A Kingdom For Keflings review

There comes a time in every gamers life where something is released from out the blue that finds a way into your heart. A Kingdom For Keflings was unfortunately written off instantly as being a cheap attempt to cash in on Avatars since it came out the day of the NXE update, but there's so much more to it than that. While it might not be another Halo, Gears of War, Fallout, or any of the other blockbuster titles, it is an incredibly easy to get into but very deep, rewarding, and charming title.

Story/Motivation - 7/10

There really isn't much to the game in terms of story, but there is something infinitely more compelling about just trying to see how large you can get your city to become. While the game does give you different missions to accomplish, it feels more like a logical progression of events than feeling like it's forcing these goals on you. Chances are that by the time you get into the game, you will set a mental goal for yourself to eventually make that castle and elaborate fortress your mind conjures up the more you play, so you would end up building all of the required structures anyway. A nice touch is that when you are able to finally elect a town leader by placing one of the keflings into the town hall, they are the voice that gives you the objectives you need to complete in order to gain more love (which counts as a resource. whodathunkit?) that in turn allows you to create more structures and have more keflings populating your world to do your bidding. The small bit of writing that is present is incredibly charming and once you sink yourself into the charming universe, you'll find yourself laughing at some of the more off the wall jokes. The reason I'm marking this section so low is that while everything that is there is pretty genius, it kind of feels like if they wanted to do it, they probably could have included a more story driven mode, since there's already a separate sandbox mode if you don't feel like doing the goals in the order they specify.


Gameplay - 9/10

I knocked it off one point because there is no cover mechanic which is ess...wait...wrong game! Keflings controls incredibly well and while the game itself may not be as complex as something as Sim City or Civilization, its simplicity is what makes it what it is. The big feature of the game is that you can either choose from a pre-made character or pop your avatar into the game and control them, which works somewhat like the creatures from the pc hit title, Black & White. Instead of watching your avatar freely roam about, you have direct control over their actions, which is a lot more intuitive than it sounds. While most games in this genre would have easily just placed a cursor on the screen, since your avatar takes up physical space and, while they may be a giant among the keflings, you find yourself moving some of the things around the town that the keflings would take a lot longer to do in a lot shorter time. The keflings themselves are people that you can assign different specialized tasks to and they continue to do them until you assign them to do otherwise. To be blunt, they are resource gatherers. If you were wondering, there are no enemies, so your main motivation in the game is again, to just build up your own city and to play it however you want to. If you find yourself getting bored or annoyed with a few of the keflings, you can pick them up and kick them, which is always a blast to do, and since the game isn’t to in depth, there is no hatred meter you need to watch out for. That's right, you can abuse your keflings all you want to and they will continue to do exactly as you say! Building structures consists of you going to one of the various factories that you construct, picking a building from the blueprint screen, then getting the various supplies you need and placing them in a predetermined pattern. Typically, building structures in these kinds of games is somewhat boring since it involves clicking on something, clicking on what you want to build, then sitting there and waiting, but since you're actively building the structures, it really does make the task seem to pass faster. A few of the larger structures that take a lot more time to build may possibly get on your nerves since you have to drag so many parts around, but overall it's not that bad. The one downside to the game is that, while there is a sandbox mode, the overall size of the world, which initially feels gigantic, starts to feel more and more confined as you start running out of resources and expanding your kingdom in every direction possible. Just to reinforce it, it needs to be said that this is not the most complex game ever, so don't expect having to build sewers or work out traffic routes, but what the game does give you for the low cost of 10$ is an incredibly enjoyable experience that really stands out and has a really creative use for avatars.

Sound - 5/10

Sound is not this games forte. The music, while it does reinforce the lighthearted feel of the world, quickly becomes grating since there's only a song or two. Luckily for 360 owners, there's always the custom soundtrack feature! The keflings themselves really don't have much to say, so the entire game is just pretty quiet overall, aside from the one song that's constantly playing. At the same time, if you were picking this game up expecting some sort of awesome sound effects, epic score, or whatever, you're probably in the wrong place anyway!


Graphics - 8/10

Similar to Fable, this game has its own unique style and that's why the graphics excel. While it's obviously not going to be on par with any of the major retail releases, it does hold it's own against most of the originals games present on XBLA. The characters that are already included in the game each has their own unique look that really captures the feel of being a hero, but most people are more likely to dive in and insert their own avatars instead. While there aren't any options for customization in game, it still looks pretty neat to see your avatar running around the lush world of KFK, gathering resources, helping the Keflings, etc. The Keflings themselves only come in a male and female variety, but as you gain more facilities and have them specialize in things, you'll notice small details, such as educated citizens wearing hats, shepards that carry canes with them, loggers pulling out their axes when the duty calls, and all sorts of other minor flourishes that really help to characterize your citizens. The world isn't as fleshed out as it could be, but it still looks very nice and has a slightly cartoon-styled look. As you play, you'll find yourself progressing through the different seasons, each showing its highlight, such as flowers beginning to bloom in spring to the cascading snowfalls of winter. Perhaps because I bought the game not expecting much out of it, I was more than surprised to see all that it offered when it came to the graphics, and the only part that I can distinctly remember any slowdown happening at was when the season transitioned to Winter and the snow falls, which is only temporary and doesn't really break the game. Speaking of the snow, another minor touch that was unnecessary but really helps is that during that season, the snow accumulates on the buildings. To go further into the type of customization you can do in the game, eventually you gain the ability to construct a paint shop, which allows you to designate one kefling as a sort of paint brush for your buildings. Using the basic structure, you have a palate of colors to choose from that, albeit basic; really help you make your kingdom your own. This aspect alone distracted me for probably an hour or two, as I went around randomly changing the colors of buildings until I figured out what way would benefit my playing style the most. Just to completely make you feel as though you are in control of these keflings, or that they are strongly dependent on you, until you designate a job to them (which is done by picking them up as they dangle helplessly in your grasp until you drop them on a building), they kind of follow you around and occasionally yell out to get your attention, which may be the cutest thing ever in a strategy game.


Overall - 8/10

Kingdom For Keflings is a surprisingly deep and addictive title, especially if you are a fan of the city building genre. As I've previously stated, don't go into it expecting Sim City or Civilization, but just a game that shines for what it is. Sadly, a lot of people are likely to pass this up because Microsoft did a terrible job of explaining what it was, but for anyone who does at least give it a shot, it's likely to find a permanent spot in your heart and really does deserve a purchase for it's low price. Due to me not having many friends with the game, and the ones I do are rarely on at the same time, I was unable to test out the multiplayer functionality, but it does sound like it would be a lot of fun to invite a friend to your city and enlist them to help you build! Of course, it's more likely that they would try to impede your progress, but since there is no real sense of losing in the game, it's almost entertaining to try to cause mayhem. Lastly, while the world isn't gigantic, it is big enough for you to completely lose yourself in for hours at a time, staying up to try to get just a little bit more love to make another house to get a few more keflings in your town. There's also a sandbox mode if you feel like just doing whatever you want to whenever you want to, which does open up the free-form factor of the game even more. If you've got the change, you should definitely pick this up, but if you're skeptical or don't have the money on you, do yourself a favor and at least try the demo.