Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? (Video Game Review)
Originally written and posted on June 25, 2009.
Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?
“Prinnies” are tiny disposable peg-legged penguins that are blessed with a pair of superfluous bat wings, sport brown hip-packs, and are as fond of sword based combat as they are of the word “dood.” They are also incredibly fretful, bound to eternal servitude, and violently explode when mishandled. You see, Prinnies are the reincarnated souls of terrible beings from past lives. Their punishment for such crimes is to serve as cannon fodder in the Disgaea games and, in the case of Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? for the PSP, fetch the Ultra Dessert for their cruel Master Etna.
As ridiculously badass as a game featuring a platforming, “dood” quipping, sword swinging penguin already sounds, I have to admit that what really drew me to this game was the allegedly sadistic difficulty. Prinny doesn’t ask you to be the hero; it dares you. The wager is simple. You have 10 in-game hours to traverse ten stages, and you have 1000 lives at your disposal.
Since Prinnies are tragically combustible, Master Etna is kind enough to give you a red scarf that enables you to take three hits before you reach your explosive demise. This is the only act of kindness you will ever receive from the game, and it only applies in the standard difficulty setting. The hard mode does not grant you the same luxury. One hit kills you instantly, rendering the red scarf fashionably useless. I started off playing the hard mode, figuring that I should embrace every handicap in an ostensibly difficult game. After losing 150 Prinnes to the boss of the fourth stage, I declared success mathematically impossible and resigned myself to what the game facetiously calls “casual difficulty.” This is a furiously difficult game reminiscent of the platform hells offered by the early Castlevanias and Ghosts ‘n Goblins, and a manner of hard not seen all too often these days.
What makes Prinny a throwback to the brutal 2D platformers of consoles past are the controls and combat mechanics. The few moves you have at your disposal are simple to execute and wonderfully mapped, but they’re incredibly rigid. Jumping in particular is an exercise likely to make some Prinny players turn their PSP’s into a DS. As soon as you hit that jump button, you’re committed to wherever you’re going. You can’t change direction mid-leap to avoid an obstacle or pitfall unbeknownst to you, and you can’t control how far into the abyss you’ve just leapt. Once you take flight, you’re at the mercy of the engine, for better or for worse.
Needless to say, if you’re ever going to make those Prinnies last until the final exchanges, a relatively cautious approach is demanded of the player. Constantly dashing through a level cowboy-style is a sure-fire way to kill a sizable chunk of your Prinny reserves, especially if you’re not learning from your mistakes. This is particularly true in the last stages where a certain degree of finesse is necessary in order to make the final treacherous leaps to victory. Even on the standard difficulty, it’s not uncommon to go through dozens of Prinnies simply trying to figure out how to proceed safely.
And even if you do somehow make a flawless run to the end of the stage on your first Prinny, there’s always the level boss to deal with. With the exception of the first boss of the first stage, all of them will decimate your hapless peg-legged penguins. Each boss is a murderous challenge sure to try the patience of even the most Zen-like players. The small ones are incredibly nimble, the big ones use devastating attacks, and most would be guilty of Prinny genocide.
In order to survive these encounters, the player must deconstruct their opponent’s tactics. This involves determining how they respond to your actions, learning how to successfully react to their attacks, and discovering the opportune moment to strike. I’d say it’s like playing an exceptionally lethal game of chess, but this is giving the AI too much credit. Most bosses have no more than a half dozen manoeuvres and their attack patterns are relatively predictable. When battling the smaller bosses, the main challenge lies in baiting attacks and then sneaking in with your counter. However with the larger bosses, it’s more a matter of memorizing the way they move around the screen and patiently applying a “hit and run” method. The last boss, Sir Sweet, is especially guilty of this, owing in equal parts to his own size and the small field of battle. The order of his attacks never changes, so it basically boils down to remembering his routine and how to sneak your shots in between the cracks.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking the battle is magically easier when your approach it logically. Victory was often one miscalculation away more times than my frustration-addled mind could remember, especially during my brief excursion into the hard mode. The stun attack in particular has the crippling deficiency of not being able to interrupt the movements of certain bosses unless it’s their last hit before the temporary knockout. This means that while you may have just landed the blow successfully, they’re still on a collision course with you that renders your current Prinny another victim of carelessness. Put simply, just because you know how to go into the fight doesn’t guarantee a win in your pocket. The margin for error is always impossibly slim and the slightest error usually results in a well-done bird.
What does magically come about is the satisfaction and pride associated with triumphing over the beast that took 92 Prinnies worth of trial and error to fell. While there are loads of hellish platformers out there, few of them manage to be worth half a damn when they neglect to reward the player for their patience and effort. And this is where Prinny shines. Between the colourful presentation, vibrant soundtrack, and hilariously energetic dialogue, is a game that is a real pleasure to toil through. And when you do reach the end of your quest, you will have accomplished something truly worth bragging about. Beating standard mode will turn you into a man, regardless of your current gender assignment. I can only assume that becoming one of Hell’s Finest turns you into a God.
If you can appreciate the challenge that is so very rarely offered by most games these days, then by all means buy Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? You’d be hard pressed to find any test quite like it.
Note: Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? comes bundled with Prinny: Can This Really Be the OST?. The in-game music is great, but not the sort you’d want to listen to on your way to the grocer. A neat bonus to be sure, but not exactly worthwhile.
Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? is exclusive to the PSP.
Comments are closed.