Ok, we all know very well that the Wii is lacking somewhat in the games department. Don't get me wrong, I know from experience that good games exist, sometimes they're just a bit tricky to find. Little King's Story seems a prime example of this. The amount of hype regarding this game seems somewhat lacking, which is a shame, because from the first trailer I saw it was clear to me that it could very well break the drought of quality third party games for the Wii. It could well be that this optimistic view came about because I am not what most would call a 'hardcore' gamer. This meant I was much more open to a game whose cut scenes resembled illustrations from a child's picture book. In fact the cutesy style is something I like in a game, if everything had to be serious and dark then I wouldn't have bought a Wii and I never would have played this game, which as I now know would have been an awful shame.
For those of you not living in the EU/AU regions, it seems you'll have to wait a bit. In fact, the usual schedule for game releases seems to have reversed from the norm, with Wikipedia stating a 24/4 release for us, 23/6 for the US and Japan have yet to have a date confirmed. I myself only picked up the game yesterday (day of release) and have had considerable trouble putting it down.
The story is unique in some ways, cliche in others, resulting in something familiar but new enough to get you hooked. You play as a young boy who is lonely, until chance finds him in the forest where he discovers a crown. Apparently this act alone makes him king, reminiscent of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone. Like Arthur your character is not alone, where the Pendragon had Merlin, you have three advisers, records adviser - Verde, anything (tutorials, treasure, etc.) adviser - Liam, and perhaps most peculiarly Howzer the bull knight. Yes somehow seeing an elderly well mustachioed man riding on his noble steed Pancho the cow makes you realise that this game has an odd sense of humour.
Your adventure begins by upgrading your kingdom, its full of slackers and Howzer suggests you do something about it. Once your kingdom has some useful residents its time to expand, this will of course involve violence. This violence may be directed against oppressive UMA (unidentified mysterious animals, this games version of monsters) or against other Kings in order to claim their kingdom, if in doubt ask Howzer, he seems all too happy to direct you along your path to WORLD DOMINATION!!! Muahahahahahaha *cough*.
Ahem, sorry, but that really is quite accurate, the game deals with world domination, and a slightly kiddy-fied version of genocide in order to get it. It also pokes fun at religious themes when a messenger of the God of 'The Sect of Soup' comes to town telling you to build him a church OR ELSE. This helps the game appeal to older audiences to despite an outward appearance that would otherwise repel them.
The gameplay I'm told is much like Pikmin, but since I've never played Pikmin here's how it goes. You directly control the king (a very hands on king it seems) with the nunchuk and use to recruit villagers and (A) to direct them where you want. [Z] brings up a targetting system (basically a line showing you which way you're facing) and (+) or (-) brings up a menu. So from that description, I'm guessing you noticed I said nothing about motion controls, heck, even the pointer function is out. This is both a pro and a con, many will be ecstatic at the absence of control schemes often dubbed 'clunky' or 'tacked on'. On the other hand, this seems a game in which pointer controls could have gone over well and not using them seems to defeat the purpose in some ways of placing the game on the Wii.
As previously mentioned, you start of with a village full of rather useless subjects, named "carefree adults" who spend their days spinning and dancing and telling you how every day is Sunday to them. Now I say useless, but technically they do have their uses, for instance they can dig... though not very well. Digging is at first, your one and only form of income, you dig to find treasure and then sit on your throne to trade treasure for the kingdom's currency 'Bol'. Once you obtain enough Bol, you can finally give your carefree adults a kick up the arse by purchasing one of two initial job centers, the farmhouse and the guard hut. Send them to these buildings and they become a farmer or a guard respectively. Guards or 'grunt soldiers' as they're called are obviously for fighting whilst farmers are for digging. What's that? Yes they could already do that as carefree adults, but farmers do it faster and can dig where they couldn't before. The class system seems to carry on this way, with different obstacles requiring different classes.
This leads to the strategy element of LKS, the decision of just who you need to take with you when you wander into the wide open world. Sure you might feel safe with a party full of grunts (at first) but what happens if you find a hole to dig up or one of the large trees that block your way later in the game. And you'll want to choose wisely too. Something I have yet to mention is that each villager is named, they form relationships, they have children and when their life goes down, it really shows. Characters with a single life point left become old timers until you heal them up. I personally have found myself restarting everytime I lose a character, not wanting to bear the guilt of lives lost.
The music adds to the charming atmosphere of the game. Its all classical (at least in style) and despite not being a fan, I found it very easy to lose track of time because I was too busy enjoying the calming music coupled with beautiful environments. They change drastically with the time of day, the afternoon sun casts a red tinge over everything whilst the sunrise makes everything shine, especially in small meadows where sunbeams are visible through the mist. The only flaw I could see here was that at certain times of day it felt like I truly was facing the mid afternoon sun, on occasion it made my eyes water, but I put this down to my TV which is not the best quality.
Speaking of flaws, only one comes to mind thusfar, and its not even my own. Other reviewers have expressed disappointment in the save function as it is only able to be used at the castle, meaning loss in battle can result in a long trek back to an important boss. In its defence I have to say that without this setback there would be less challenge to the game, and it adds incentive to be cautious and get things right first time.
Overall I'm of the opinion that this game deserves the 90%+ reviews that it has recieved elsewhere, but it needs more interest in order to be truly successful. Hence the reason I wrote this review, I couldn't stand back and watch another quality game get overlooked, perhaps long after release the interest would grow, but the fact is it needs it now. For all those who lament the lack of quality games for Wii, this is your chance to change things. For those who complain at the lack of originality in games, you need to show your support. And those of you who want to see a good game get the recognition it deserves, now is the time to buy this game. I hope this has swayed you to at least look into this game further, it may not be a good review, but at the very least I hope it has raised awareness for the story of a little king.
