Although Japanese publisher Irem is best known for games like R-Type and Disaste

[aruljothi]

Release Date: 04/07/2009
ESRB Rating: E10+
Genre: Action
Publisher: Atlus
Developer: Atlus

Although Japanese publisher Irem is best known for games like R-Type and Disaster Report, one of its longer-running series has barely appeared outside Japan. Daiku no Gen-san, a.k.a. Hammerin' Harry, is a simple but satisfying platform action game, and now Atlus has officially brought the series to America with the new PSP game Hammerin' Hero. The "Hero" is Gen, a young man whose carpentry business -- along with his fellow citizens in Beranme Town -- is being oppressed by the dastardly Hyosuke Kurumoku and his big-time construction company. With giant mallet in hand, Gen decides to get rid of Kurumoku and his henchmen, who are causing trouble all over town.

If anything, Hammerin' Hero has a case of cute-n-cleverness. Each stage practically is a "stage," taking place in areas completely different from the last. There's an amusement park, a TV studio, a baseball stadium, and so on. And the paths that Gen runs through often take him through the "back doors" of said stages, like running through a restaurant kitchen, a locker room, and citizens' apartments. Gen also earns different "jobs" (or costumes) that change his weapon and give him different powers. Besides the default carpenter job, Gen can be a baseball player (I actually kind of like this one), a sushi chef, a DJ, and several other crazy occupations. The cuteness extends to the localization, too -- the English dub is well-acted and fits the humor, though it suffers from the usual "they sound older than they look" syndrome of most English anime and games.