I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while now. With its American release quickly approaching as I start this review (Edit: Damn part time job and Punch Out!! for keeping me from finishing), I look back on the newest game from Town Factory and Cing that could have easily been called Little King’s Big Story.
Since its initial announcement I’ve been looking forward to Little King's Story (LKS) and I picked it up upon its European release. The premise appealed to me and I’m sure many others. After all, who didn't dream of being King as a child? Ruling your own kingdom, bossing others around and having servants at your command, controlling your own army and having everybody celebrate your existence. LKS does a great job at making you feel as though you’re ruling a kingdom through the quirky presentation, great writing and genre-mixed gameplay.
LKS's plot in simple terms is about a kid named Corobo who stumbles upon a crown in a forest. From there he is deemed as King and has the power to charm people to make them follow his orders. As ruler of your kingdom, your goal is to “expand the village” i.e. world domination (or as the game brilliantly puts it, "uniting of the world") whilst also making your subjects happy. This results in a number of different tasks and objectives.
When you first start up initially you only have 2 followers, though this number will increase significantly, your main interaction with your servants is to throw them at things. This can be used to fight enemies and dig for treasure among other things. These interactions are dependent on the profession of the follower you throw. If throw a soldier at an enemy, he’ll attack; if you throw a farmer at a hole, he’ll dig on the spot. Later on when you have a large amount of options in terms of team building, I found that creating a perfectly balanced squad on a quests first attempt a rare occasion. Initially you have to walk about your kingdom and select the people you want in your team to go out to explore the kingdom with you. However, with enough funds you can eventually buy a podium, making it is much easier to assemble squads.
The treasure you find on your travels can be spent back at the castle. This brings me onto another thing, Money. Completing quests rewards you with large amounts of money which allows you to expand your kingdom. With enough money you can eventually buy even more houses and battle formations, further expanding your gameplay possibilities. As your kingdom builds up further jobs and recruits become available.
I could talk more about the different gameplay styles but overall, it feels very similar to the Pikmin games – throwing your subjects at objects to interact, with a mix of SimCity and Harvest Moon's micro managment.
I haven’t even mentioned the large number of mini games littered throughout and the boss battles; which are easily some of the most impressive I’ve seen this generation.
On a minor negative side, I had some problems with the camera during some of the more hectic confrontations later on and occasionally some of my followers would get stuck in the level geometry or they would fall off ridges meaning that I had to backtrack slightly to regroup. Micro managing my troops during combat would also lead to some problems during combat as I felt the system was a little imprecise.
Another thing which some people may find fault with is the games lack of Wii-specific controls. Regardless the game controls very well and the learning curve is just right with new mechanics being introduced at a good rate. However after playing Pikmin 2 with new Wii controls, I wish the pointer functionality had been an option as use as an on screen cursor as it just seems like a natural fit given the style of the gameplay.
Finally, in relation to the presentation, the game looks pleasant enough and is full of great little touches. It has an interesting art style that evokes memories of children’s storybooks whilst some of the dialogue is fairly adult orientated with some mature references that leave a memorable impression. The music is also worth noting with some famous orchestral tunes that suit the games style perfectly.
Overall LKS is an amazing achievement. It feels designed for the hardcore and core gamers through its deep, challenging and engrossing gameplay (that can easily engross you for hours on end) without the need to use a washed out colour scheme and a “mature” use of excessive gore and violence. It feels like a AAA title regardless of which platform it’s on due to the amount of polish and care that has clearly gone into its development. You could easily spend 30 hours going through the story whilst also discovering all of the games many secrets. This is one of this year’s best games and one of the Wii’s best this generation.
9/10
Platform: Wii
Release: April 24- Europe
Publisher: Rising Star
Developer: Town Factory/Cing
