Customer Reviews

Little King's Story

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Little King's Story is a cutesy Real Time Strategy (RTS), Role-Playing (RPG), simulation, and action title that definitely stands out from the pack. Aside from some strange design decisions and a few graphical flaws, this is a shining example of an original idea that I hope to see grow into its own franchise. Fans of the Harvest Moon/Rune Factory series as well as fans of Overlord and Pikmin will probably immediately recognize the influences in Little King's Story.

PROS:
+++ Original gameplay that blends a variety of genres
+++ Creative and colorful graphical design
+++ Clever and interesting enemies, bosses, characters, and townsfolk bring the game to life.

CONS:
--- This game should have used pointer controls similar to Pikmin New Play Control.
--- The blur filter on the graphics is extremely over-used
--- The game gets off to a pretty slow start for the first hour

GAMEPLAY: Very, very awesome. Role-playing, city building (but not planning), exploration, lite resource management, and total subjegation of your loyal subjects. It's a good package. Basically, you play the role of a young child who gets whisked away to a magical world where he becomes King. Specifically a King with a bent towards world domination. Despite the cutesy presentation, the Little King is actually a bit of a tyrant and dictator. There is definitely no democracy to be found. I certainly wouldn't want to live in this country that I'm running, but I'm having fun running it. You bend the citizens to your will, ordering them to do whatever you wish, be it farming, digging holes, or even charging to their untimely doom while battling a cow. You can wander around with a gang of citizens and soldiers, gathering taxes from the homes of others or raid and pillage other countries (7 in total). If you have shiftless, layabout unemployed people, you can force them to get jobs, whether or not they like it. All the while you are exploring the countryside and building a small nation. Although the game has a plot, you are basically allowed to proceed at your own pace, which really allows for multiple play styles. Throughout the game you also get the opportunity to participate in little mini-quests and objectives to keep your populace (and princesses) happy.

Similar to Pikmin, combat relies very heavily upon using your companions. You can choose to attack using Little King, but your loyal subjects make much better soldiers and cannon fodder. Some citizens can perform special functions, such as farmers, carpenters, merchants, and lumberjacks, while the combat focused units are a bit more obvious. Different enemies are weak against different types of citizens, so planning your raiding party in advance is critical to your success, although mobbing and swarming enemies is frequently an effective yet crude tactic. Throughout the game you gain frequent opportunities to increase the size of your kingdom, purchase upgrades, new buildings, and equip your citizens with different items and artifacts. Despite the game's kiddie look and storybook presentation, this one is a deep, deep game that keeps growing on me the more I play it.

CONTROLS: Good, but they could have been better. For a game that is very clearly inspired by the Pikmin series, the controls feel archaic. Moving from the slick and neatly improved controls of the Wii re-release of Pikmin to Little King's Story is a rough transition. It isn't that the controls don't work, but the complete lack of pointer control seems like an oversight. Because of this issue the process of selecting and directing units in combat feels a little clumsy. The camera feels a little to claustrophobic and close as well. Honestly, if the controls were better this game would immediately jump to 5 star ranking since the controls are the only thing holding this game back from its fullest potential. Luckily there are some upgrades that you can unlock that make navigating your units through the world much easier, such as the defensive and evasion formations. I really would have preferred that the squad formation controls to be available from the moment you start the game instead of having to purchase an upgrade, but once I took over the first kingdom of the Onii, my complaints about navigating the world really became moot.

GRAPHICS: Good and bad. The art style is cookie cutter cute. Brilliant design and beautiful color palettes bring the game to life. The whole world is animated, down to the trees and flowers. Cut scenes are particularly striking and look like an animated children's book. Simply amazing. Unfortunately, many of the in-game textures are very low res, which combined with the overuse of a blur/brush filter tends to mar the otherwise beautiful designs. The in-game graphics never get in the way of enjoying the game, but they really could have been a lot crisper.

SOUND: Good, but not original. The voice acting is somewhere between "so-so" and "good" and consists of structured gibberish sounds, similar to games like Banjo-Kazooie. Some people will find the voice acting cute and charming, others will find it annoying. The music is public domain classical and arranged quite nicely with a nice mix of classical, romantic, and baroque period pieces. I really feel that the music fits the game perfectly, although some original tunes would have been nice to see as well.

VALUE: This game is going to take most people quite a while to beat. My current estimate is about 20 hours, give or take. There doesn't seem to be any one "right" way to play the game. The open and relaxed approach to progress means you can take the game at the pace you prefer. While no where near as addictive as Rune Factory, the game will probably keep you coming back for more. The constant minor upgrades to your kingdom definitely keep me going and I frequently found myself saying "I'll conquer just one more section of the map...." until far too late into the night.

Some people may be turned off by the cutesy look of this title and the lower resolution graphics, and I can't blame them, but they will be missing out on a great little game that is unique to the Wii. I already hope a sequel is planned for this game and I really hope that it will address some of my complaints about the controls, because this game truly screams for pointer control. Young children may struggle with this title as it is quite complex and the controls aren't as intuitive as they could have been. Even with these issues I definitely recommend this title as a purchase for most gamers, especially fans of the Pikmin, Overlord, Rune Factory, or Harvest Moon games.

