The Longest Five Minutes Reviews
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 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.
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.
Unfortunately for all the minor smiles and well-orchestrated music that accompanies one's travels, The Longest Five Minutes feels mostly like a sterile assembly of classic JRPG's least-appealing necessities.
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 5 Minutes suffers from a lack of originality and from a lack of a sense of progression due to questionable choices made by the developers. For these reasons, the game is hardly recommendable even for die-hard fans of the genre.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Many cons and few pros in this new work of NIS that arrives in Europe for that specific audience.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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 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.
It's fun, but there's little depth to the gameplay and story, and it relies too heavily on making jokes.
The Longest 5 Minutes sticks to its original promise : delivering a classic J-RPG adventure, starting by the final boss. Its unrestrained rhythm from start to finish and its soft writing may please you during the 10-hour run needed to conquer it, but we sure could have hoped for a more surprising structure in the end.
Review in French | Read full review
If you've a hankering for a fun Japanese RPG, then The Longest Five Minutes is a decent option. Battles can be a little lopsided, but with an intriguing story and a unique structure, these are five minutes worth experiencing for fans of the genre.
The Longest Five Minutes' intriguing premise and charming visual style is hampered by poor design elements.
The Longest Five Minutes has an interesting story premise and very good art that is marred by its lackluster gameplay.
The Longest Five Minutes does some things right, like the original starting premise, but soon all tends to be very simplistic in gameplay terms. At some points it seems as a visual novel with light game elements that were introduced in the last minute. Anyway, if you like the genre, the good stories and the 8 bit RPG era, you will enjoy it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Despite a good start and its many sterling qualities, TL5M is shackled by its temporal premise...
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 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 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.
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