This is something of a weird one. New Little King’s Story is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Wii title (without the “New”, obviously) that has recently been released on the Playstation Vita. Just like the no longer new Little King’s Story, it’s one of these hard to classify, quirky Japanese titles. Think of Harvest Moon with a dose of Pikmin and JRPG elements thrown in for good measure. Genre wise, it’s something of a strategy game that utilizes JRPG aesthetics and devices.
There is a plot. It doesn’t really matter. The Little King is no longer as small as he was when his story was not new. At least not in the character portraits. The game features a less unique artstyle than its predecessor did, replacing it with one that has more bells and whistles while also appearing more… I don’t want to use the phrase ‘generic anime’, but there you go. For better or worse.
Gameplay has several layers, of which new ones are introduced with little tutorials well into the later phases of the game, which can be a bit of an annoyance. The basics are building up your castle town, recruiting a bunch of people to your party, and exploring the world for fun and profit. Well mostly for experience points and gold. Same thing. The King’s followers are recruited from the general population, and can be given a number of different jobs, from fighters to healers. In the wild, outside of towns, there are monsters to be fought and treasure to be found. The overall goal of the game is to rebuild the kingdom and take back the royal castle and bring the King’s Peace back to the land of the carefree slackers. Which is what your population’s generic title is unless the King assigns them jobs.
So, as this is a game on the Vita, a platform dreadfully underserved with good games, the question is of course, will this game be worth the asking price? The answer is: Maybe. As far as quirky Japanese games go, this is by no means a bad one. Gameplay is fresh, the story is just forgettable enough to not be an annoyance, the art direction may be bland but by no means ugly and it is an entertaining title. It is not without faults though. The tutorial sections go on for way too long, there may be a layer or two of additional mechanics too many to incorporate later in the game, and the somewhat clanky synthesized renditions of classical music pieces the game uses as background music are awkward at best and outright annoying at worst. But that might just be my personal pet peeve.
The upsides are that it is a relatively long game, that despite being a sequel feels fresh and charming. Also, it is one of those Vita games that use the touchscreen sparingly, and mostly in a good way. Mostly. Menu navigation can be a bit of an annoyance. It’s a cute game that has a sense of adventure and exploration without an overabundance of violence, combined with some longer term strategic thinking to it. It’s not very deep though, but still entertaining enough for the quirky little title that it is.
I can see that people who dislike anime aesthetics and shun Japanese game design sensibilities in general will obviously not find anything here, but for those people less japanophobic, it is a title that is worth a look. Though, unless for the few die hard Little King’s Story fans out there, it is not a title that would sell the Vita to anyone on its own. Oh and for parents with brats spoiled enough to have (or share) a Vita, it is a great game for kids.
