Jikandia is a land frozen in time. Now suddenly monsters have shown up and time has began to move forward. In Jikandia: The Timeless Land you can play as either a male or female student. When you are on your way to school with your friends you get summoned from Temtem: a blue bunny-like spirit who needs your assistance to help save Jikandia with your friends by your side.
The gameplay consists of you going to different themed dungeons fighting monsters, grabbing treasure, avoiding traps and beating that final stage boss to move on. Before entering you may choose just how long you would like to stay in the stage for with three minutes to thirty minutes max. The longer you stay in the area, the better your ending stage results will be with some loot as your prize. Between three minute and ten minutes is the most you really have to stay for. Thirty minutes is just pointless for the fact that there really is no special item you gain if you play that long and it gets tiring doing the same thing over and over again.
Each level in the area has a randomized set of rooms where your goal is to reach a door before the time limit is up. You don’t have to reach the door but it will count against your stage results if you don't. Sometimes the doors, enemies and chests will have their own white timers called Just in Timer. Defeat/reach these when the time is on zero and they can lead to some extra bonuses. There are floor tasks that you may complete like collect treasure or get to the next floor which in turn can gain stars leading to some extra power with the press of the 'R' button. Also there are random time-activated events that will either help you by getting rid of traps or warn you about something. The random rooms can be fun but there is a downfall. You will find yourself in places where you can’t be guaranteed you will avoid the traps and enemies sometimes appear in high locations so they will be hard to hit.
Out of all your friends, you can only take two of them with you so it requires some degree of strategy since each character has their own unique weapon in hand. Items exist within the game called Magic Quartz, these give characters boosts to various stats including health points, strength, defense and so on. You will come across these throughout your dungeon exploration, and may also purchase them at the town's shop. So far I have found the weapon shop to be useless with all the loot I own. The weapons are random and I have found all my strongest weapons within the dungeons.
All in all Jikandia: The Timeless Land is not a bad game and can be fun to play in small doses. There is a nice story that never takes itself too seriously. This consistent humor may not entertain everyone, I personally found it to be a little much at times. With the $25 dollar price tag on the Playstation Network it makes a worthwhile addition to your PSP collection. However if you're not sure it's quite for you be sure to try the free demo.
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Graphics |
8.0 |
Cute little character sprites and bold colors gives the game a visual edge. |
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Audio |
8.0 |
Bouncy, magical tunes will keep you going while exploring the dungeons. |
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Single Player
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7.5 |
Three to ten minutes in a dungeon is what you are going to find yourself playing. Thirty is just too boring. |
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Multiplayer |
7.0 |
Up to four players can battle it out in the Jikandia Coliseum. |
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Replay |
7.0 |
One playthrough is likely enough for the typical gamer. |
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Overall |
7.5 |
Jikandia can be fun, perhaps with some small changes it could be even better. Hint: Don’t hit the start button during a cutscene. |
