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Little King's StoryBy Marlon Esmeralda - 08-31-09 Print  EmailWhen I first saw the Little King's Story trailer back at TGS '07, when it was still called Project O, I was already very interested in the game. From it's charming looks to it's Pikmin-inspired gameplay. Just everything about this game I was very drawn to. Fast forward to now, and I am not disappointed at all with the final product. Needless to say, Little King's Story is easily one of my favorite Wii titles. It may not be the perfect title ever made, it does have it's flaws, but it gave me a fun experience throughout. The name of the game is pretty much what you can expect the story to be. You play a little boy who stumbles upon a crown and suddenly becomes ruler of his own kingdom. At the start, your kingdom isn't much to brag about, but you do have a handful of supporters ready to meet your every command. Your first few quests will have you fighting off enemies, and then you will encounter the big boss of the area, and defeating him will give you the ability to expand your land and increase population. Further on into the game, your true quest appears, and that's to take out the other rival kingdoms in order to unify the world... and to take their princesses along the way. Sporting a wide variety of characters, with many memorable and unique ones mixed in. With very over-the-top humor and lots of charm, this is one story you'll be interested in from start to finish. Little King's Story has a mixture of strategy, simulation, and RPG elements. The gameplay is simple, yet deep. Having a similar style to titles like Pikmin and Overlord, where you have a group of citizens at your disposal that you use to perform various tasks. With the press of a button you can recruit your citizens to travel alongside you. Pushing another button will send them off towards objects to perform an action on it, depending on the object and the class of the unit. These classes come in many forms like the carefree adults, farmers, guards, and carpenters. Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses, and particular ones will be needed in order to travel farther into the world. For example, a huge tree stump may block your path to the next kingdom to rule, so you will need the lumberjack in order to take it down. So to avoid having to trek back to your kingdom to recruit the appropriate unit, you may want to have a wide variety of classes with you for any situation. As you progress farther in the game you will be able to carry more citizens, and have stronger classes available. For the most part, controlling your citizens and performing multiple tasks is pretty easy. Unfortunately, when you have more citizens in your arsenal, you start to see some of the drawbacks of Little King's Story. First off, the lack of IR control was a bit disappointing. With New Play Control! Pikmin and Overlord: Dark Legend utilizing this Wii-specific ability, it was hard to overlook the absence. Being able to use the Wii's pointer for targeting enemies or objects would have made things much easier, as the game's current targeting system leaves a lot to be desired. It's not too bad, but it can be a bit tedious and inaccurate, especially during more intense combat. You don't have to be too precise, but even being a bit off target will send your citizen off to nowhere, in which your command will be totally ignored. For a game that is a Wii-exclusive, it was sort of weird to see Little King's Story not take advantage of any of the Wii's motion or IR controls. Controlling specific units could have also been better. Even though you are able to switch among your available units to send out a certain class with the push of a button, you may have to push that button several times until you reach your specified unit, depending on how many different classes you have with you. Commanding a specific unit is not present either. So if you send out your whole army into battle, but wish to retreat one particular unit to do another task, then you won't be able to. If you wish to retreat one unit, you will need to retreat them all. It's not a deal breaker though, and it hardly affects the overall experience. The other complaint may be a bit more problematic for players, and that's the saving system. There is only one place you can save in the game, and that's inside your kingdom. If the game was easy, that wouldn't be much of a problem, but it's not. Without your citizens with you(the king), you're pretty vulnerable, as you don't have much defense or attacking power. The enemies aren't too difficult, but you may get grouped up by many, or take a unexpected hit. Death can pretty much come at any moment, and failing to save may result in many hours lost. I became a bit more cautious overtime, but I did have my moments where I lost a lot of time due to a sudden death. My only tip is to save often, and before any huge fights you expect to counter. The game does show a little mercy in the main boss fights with the rival kingdoms, as the game will provide you with the option to continue, should you die. The pacing of Little King's Story is pretty open. You basically choose when you want to overtake a kingdom, but only certain ones will be available to you each time, so you can't exactly take the kingdoms out in any order you please. Fighting the other kingdoms isn't really required either to expand. It really just drives the story forward and opens up new areas. So when you're not taking out an opposing king, you will be spending your time exploring the land and doing side-quests. Many side-quests are available, and will occasionally have you taking out a specific enemy. Completing these quests will give you money to build more buildings and make stronger units. Taking particular quests will even give you the opportunity to expand your land. More will be available to you though, once you take out the other kingdoms. And these battles with the other kings is really one of the highlights of the game. Each kingdom has their own theme, and their own unique king to match. Not all the boss fights will have you duking it out until one loses all his life, as a couple of the boss fights will have you playing a pinball game, and even testing your knowledge of world geography. Each one gets more ridiculous than the last, and are fun to play through. The game is also nice enough to give you hints on the upcoming boss, to better prepare you. Either way, you may require more than one try until you finally understand the boss you're facing. Accompanying this over-the-top atmosphere is a visual and audio presentation to match. Little King's Story isn't breaking any boundaries, but the game is pleasant to look at. It's very colorful and vibrant, and along with it's storybook-like cutscenes, it really draws in that fairytale feel. The soundtrack matches well with the game as well, with its many classic and familiar tunes. Sporting tracks from many plays like Carmen and The Nutcracker. For being tracks that we're more accustomed to for other things, they actually suit the game. All are arranged perfectly, orchestrated nicely, and just sound great. An original soundtrack would have been nice, but what's included works just fine. The voices also take a similar twist on things, as they come in a gibberish type form. From the looks to the sound, everything just fits right in with each other. After you beat the storyline of Little King's Story, there's still a good amount left to do. With many side-quests still available, more time with the game will be needed to fully complete everything. Little King's Story is easily one of the longer experiences to be had on Wii with so much content being available. It's also very memorable too. Having so much fun my first time around, going through it all again is something I can see myself doing, and possibly quite soon. I've waited two years to finally get my hands on Little King's Story, and I couldn't be more pleased with the end product. There are a few gameplay mechanics that could use a little tweaking, and it was disappointing to not see any advantage taken from the Wii's unique controls. Those things are very small though in comparison to how much fun I had with the game. A memorable cast of characters, a wonderful soundtrack, and the addictive gameplay are what make Little King's Story one of the top games out there for Wii. I'm really hoping Little King's Story won't be the last adventure we partake in as I would love to revisit this universe again. It may look cute and adorable, but it provides one of the deepest core experiences that you can have on the Wii. Ratings |
 Select Choice Award |
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