Most of the RPG titles for PSP have been entertaining and deep enough, but few have been really "fun." I know, the elusive fun factor. Fun to me is when I look forward to jumping back into a game and I'm excited to keep playing and see what is around the next corner. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is all that and more. The hardest part for some gamers may be getting over the cover art. Looking at the game art and screenshots, it is tempting to write off Gurumin as a kiddie game. There is something to this, in the sense that Gurumin doesn't explore deep religious or environmental themes. It doesn't portray complex character relationships. Instead, it offers a gamer the chance to explore a very cool, creative world. The characters are awesome. The art is stylized and the design has lots of neat touches. The main character changes headgear during the game and uses a weapon that morphs very subtly. The execution of this is slick and you'll find some of the costume changes hilarious. The dungeons are varied and have lots of twists and turns. If that wasn't enough there is nice music, sound effects and (gasp) voice acting! It has been some time coming, but quality voice acting in a niche game like this really sets the bar for other developers. Not all the dialogue is spoken, but the cutscenes really shine and make Gurumin feel like a big production.

Among its other distinctive qualities, Gurumin manages to make the Action/RPG work where others have failed. Too often these become very formula with most of the strategic aspects of an RPG watered down. The so-called action that most games feature is not more than running around and pressing a button to attack or another button to cast magic. Gurumin makes battling strategic in the sense that armor and weapon use must be calculated to address enemy strengths and weaknesses. The action is built on a library of moves and combos that grow as you progress through the game. Characters in the human village that serves as your corporeal base of operations will offer to sell you items or upgrade your existing items. Gurumin doesn't offer much depth in terms of equipment or weapon combinations, but you can carry a few variations and choose what best suits the environment.

Gurumin is built around exploration of a series of dungeons where bad guys called Phantoms have taken over. The main character gets friendly with the good guys and they implore her to help them defeat the Phantoms and their master, The Prince. This is standard stuff with a twist where the good guys end up being monsters. For a little girl on her own in a boring town, hanging out with a bunch of monsters sounds fun. When the Phantom menace arises, it will take all the resources and wits the little girl can muster to set things right in Monster Village.

Each dungeon includes lots of secret items and areas. Gurumin even synchs with the PSP calendar to feature special items on national holidays. Finding secret items in the landscape is made easier because of the weapon that the girl, Parin, uses. Early in the game, she pulls a drill out of the ground with a "sword in the stone" flourish. Yes, a drill. If you don't know how a drill can be used as a weapon, you haven't seen enough slasher flicks... Luckily Gurumin doesn't go in for the yucky, red stuff. Everything is nice and clean, but the drill becomes an amazing weapon. Charging and leveling up the drill is an important connection to the RPG world. Without this and some features like upgrading armor, there wouldn't be much RPG included in this Action/RPG. Dungeons are short and fast-paced, so replay value is high.

There are two settings as you begin the game. The harder difficulty robs you of some life points when you have to restart, and the easier lets you pick up a new game without any penalty. Otherwise the option to set difficulty is pretty token. Gurumin doesn't have any random encounters, so if you're a gamer irritated by that aspect of traditional RPGs you'll enjoy playing this. The pace of battles is brisk and real-time; those used to sitting around thinking about which special item or spell to use may have a hard time adjusting. After I got my brain around Gurumin as a game where some twitch reflexes count, I really started enjoying the story and the character interaction. There's less gray matter required to play Gurumin than some other RPGs that require powerleveling, but anyone can grasp the essentials of the game enough to play to completion. You are even graded on each dungeon so you can go back to improve your score.

Gurumin has a fairly complicated control scheme. Since this is a 3D, real-time environment, there isn't any break between exploring the world and engaging in battle. Jumping is key to exploring the world and becomes a strategy in battle. Jumping and attacking can be powered up if you have the timing right. Enemies within range will show up differently on the screen and when you leap in to attack, you'll see little stars moving together in a circle around the enemy. If you strike at the moment the stars are aligned, you'll earn more points and land a special attack. These are hard to perfect, but worth it in terms of damage. There are also special attacks keyed to button combos. Some of the combos take practice... just like a real action game! Other things that have been part of Action/RPG titles in the past include moving objects and crates to find secrets. Those are present here so genre fans will get theirs.

If you have played a real-time or Action/RPG, you owe it to yourself to check out Gurumin. The game is a total sleeper and will end up on many lists by the end of this year for best in the genre. The combination of a lightweight but entertaining story and some very strong play mechanics is on target. Gamers looking for something between a traditional RPG and a straight Action game will find it here. Don't judge this book by its cover because Gurumin is a rocking RPG by any definition.