Gameplay

Weapons and fighting

Hype starts out with a sword, of course, and also a crossbow for long distance fighting. The arrows, or bolts, for the crossbow are limited so don't go too nuts when you shoot it. You can fire rather fast and it's easy to deplete your supply. The sword is for short range attacks and hits for more damage than the bow. When fighting, enemies will utilize ranged and melee attacks. Keep your fingers near the sidestep buttons so you can dodge. The violence of fighting is kept to a minimum in Hype - there's no blood of course, and defeating an opponent clearly shows them getting "knocked out" (as in stars orbiting their heads) rather than explicitly dying. Even beasts like wolves get knocked out instead of dying. However, some monsters like skeletons will actually crumble and fall apart.

Cut scene?

Another cool spell

Spells

What's a fantasy game without spells? Hype will have a variety of powerful spells at his disposal, and each has some cool visual effects associated with it. One of the first spells you get is a medium range fireball. Again, keeping with the non violent children's theme, hitting an opponent with the flame doesn't engulf them into a fiery pyre. They get knocked back and jump around comically on one foot as they try to put out the fire on their other leg! Presumably the other spells will have similar effects. Hey, it's a family game!

Pretty colors

Run!

Inventory

There are a variety of different items that Hype can carry around. These include of course, the requisite keys, potions, herbs, and treasure bits of any good fantasy story. To access these items, you hit tab which pauses the outside game, and navigate through a menu with your gamepad's d-pad or keyboard arrows. Again, a simplified interface here for the more small children that Hype is aimed at.