Have you ever sat down to enjoy a video game but didn’t have much time to play, only to find out the next thing you have to do is tromp through a really long dungeon or fight a really lengthy boss? Well, now you can choose how long your quests are with Jikandia: The Timeless Land for PSP.

In the game, you play as a boy or girl and on the way to school; you and your friends get whisked away to another world where you are tasked with saving it from the evil King of Time. You do this by venturing through random dungeon mazes where you defeat enemies, collect items, and beat a boss at the end.

The gimmick in Jikandia is that you can set the time that you spend in each dungeon. Anywhere from 3 to 30 minutes. The longer you stay in a dungeon, the better your chances of you getting more rare items. The game will calculate how many rooms you’ll need to enter before beating a boss, but if the time runs out, you won’t be penalized too badly. But you’ll still need to start the dungeon over again. The mazes aren’t the only thing that is timed. Some enemies, treasures, and even doors have little timers over them, and if you defeat the bad guys or open the treasure chests and doors before the time runs out, there’s a better chance you’ll get a rare item or bonus.

Gameplay is similar to a 2-D platformer hack and slash, and each dungeon area is like a small room with obstacles and enemies. It almost reminds me of classic arcade maze games like Bubble Bobble. You can have up to three friends in your party, and can switch them out before you enter a dungeon. Some of the items you can find in the mazes include gems you can equip for stat boosts, healing items, and better weapons, as well as money to buy more stuff in town. But finding rare treasures isn’t as rewarding as you might think.

The retro graphics are charming, but sometimes the small text and visuals make things hard to see. While Jikandia offers some refreshingly classic style gameplay and creative ideas, the game is so simplistic that it feels like it should’ve been a cheap DSiWare or PSN Mini title instead. One good thing is that if you download it to your game card, it doesn’t take up much memory at all.

Kid Factor:

Jikandia: The Timeless Land is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, and Mild Suggestive Themes. While you do smack monsters with weapons, they only fly off the screen when defeated. The language and suggestive themes are used sparingly in the text only. Honestly, I’d be OK with kids of any age playing this. They’ll appreciate the simple colorful graphics and easy to understand gameplay, but reading skill is still a must for all the text. Although some kids might get bored with the game’s simplicity. At least this is a game where you can set how long your kid can play pretty easily.

Tags: Game Reviews