Images thanks to IGN because I am without adequate technology and it was a spur of the moment review.
For those of you not living in the EU/AU regions, it seems you'll have to wait a bit. In fact, the usual schedule for game releases seems to have reversed from the norm, with Wikipedia stating a 24/4 release for us, 23/6 for the US and Japan have yet to have a date confirmed. I myself only picked up the game yesterday (day of release) and have had considerable trouble putting it down.
The story is unique in some ways, cliche in others, resulting in something familiar but new enough to get you hooked. You play as a young boy who is lonely, until chance finds him in the forest where he discovers a crown. Apparently this act alone makes him king, reminiscent of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone. Like Arthur your character is not alone, where the Pendragon had Merlin, you have three advisers, records adviser - Verde, anything (tutorials, treasure, etc.) adviser - Liam, and perhaps most peculiarly Howzer the bull knight. Yes somehow seeing an elderly well mustachioed man riding on his noble steed Pancho the cow makes you realise that this game has an odd sense of humour.
Your adventure begins by upgrading your kingdom, its full of slackers and Howzer suggests you do something about it. Once your kingdom has some useful residents its time to expand, this will of course involve violence. This violence may be directed against oppressive UMA (unidentified mysterious animals, this games version of monsters) or against other Kings in order to claim their kingdom, if in doubt ask Howzer, he seems all too happy to direct you along your path to WORLD DOMINATION!!! Muahahahahahaha *cough*.
Ahem, sorry, but that really is quite accurate, the game deals with world domination, and a slightly kiddy-fied version of genocide in order to get it. It also pokes fun at religious themes when a messenger of the God of 'The Sect of Soup' comes to town telling you to build him a church OR ELSE. This helps the game appeal to older audiences to despite an outward appearance that would otherwise repel them.
The gameplay I'm told is much like Pikmin, but since I've never played Pikmin here's how it goes. You directly control the king (a very hands on king it seems) with the nunchuk and use to recruit villagers and (A) to direct them where you want. [Z] brings up a targetting system (basically a line showing you which way you're facing) and (+) or (-) brings up a menu. So from that description, I'm guessing you noticed I said nothing about motion controls, heck, even the pointer function is out. This is both a pro and a con, many will be ecstatic at the absence of control schemes often dubbed 'clunky' or 'tacked on'. On the other hand, this seems a game in which pointer controls could have gone over well and not using them seems to defeat the purpose in some ways of placing the game on the Wii.
As previously mentioned, you start of with a village full of rather useless subjects, named "carefree adults" who spend their days spinning and dancing and telling you how every day is Sunday to them. Now I say useless, but technically they do have their uses, for instance they can dig... though not very well. Digging is at first, your one and only form of income, you dig to find treasure and then sit on your throne to trade treasure for the kingdom's currency 'Bol'. Once you obtain enough Bol, you can finally give your carefree adults a kick up the arse by purchasing one of two initial job centers, the farmhouse and the guard hut. Send them to these buildings and they become a farmer or a guard respectively. Guards or 'grunt soldiers' as they're called are obviously for fighting whilst farmers are for digging. What's that? Yes they could already do that as carefree adults, but farmers do it faster and can dig where they couldn't before. The class system seems to carry on this way, with different obstacles requiring different classes.
This leads to the strategy element of LKS, the decision of just who you need to take with you when you wander into the wide open world. Sure you might feel safe with a party full of grunts (at first) but what happens if you find a hole to dig up or one of the large trees that block your way later in the game. And you'll want to choose wisely too. Something I have yet to mention is that each villager is named, they form relationships, they have children and when their life goes down, it really shows. Characters with a single life point left become old timers until you heal them up. I personally have found myself restarting everytime I lose a character, not wanting to bear the guilt of lives lost.
The music adds to the charming atmosphere of the game. Its all classical (at least in style) and despite not being a fan, I found it very easy to lose track of time because I was too busy enjoying the calming music coupled with beautiful environments. They change drastically with the time of day, the afternoon sun casts a red tinge over everything whilst the sunrise makes everything shine, especially in small meadows where sunbeams are visible through the mist. The only flaw I could see here was that at certain times of day it felt like I truly was facing the mid afternoon sun, on occasion it made my eyes water, but I put this down to my TV which is not the best quality.
Speaking of flaws, only one comes to mind thusfar, and its not even my own. Other reviewers have expressed disappointment in the save function as it is only able to be used at the castle, meaning loss in battle can result in a long trek back to an important boss. In its defence I have to say that without this setback there would be less challenge to the game, and it adds incentive to be cautious and get things right first time.
Overall I'm of the opinion that this game deserves the 90%+ reviews that it has recieved elsewhere, but it needs more interest in order to be truly successful. Hence the reason I wrote this review, I couldn't stand back and watch another quality game get overlooked, perhaps long after release the interest would grow, but the fact is it needs it now. For all those who lament the lack of quality games for Wii, this is your chance to change things. For those who complain at the lack of originality in games, you need to show your support. And those of you who want to see a good game get the recognition it deserves, now is the time to buy this game. I hope this has swayed you to at least look into this game further, it may not be a good review, but at the very least I hope it has raised awareness for the story of a little king.
Images thanks to IGN because I am without adequate technology and it was a spur of the moment review.
happy now?