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Little King's Story (Wii)
Best 3rd party game on the Wii so far?
Little King's Story... Where to begin? There's so much cram packed into this disc that I'm surprised it's not bursting at the seams! It's like a brilliant mix of Pikmin, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King, Animal Crossing, Age of Empires, and of course it's own unique qualities.
You start the game with a neat little intro, showing a young lonely boy called Corobo playing with some stick puppets, when he spots some pesky rats. (You'll be surprised what role they take at the end of the game) Corobo chases them into a nearby forest and gets lost. A nearby rock explodes to unveil a golden crown and scepter, which the boy puts on his head. Howser the Bull Knight who has been searching for the true king for many years, and who will be your adviser through out the game, arrives on his trusty steed, Pancho the cow, and declares you king of the small kingdom of Alpoko.
At the start of the game, the 'kingdom' of Alpoko is merely a tiny island with a shack for a castle and four people. You (King Corobo), and Howser of course, along side Corobo's friends Liam the Anything Minister, and Verde the Records Minister. It is your job to expand the tiny kingdom to cover the whole world, which consists of many unique locations. To do this, you need to venture out of the kingdom with your royal guards, and collect treasure to upgrade the kingdom, defeat UMAs (Unidentified Mysterious Animals), and defeat the seven other kings. Defeating these kings will also earn you a princess.
As well as doing all that, you are given seemingly unlimited sub-quests to do at your leisure. These are usually requesting that you defeat a certain UMA at a certain place. These are a great way to earn money if you want to upgrade the kingdom or the citizens who join you on the battle field before tackling the next area of the world.
The main gameplay in the areas outside of the kingdom plays a lot like Pikmin. You take your royal guard, every one of them with different jobs such as soldier grunt, animal hunter, farmer, carpenter, and lumberjack, out and navigate them around the land, getting past obstacles with certain job types, and battling UMAs. The controls all work very well and it's all very fun, although some of your guards can sometimes get caught up on scenery or drop off cliffs if you're not careful. All the battles with common UMA are pretty same-y, with you throwing your guards at them, and calling them back when the UMA is about to attack, but the boss battles are really where the fights get unique.
There are loads of original, really clever and humorous things in the game, and you'll be smiling and laughing at the game's charm and wit. In fact, for those thinking this game looks really kid-y, think again. This game has some rather grown-up humor and wittiness, as well as really difficult 'hardcore' gameplay and some rather dark bits. The music is mostly very well done re-mixes of old classics that will have you humming along, and the story is absolutely brilliant... Up until the awful ending that is... Although it does leave itself open for a sequel, which is a good thing.
I could go on for days about all the extra stuff there is to do, and all the neat little things that make you smile and laugh in the game, so I'll only give you a little handful of little things that I laughed at. Going into the theater to see a play called 'Camel of Love and Passion', Ginger the art gallery guy breaking the fourth wall, the dreadful choice of fan artwork that got first place in the gallery, and even got it's own dreadful and hilarious boss fight (Don't worry, they're not being serious about it, they're just taking the mickey about how awful it is), the Space Invaders reference, going on the 'Pro' difficulty on the Table Tennis mini game to find you're facing off against Pancho the cow, and if I don't stop now I will never stop.
This is certainly my favorite 3rd party game for the Wii so far, and is funny, charming and fun the whole way through! Although, battles with common UMA can get a tad repetitive sometimes, and as I've said before, the ending is a bit naff. I'm worried that this game won't get the recognition it deserves due to it's 'kid-y' outer layer, and people overlook the hardcore qualities of the game. People of any age can enjoy it, in fact, older people will enjoy it more than little kiddies getting frustrated with the game's hardness. Oh, and did I mention it will last you about 30 hours at least? This game has the kind of quality you'd expect from a Nintendo game, so please pick up this classic when it reaches North America in July. My favorite 3rd party game on the Wii so far!
93%
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