The game itself certainly isn't. Little King's Story looks like it might just be some cutesy childs game, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. This is a reasonably complex game of strategy that includes village development, army building, conquering territory, etc. It's hard to resist the addictive quality of the Little King and his loyal followers who will happily give up their lives for you.

Story: You play the role of a young, lonely boy. One day he chases some rats that infiltrate his room, and in the process of chasing them into the forest he comes across a magnificent crown. This royal head piece causes the people of a nearby village to see him as their rightful king, and they obey you without question. Howser, the Bull Knight, gets you headed in the right direction to establishing your kingdom and world domination. You also find that the rats you chased live in you new "castle" which looks more like a hut.

Gameplay: Similar to Pikmin or Overlord: Dark Legend, you have a group of units (your villagers) following you that you give commands to (you use the "A" button to send them to a given task rather than use the pointer like in Overlord: Dark Legend.) They can attack, build bridges, dig holes (in designated spots), etc. Your village has a certain population size as well as a maximum troop size that can follow you, so it's important to not let your villagers die needlessly in battle. You can give your Carefree Villagers jobs such as grunt soldiers and farmers that will grant them special skills to serve their liege all the better. As you conquer new areas, your village expands and new units become available. It shouldn't be too long before you have a sizable army of loyal villagers that can get married (adding kids to the village) and fill up your land.

Controls: Fortunately, there are no real flaws to the controls in this game. If you tap "Z" there will be a targeting line aimed in front of you to show where your villagers will go if you tap "A" to send them on some task. This makes it easy to know if you're sending them in the right spot. The camera is magnificent. The only real issue I have is that the pointer wasn't used to guide your army, but it still works fine the way it is. You can easily sort your troops by type with a simple tap of the control pad, so you always have the right troops ready to command (a feature that is necessary in these types of games).

Graphics: Very stylish. The artbook feel is unique, and it circumvents the weaknesses of the Wii's capabilities. It looks beautiful, and the style adds lots of flavor to an already appealing dish.

Music/Sound: The music in Little King's Story is great. It's classical music, and it's integrated perfectly into the game. It fits the mood and enviornments better than I would have imagined. Their is no real voice acting, but there are some random mumbling sounds when characters are talking. In my opinion these mumblings are fine, but others might find it annoying.

Overall: Little King's Story is an excellent game. The controls, graphics, sounds, and gameplay work together to make a great story for anybody willing to put the time in. It was well worth the money I spent for it (46.99 here at Amazon), and would advise anybody to give this game a shot.

If you're like me, you have probably been waiting about two years for Project O (Little King Story) to be released. Let's just say, the wait was worth it. The story is heart warming and hilarious, the style is brilliant, and the world is huge and uhhh... adorable. Two major gripes I have with the game are the combat system & the camera. Combat could not be more clunky unfortunately. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't been able to sort through my citizens to find the soldiers/farmers to defeat an enemy. This makes the player have to distract the unnecessary citizens so one can use the ones further down in the trail following the king. Also, the camera is at an odd distance, and is often easy to forget where you are, as it is far to zoomed in. Neither are deal breakers though, the game is superb. One of the best features is the humor. Yesterday, I got a challenged from the Onii King. Reading, "Aljerko, You suck, we are the best. Love- The Onii King" Of course the town is outraged, "WAAAAARRRR", they scream. The Job system is great and sitting on your throne is quite satisfying. Do NOT pass up this gem. This will be better that Wii Sports Resort.

Graphics: 8/10

Gameplay: 8/10

Presentation: 9.5/10

Extra Credit: +2

Overall: 27.5/30 (Big Recommendation :-)

This game is awesome. I've been playing nonstop since I got it (Release Date Shipping-thanks, Amazon!) and am still finding more and more things to enjoy. RPG and RTS fans will instantly feel right at home.

My one complaint is that you don't actually use the remote to "point" at the location where you want to send your troops, instead you have an arrow showing where they will be thrown. This is annoying in some of the harder boss battles, but not bad enough to ruin the fun.

All in all, I feel that this was a great purchase and RPG/RTS fans will not be dissapointed.

I got this game because I am interested in games where you have to build up your city and you are in charge of everything. After reading numerous reviews, I felt like I was promised that much and more in this game.

The game starts with you being crowned king of a country and you have to work to build it up and give people jobs, and have them join your army. What the reviews didn't tell me was that this game was kind of hard. Now, it may not be hard for gamers, but for someone like me, who doesn't really play video games, who got the wii because it was more family friendly it was hard.

There were points in the game where I had no idea what I was meant to be doing (no real help in the game, took me researching online to find answers). The game is also very repetitive, with you having to do the same things over and over again to raise money.

Also, make sure you save the game frequently. I didn't realize how important that was until I died 3 hours into playing the game and had to start all the way at the beginning again!

All in all, this game was fun, cute and an enjoyable way to pass the time.

