Little King’s Story PC review

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With high unemployment, an increasingly large and unskilled workforce, as well as a woeful economy, the populace looks toward a young leader for hope. While the context the United States faced in 2008, it is also reveals the current state of affairs in Little King’s Story. Originally released in 2009 for the Nintendo Wii, the title has been given a largely competent PC port.  Given the game’s distinctive blend of real-time strategy mechanics, simulation-based management, and light-role playing elements, this innovative and charming title seems destined to delight fans of light-hearted quirk.

Players assume the role of the young ruler, who inherits the empire after he stumbles across a gold crown. Alone, he is feeble and unable to perform the most elementary task. However, with a quick button tap, he has the charismatic charm to persuade any villager to follow him, and subsequently give them orders.  Initially, the gamer can have a procession of five allies, with that number growing along with the King’s ambitions.

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At first, your followers are an untrained collection of carefree individuals, who lack the skills needed to fend for themselves. With the advice of one of your faithful commissioners, the player is directed into constructing a training center that allows this proletarian mob to receive farming instructions. Another command sends your supporters through the vocational school’s front doors, where they will emerge with an instant and (initially) free education. A handy cap or helmet is donned to indicate their new occupational expertise. Each facility trains a specific type of worker- farmers can dig and harvest edibles, but are week fighters. Grunts, on the other hand, are competent combatants, but lack the ability to dig for treasure or perform construction.

Wisely, Little King’s Story allows the player to concentrate on the bigger issues of kingdom management. Gamers don’t have to decide where to build a structure or fiddle with arbitrary building zones. Instead, the focus is on which of the game’s fourteen job classes would benefit the monarchy most. It’s also a fairly straightforward affair once you get accustom to your position as leader. Essentially, you duties collect coffers for the kingdom, which are used to commence new projects that stem from a suggestion box or your subordinate.

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Once the player successfully completes a handful of missions and maintains a sense of contentment within the empire’s realm, something magical happens. The kingdom begins blossoming into a semi-autonomous domain, as soldiers man guard posts, followers die (and are subsequently mourned), lovers marry, children are born, and parties celebrate after defeating a difficult boss. Much more than say, Animal Crossing, Little King’s Story can feel like a living, digital world.

Caveats with the title are few; most relate to the title’s control impression. Although players can press a trigger button to bring up visual targeting, an inexact order will often result in confused miners milling around near an ample quarry. Players must keep a close eye on their procession as friendly pathfinding is woefully inadequate; followers will frequently get stuck on environmental curves and bends.

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Visually, the game is near-perfectly polished from its oil color-influenced cinematics, to its vibrant forests, and murky unexplored territories. Small touches- from falling leaves, to the wash of the coastal tide, help to cultivate the pastoral context. Like 1995’s Return Fire, Little King’s Story forgoes an original soundtrack, for the use of classical pieces to drive the action. Beautiful arranged renditions of Bolero, Carmen, Tchaikovsky and even Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March Number 1 complement the title, and lend a bit of aristocratic pedigree. Woefully, the game’s NPC’s speak in a variation of Simish, which makes conversations slightly cringe-inducing.

A Regal Port or a Shame on the Realm? 
Signaling the sometime slipshod quality of Little King’s journey to PCs, options are largely confined to a launcher, rather than being able to adjust setting on the fly. Here, players will find an indulging number of resolution options, even supporting a handful of 16:10 ratios. Control-wise, players are better off using either an Xbox One or 360 controller with the title, as keyboard support does allow for rebinding, nor does it employ mouse control.

Framerate options include the ability to select a cap of thirty and sixty frames-per-second, with the latter coming with a perplexing warning. Selecting it doesn’t introduce any game-breaking states, allow your follows tend to toddle behind you with comical rapidity. No matter which framerate setting you select, there are a few small issues that need to be ironed out, from flickering from the ticker-tape display to slight pauses when new areas load in. On the upside is the general visual delivery, with higher resolution texturing revealing a number of the Kingdom’s nuances.

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Although the PC port of Little King’s Story shows a few seams, the core game remains mostly ageless seven years after the original release. Purchase the title and you’ll be transported to a realm that extends a breezy amalgam of city building simulation, real-time strategy, and even a bit of role-playing, that’s closest Steam players will get to capturing the enjoyment of Nintendo’s Pikmin series. And if that sounds appealing, then this King deserves a warm welcome to your palace.

Little King’s Story was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.

Little King’s Story
Platform: PC
Developer: Marvelous Inc.
Publisher: XSEED Games, Marvelous Inc. 
Release date: August 5th, 2016
Price: $24.99 via Steam, currently on sale for $22.49
With high unemployment, an increasingly large and unskilled workforce, as well as a woeful economy, the populace looks toward a young leader for hope. While the context the United States faced in 2008, it is also reveals the current state of affairs in Little King’s Story. Originally released in 2009 for the Nintendo Wii, the title has been given a largely competent PC port.  Given the game’s distinctive blend of real-time strategy mechanics, simulation-based management, and light-role playing elements, this innovative and charming title seems destined to delight fans of light-hearted quirk. Players assume the role of the young ruler,…

Review Overview

Gameplay - 85%
Controls - 70%
Aesthetics - 80%
Content - 80%
Accessibility - 80%

79%

GOOD

Summary : A handful of porting issues hardly diminish the enjoyment of Little King’s Story. Visually, this is better than the Wii and Vita versions, and if Marvelous can fix a few things, the high-resolution retexturing could make this the definition iteration.

User Rating: 2.88 ( 3 votes)

About Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

17 comments

  1. I remember playing this years ago when I was a junior in high school. Now I have a Master’s degree, work, and have settled down. Don’t know if I can get that feeling back, but I might have to try if there’s a sale.

  2. You say its small problems. Most people on Steam are saying it’s some major things and it’s a shitty port.

    Am much as I’d like to play the game I can’t reward crappy ports.

    • I’m with you on that, dat.

      We have to stick together and send a message to get it right the first time. I mean if pint-sized IF can get it right, there’s no excuse for Koei-Tecmo and XSEED screw-ups.

  3. I watched a video of this and it looks like it did age a bit.

    Not a whole lot to do beside fling followers, train them and order them around. Combat is about as deep as a sidewalk puddle.

  4. Did they finally get rid of the slowdown? Both the Wii and portable versions had it.

  5. Keep us posted if the game gets patched, please!

  6. Good review, but you didn’t mention how long the game is.

  7. I can wait for a price drop. 50% or more before I bite.

  8. This does feel really close to Pikmin.

  9. I seem to remember the Wii game going out of print fairly quickly. By the time I heard about LKS, it was already selling for $60+ at most places. $25 doesn’t seem too bad.

  10. $15 is about the right price point.

  11. Any extra content in this version?

  12. Good review. Picked it up over the weekend and it’s as good as I remember. Very console-ish.