The Longest Five Minutes Reviews
The Longest Five Minutes condenses the overall JRPG experience into bite-sized chapters that are a joy to play. Going over your memories leading up to the final boss fight is a very interesting way of framing the way a JRPG would usually play while turning the whole thing upside-down and then turning it round and around, giving us a game that is a must-play on Nintendo Switch. This is a great game from NIS America, and I look forward to seeing what other quirky games they give us this year on Nintendo's hybrid console.
The Longest Five Minutes is a very fun release from NIS America that is perfect for the Nintendo Switch since you can play the game in short burst at home or on the go and put the console in sleep mode to quickly carry on as soon as you have some free time, or you can play for longer sessions if you feel like it. The game's art style and music are great, and the gameplay mechanics and interesting story will keep you busy until the end. I'm very happy about what NIS America has done with this release, and I look forward to seeing what else they bring to the Nintendo Switch this year.
It's fun, but there's little depth to the gameplay and story, and it relies too heavily on making jokes.
If you're the most casual of gamers, then you may find the difficulty level suitable, but anyone who's ever touched any kind of RPG before will undoubtedly find it too easy and not worth the ten or so hours of gameplay.
The Longest Five Minutes is an interesting take on a nostalgia trip, but by splitting the game into the individual memories it does a huge disservice to its RPG nature. If only these memories had been fleshed out, giving the main characters a little depth, some side quests, some hidden quests… anything to make it feel like the games it is monkeying, instead of being such simple little, objective-based stages. There are moments that shine, but they are marred by the numerous issues and make this Nintendo Switch release somewhat of a disappointment.
With a twist on the amnesiac protagonist trope, The Longest Five Minutes brings an unprecedented premise, but it doesn't save the game from blending into the crowd.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
So if you’re in the mood for something that looks and feels a bit like an RPG but isn’t really, and which you can easily beat in the space of a few days at most, The Longest 5 Minutes is an eminently worthwhile use of your limited time on this Earth. Just don’t expect to come out of the experience with dry eyes; the latter moments in particular go pretty hard on the emotions!
The Longest Five Minutes is a promising JRPG with endearing characters that'll make you happy to experience their tale yet it simply doesn't offer enough fruitful gameplay to satisfy genre fans' gaming sensibilities.
The Longest Five Minutes is among the more creative and engaging RPGs in a very deep-pocketed genre, though does feel limited at times
The Longest Five Minutes delivers an interesting concept with an equally pleasant soundtrack, unfortunately at the end of the day it’s a very simple game that will only appeal to a very niche group of people, boiling down JRPG mechanics down to a very standard and unoriginal experience, especially with a steep price of £40 making the buying decision even harder to justify.
The Longest Five Minutes has the allure of a JRPG, yet hiding an interesting and quick visual novel experience that might entertain some players. An interesting gaming experience, but not deep enough for JRPG fans.
Aerosmith once said, "Life's a journey, not a destination", the Longest Five Minutes places you at the destination and then proceeds to show you the key parts of your journey up until this point. The game plays it very safe, other than the memory recalling aspect, all other aspects of the gameplay are your standard JRPG mechanics with nothing new thrown in there – however, it is very enjoyable and the humour had me laughing out loud on quite a few occasions.
The Longest 5 Minutes takes some big risks by changing the basic design elements of JRPGs. This is not a traditional JRPG even though it looks like one. To get the most out of this game, you have to do away with your preconceptions of what a JRPG should be. The story is the main focus of this game and literally, everything else is secondary. It is one of the most linear RPGs I have ever played. The equipment, magic and battles are solely there to propel you along as you piece together your history in the middle of an epic final battle. Just remember that your equipment and magic are predetermined at the start of each chapter so you can jump back and forth between them quickly and easily. If you play the game with this mentality and just focus on the storytelling, then it is very enjoyable. If you want an RPG exactly like the RPGs of old in which you had full control over the growth of your characters, then you will come away from TL5M disappointed. My key thoughts at the moment are that I am needing to alter my expectations of a JRPG to enjoy it. If I try playing it with the mentality that all of my actions such as buying equipment or finding things should carry over as it would in a normal RPG, I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. But, if I do away with those preconceived notions, don't bother with going out of my way to look for things and just play it by going straight from point A to point B, then I am enjoying it a lot more.
The lack of cynicism makes The Longest Five Minutes a likeable enough journey into the past. The writing isn’t particularly funny or profound, but the game presents its story in a novel way that moves at a brisk pace and is backed up by a great musical score. That’s worthy of at least five minutes of fame.
Don’t expect a rich and hearty RPG meal - this is more of a small platter of bite-sized appetizers.
The Longest Five Minutes is a nostalgic RPG japanese game 8 bits style, that doesn't apport too much in gameplay terms, but have a enjoyable chiptune soundtrack and a good sprites works
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Amnesia is among the most common RPG tropes today. In that aspect alone, The Longest Five Minutes is highly successful, putting a fresh spin on an otherwise overused plot point.
The game plays to its strengths and mitigates its weaknesses well, providing an enjoyable experience that feels more involving as the timer ticks along.
The Longest Five Minutes is an extremely interesting experience which mixes an engaging story with classic gameplay; even if it does lose a little player engagement due to this. The characters are deep and engaging, with rewarding relationships between them to be explored. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it and have decided to score it accordingly, but I simply cannot recommend buying it from the UK Nintendo Eshop at this time due to the overpricing in comparison to other versions.
The Longest Five Minutes looks and plays like an RPG from yesteryear. However, it’s superb soundtrack, entertaining writing, and unique plot progression makes it a great game to check out. It is on the very easy side though – you won’t find much depth or strategy in the combat system. It’s great for RPG beginners.