Case Cover
Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure
Case Cover
Game File
Publisher: Mastiff
North America Release Date: February 12, 2007
Number of Players: 1
Wi-fi Mode: None
I decided to get this game mainly it was made by Falcom. Liking most of that company's games, it was almost a no-brainer for me to get it. Although it's a bit childish in terms of its cuteness, I decided to get it anyways since I'm into anime related stuff.
About the game
Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is a direct port of the PC game. It's a 3D action RPG game where you control the main heroine, Parin. It plays from a third-person view. The firmware requirement is 2.82.
Parin moves into her grandfather's house when her parents are going for another exploration. The town that Parin moves into has no children since all the people there are adults & the town is a mining town. However, she meets a monster named Pino in town & only Parin can see her. It turns out that children can only see monsters up until they reach a certain age. Pino takes her to Monster Village by going to a doorway that connects her town to theirs & makes friends with the monsters there. However, Phantoms come to invade Monster Village & kidnap some of Parin's friends. Using the monster's legendary weapon, a drill, she uses it to fight the Phantoms & save her friends & Monster Village.
Graphics
Gurumin uses 3D polygons. You can see the pointy edges & parts where they don't connect properly. In other words, the space between the polygons. They are quite wide. However, the cuteness level is quite high. Parin looks adorable, especially when you put the headgears on her. The monsters have a mixed balance. That's based on personal opinion. As for the backgrounds, they are done quite well. The small details looks pretty good as you can see the cracks & patterns pretty well. The colours have a mixture of bright for the characters & dull for the background. Strangely enough, they mix pretty well.
The camera views are a bit of the dizzy side for me. I must be getting old as I felt a little sick on how the camera turns to get Parin in full view. When she's too close to a wall, you can either see a black see-through of her or a first person view. When she's staring at a wall very close, you see the wall very close & for some reason I get a headache seeing it very close. The speed of the camera is fast as well.
For the cut scenes, the graphics used is the same as the gameplay ones. Nothing different. Little the gameplay, the movements are very smooth & flowing. Very nicely done with no signs of choppy or missing frames.
Music & Sounds
The sound effects have that cute touch. The jumps is one example of this. There is a large number of realistic sounds such as the crumpling of walls & the drilling.
The clarity of the sounds are pretty good. I didn't notice any fuzzes.
The music is not too bad. Mainly light cute stuff. The music really makes it like a children's game.
The voices here are in English & Japanese (only available as an unlockable feature when you beat the game once). The English isn't too bad. I didn't like it much, but it was ok enough for a young audience. However, the voices don't match the movements of the mouths. They are totally off cue. One reason for it would be the script & how the mouths are originally done for a Japanese cast. For the Japanese voices, I haven't heard them yet. But they aren't available during gameplay. It's only for cut scenes.
Gameplay
The controls are nice & loose for this 3D action RPG. You actually can control your character pretty well in terms of where you want her to go. However, it's so loose that you may be running in circles at times when you mix in the camera view controls. Personally, I think the camera is done nicely. However as mentioned before, I felt very sick playing this game. Just around five minutes into the gameplay, I felt like vomiting. Probably because the character moves very fast. At times, I actually stop & rest or play another game.
Because of it's easy button controls, the game is very easy to pick up. I played the game & started whacking things around in no time. It's actually very fun to use the drill to brake everything in sight & the game encourages this. Special moves aren't too hard. Difficult at first, but you get the hang of it very quickly.
Saving the game isn't a major problem. You can save anywhere in the town & dungeon. You can't save on the world map though. Of course, cut scenes can't be saved as well. However, when you save in a dungeon, you will be set back to the dungeon entrance when you load your game. Not the best if you are planning to save the game somewhere in the middle or near the end. So, the sleep mode would be the best option for those situations.
Loading times aren't too bad. The longest I got was roughly 20 seconds. The fastest was 3. On average, I get around 5 - 10 seconds. The game loads when you go to towns, dungeons, or inside buildings & houses. The longest loading times occur here & it gets a bit awkward at times. The loading during a dungeon isn't too bad as they are quick. So, gameplay battles aren't hindered much.
The story is pretty simple like a children's story. However, it's a bit entertaining to keep your interest level up.
Extras, Bonuses, & Secrets
The game has unlockable side quests & a lot of costumes for Parin. Most of the unlockable stuff appears after you complete the game once. Also, some of these features are only unlocked in certain difficultly levels. The game also has a second playable character which you can play the game as. Aside from these, there's also an album where you can view of pics that you find in the game.
Replay Value
Because the game forces you to play all the difficulty levels to get some of the items, you can be playing this over & over. There are five difficulty levels, so it can keep you busy. However, the game can be complete in ten hours if you play it normally without doing extra stuff. So, it can be a double-edge sword where you can be playing this a number of times where it's almost equal to other game that has a 50 hours of gameplay. Nevertheless, the side quests & hunting for all the costumes is enough to keep you going.
Overall Conclusion
If you don't mind playing some cute childish games, Gurumin is a good choice. The 3D action is easy to pick up & fun for all ages. Plus, the story is quite interesting & well done even though it's simple & childish.
I give Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure a 8/10. The story is nice & the game play is quite fun & easy to understand. You'll be using that drill like it was your favourite toy. However, if you are a little gamer with poor eyes like me, you may feel sick playing this game due to the fast movements & camera views.
Last updated on August 15, 2007
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