Little King's Story, due to hit the Wii this July 21st, takes players through the life of a young boy named Corobo who stumbles upon a crown infused with mystical powers. Upon donning this crown, Corobo is informed by the Bull Knight Howzer that he is the new king to a hidden village with the purpose of becoming... the best king ever. With the heir to the throne found out of thin air, the stage is set to expand for the sake of the people and the future of the world.
It's been a while since we've sat down with a title like this. The game is enfused with elements of action RPG and even some RTS as players need to juggle defense and expansion, all the while achieving technological advancements such as bridges and staircases needed to reach new areas of the Little King's world. The pace of the game is what players make of it, and time shift mechanics make it so that players can only cram so much into a given day before they exhaust their people.
You'll first notice the huge amount of time dedicated to establishing all of the classes and their functions. The first few missions are simply laid out for farming gold and taking on some of the first enemeis in the game and as things expand, new adventures start to come fourth from the citizens of the kingdom. Players are able to develop small armadas and take on beasts of legend surrounding the lands, resulting in further expansion of their own township through these ventures.
One of the first notable battles takes place in a graveyard... with an undead cow to take on. Even bovine do not rest easy in the world of Little King's Story. This battle offers a bit of a challenge to keep your units alive, but it's all about putting what you've learned to the test and the reward is an entirely new section of land that is exclusive to the player to build into or search without being assaulted. It also brings the option of building a church to help appease the gods and the people with variety.
It won't take long to make progress, but things won't go spiraling out of control quickly, As long as the player keeps his/her eyes peeled, there is plenty of money sitting around the country to fund expansion where necessary. A bit of adventuring bestowed us with multiple houses, all of the town additions and a rather nicely sized military.
For those who really like to invest time into their games, Little King's Story offers a good amount of variety when it comes to building a kingdom of epic proportions. Free roaming battles can catch you off guard and there's a chance an entire brigade of soldiers can be swept up if they're not equipped or organized to battle effectively. Players who get careless will end up needlessly sacrificing units, causing them to be missing from their village for days at a time. A respawning river of life can often enough restore those lost units after time, but the village retains the gap in available members until then.
The missions in our preview build were well structured, breaking us into the basics of the game for battle. Missions further reinforced the theme of expansion by offering new classes and army sizes. The game is moderately paced and quick learners can speed right through the quests onto something more demanding. Overall it's a good system that rewards players for being careful about how they conducted business in the kingdom.
With battles between rival Kings, ever expanding lands to build upon, tons of job professions and an entire kingdom to keep happy LKS has quite a good amount of gameplay ahead for those who have been waiting for a new RPG inspired title for the Wii. Hopefully as we near release the game will continue to build and deliver a great experience.
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