A lot has already been written about this game and most of it is true. It is a pretty good game, fun to play and well executed in most ways. Some clever minds put this thing together and it shows. My only gripes are the also the same as you have probably read elsewhere. The wii-mote controls do not take advantage of the on-screen pointer or motion sensitivity. For a game designed for the Wii this seems like a missing element. The control scheme works OK as-is, but it could have been a little better. My only other complaint is that there is not a lot of information/instructions included with the game. You get enough basic tutorial to get started, but then the information seems to dry up and you just have to figure things out. Given the scope of the game these problems are minor and not road-blocks to enjoying the game. I've played almost 15 hours and there is still tons of stuff left to discover.

I have been looking forward to this game since this time last year. Now that I have it in my hands I find that despite my anticipation for this game I was still surprised with this game. It wasn't at all what I expected which for me its rare to be surprised by how the game plays (its usually just a matter of how well). The simple reason is: you just can't sum up this game in a review/preview so I won't try. What I will say is that despite being pleasantly surprised by this game I found myself increasingly aware of just how close it came to all-time greatness... but missed.

There are some weird/bad choices which hurt the pure joy of this game which I was made painfully aware of thanks to an TERRIBLE save/load system. BEWARE! IT is very easy to erase/save over your game... my GF saved over my first game because even when you start a new game it takes you strait to the last created save and you can easily delete saves by simply pressing Z twice while in the load screen (which I also did). So, by having to restart the game twice do to a terribly designed save system (I just don't understand how these things make it past testing) I had the ability to fully realize the reach of the game and where it falls short.

This game has so much more depth than you might realize and building up your kingdom is so fun that it becomes very disappointing that you can't do certain things. I wish your people did more on their own or anything at all. I wish you could assign people daily tasks, which wouldn't be necessary for all players but just a good way to get through the game more quickly if you are a skilled player. Which reminds me, in some ways this games punishes you for being a thorough. For instance when you make citizens get a job class there is a random element to how much life they receive, but since that is the only random element I find it unacceptable to settle for anything other than full possible health which i spend hours obtaining by reloading saves (until my save gets erased. They should have just had everyone come out with the same health or at least have different things like attack strength which balanced this out.

A great game should be playable by players of any skill level with good gamers capable of achieving more such as a record of no deaths, however this game simply makes it frustrating by adding no skill elements to the equation such as the life thing mentioned above which has the result of simply being easier to not care if your people die (which it doesn't really matter). However don't think this is game is easy either... its not! I have to beat every boss for my GF because the actiony part of the game is not for her at all which reminds me: its too bad there is no pointer functionality in the wii-mote it could really go a LONG way in this game. Also considering the way my GF lieks to play the game it reminds me of something else they could/have should have done: make the treasure finding more extensive without requiring battle.

All that said its still a very good game and for anyone who likes Pikmin or Overlord you will like this game a lot. The story is great... the cut scenes are fantastic and despite being unbelievably adorable its not just a kids game. Like I said in the title: this game is very close to greatness but also very far ( I wish I could give it a 3.5)

This game is awesome for the Wii and the most fun I have had on the Wii in awhile! I really enjoyed Rune Factory for the Wii but like this game even better (although this game is shorter than Rune Factory). This game does not get overbearing with micromanaging like Rune Factory did. I like that I can choose where I want to go, what I want to do, and which of my citizens I would like to take with me. The main bosses in this game actually go a step beyond your typical hack and slash. For example one game will have you answering trivia questions by sending your followers to the correct answer (of about 7 choices). Another game will is figuring out where the boss is hiding on the world-like map from the clues he gives (kind-of like Carmen San Diego). They even have one that is like a pinball game. These sort of varieties of battles make the game enjoyable to play even after playing it for 10-20 hours and help lower the monotony in a game. It also has a nice learning curve in the game to help introduce new things in the game slowly instead of all at once. The game also makes jokes and references to other things, like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I hope they keep making games like this for the Wii and it makes me glad I bought one.

There are some minor problems with the game (like occasional bad camera angles), but nothing to stop you from enjoying a top notch product. This game is definitely a must have for people looking for a good strategy/role playing game for the Wii.

I wasn't sure what to expect when my wife got me this game for my birthday a couple of months ago. She said it looked like something that I could play w/ our 4-year-old daughter since the characters & story line involving little boys, girls & farm animals right out of Japanimation shows. What do you know, the game really turned out to be one of the better RPG/role play games I've played. Controller operations are straightforward and fairly easy to move the little characters around. Since the game does not use the Wii sensor bar, my controller battery lasts forever (when compared to games like Wii Sports Resorts which uses the sensor & the MotionPlus extensively). Story line is simple, yet it keeps the game interesting. For being a "rookie" in console games, I found the missions & the battles are challenging without being frustrating. The only reason I gave it 4-Stars rating is because I am not too crazy w/ the Targeting system. Especially in the harder battles, I still found it a bit challenging to "aim" my target. But that's a minor, minor negative on the overall game experience.

I bought this for my husband for Christmas. He loves video games and is very picky about them. He loves this game and has been playing it during all his free time. He says it is similar to Pikman games. The graphics are cool and the game is fun and challenging.