me the bends. The entire focus of the game hinges on the whimsical nature of these stages, in many ways as marvellous in design principle as LittleBigPlanet. The comparison is apt where there is an intention to create unique interaction that builds the game’s character while feeding off of it. But the comparison is also deceptive because this is neither about a sense of movement or a visceral experience. The path through these stages may have a secret or two to discover, but is decidedly linear. What Hammerin’ Hero focuses on is a sense of wonder – the type of splendidly innocent moments that Nintendo built an empire on once or twice. It’s also about little surprises the make us smile while holding that PSP in our hands, and about a feeling of excitement that overcomes us as we hurriedly move toward the next surprise while our icy hearts melt with a few of the moments we remember from our gaming childhood. If I had to summarize this experience – and I do – I would suggest that Hammerin’ Hero feels very much like an arcade game, alive with the subtle nuances and character that never translated well to consoles back in the day. There is some slight multiplayer consideration, but the title stands out more as a personal experience that offers some very different reasons for replay, namely that it’s simply satisfying to play from start to finish.

The sometimes subtle, often sublime design of the stages surfaces most often in the many small ways in which the background integrates into the foreground. Players will have the opportunity to interact with the scenery at several points, and continually engage in play segments directly emerging from the stage. To put it simply, what’s present within each stage largely makes sense, and you can consider just how rare that is in recent games at your leisure. The interactive possibilities reach a point of brilliance when you realize that Gen’s hammer can solve any problem, including emotional ones. Through each stage, various people in the background will have emotional issues that are visualized by coloured bubbles, which Gen can resolve by smacking them with his hammer. Freed of frustration, these characters will then aid Gen’s progress. It all culminates in the most insightful moment of adult humour I’ve yet seen in a videogame, when Gen is confronted by his love interest, who doubting his affections begins breathing fire while Gen must dodge from side to side to attack her surfacing doubt bubbles. If this scene doesn’t make you pause for a moment, you must be enjoying a long-term helping of bachelorhood.

Aiding the unique design of each stage, Gen unlocks costumes as he progresses that change his career. Beginning as a carpenter, Gen will also try life as a D.J., Comedian, Man in Black, Diver, and Sushi Chef among others. And rather than serving as mere aesthetic adjustments, these wardrobe changes effect Gen’s power attack, primary weapon, and aid the progress of some stages – for instance dressing as the man in black will allow you to be ignored by several security guards on the second last stage. Several stages also take advantage of a screen pivoting technique that simulates the sense of climbing the scaffolding of a building or rounding the bases of a ball game. Naturally it all leads to a series of fairly imaginative boss fights – whether against an inflatable Godzilla clone or a construction worker with a house strapped to his head.

Add to this a sense of humour that leaves a definite impression of IREM having had quite a bit of fun with the title – an idea enforced by the appearance of a very iconic ship and a mech-inspired surprise at the end - and Hammerin’ Hero becomes less about the hardcore experience I might have expected, and more about serving a unique and personable treat that will likely remain a rarity among other PSP titles. Much like R-Type Final, it speaks to IREM’s ability to craft quality over quantity, creating an experience that fits the PSP as much as it speaks to that particular handheld’s legacy of quality versus shovelware. There are just so many moments you want to tell someone about, creating a game that is more about a chain of great moments rather than tedious and repetitive game-play - one that players will be apt to return to repeatedly.

Posted in PSP, Reviews |