Game Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (WiiWare)
After a bit of debating in myself, I decide to be the sheep you all know I am and buy the most popular game of the new 'WiiWare' software, 'Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King' (FFCC:MLAAK). Its a bit ironic that, in a system designed to encourage cheap and straight forward games, the most popular one is the most expensive one (1500 points + add-on content), and probably the most complex one at that.
The game takes place shortly after the events of the original FFCC on Gamecube and sees a (very) young Clavat king return, with his two aides, a Liltie and a Selkie, to the kingdom that once belonged to his father and was lost to the miasma during the events of FFCC. The castle, the town walls, the roads and the crystal that is the signature of this spin off series are what remain of the Kingdom, but the buildings are all absent. It is up to you, the king, using the magical power of "Architek", to rebuild the town, and then order your subjects to go out and gather the resources needed to build more things. You can't go out yourself of course, that'd be un-King like.
The game plays like a very cut down version of SimCity, which isn't fundamentally broken. The citizens won't whine at you if a tree isn't quite green enough or the bakeries bread isn't quite fresh enough. No, instead they are actually grateful you've given them somewhere to live. How about that? These people actually enjoy living and don't look for any old reason to complain. Ok, the adventurers to get a bit disheartened sometimes but a quick chat with their king or a national holiday and all is well.
The controls feel natural, if a bit broken. The camera sometimes gets caught behind something but, hey, I've seen worse. The best bit is that you only need to Wii remote to play the thing. You can use the Nunchuck if you wish but it doesn't matter really. Ok, using a D-pad to control a 3D character is a bit weird but you get used to it.
Ok, gameplay-wise, its a bit slow and plodding sometimes and the days are cripplingly short other times (about 10 mins), but the slow-plodding bits can be aided by ending the day early, so thats dealt with and the quick days leave something for the next day. Who knows, you may even change your mind in the interim.
You may notice this review is a bit shorter than my other ones, for the simple reason of a) I'm trying to keep it punchy, and b) There isn't a lot you can say about this game. It's charming, easy to pick up and, above all, fun! I would say this is the gaming equivalent of some highly addictive drug, like Heroin or something, but on reflection I don't think so. I think this is more like smoking, which is also highly addictive, I know, but let me explain. With Heroin, you get a definite high that you know about as well as the addiction, whereas with smoking you don't get the high, just the addiction. Same with this game. You don't get any real benefit from it, like the satisfaction of beating an end of level boss, you just want to play it more, and more, and more. Maybe I'm missing something and I have to complete the story before the benefit comes in. We'll see.
My one gripe is with the add-on content. Credit, where its due, you don't actually need to to get the full game experience. It's all there. The extra stuff, is just that, extra. But even so, it would've been nice to have the other tribes in from the start but what can you do? I'll get the extra tribes and maybe some new locations, when I can afford the points, but it's still a good game even without it and a recommend it as a buy.
Enjoy!
The game takes place shortly after the events of the original FFCC on Gamecube and sees a (very) young Clavat king return, with his two aides, a Liltie and a Selkie, to the kingdom that once belonged to his father and was lost to the miasma during the events of FFCC. The castle, the town walls, the roads and the crystal that is the signature of this spin off series are what remain of the Kingdom, but the buildings are all absent. It is up to you, the king, using the magical power of "Architek", to rebuild the town, and then order your subjects to go out and gather the resources needed to build more things. You can't go out yourself of course, that'd be un-King like.
The game plays like a very cut down version of SimCity, which isn't fundamentally broken. The citizens won't whine at you if a tree isn't quite green enough or the bakeries bread isn't quite fresh enough. No, instead they are actually grateful you've given them somewhere to live. How about that? These people actually enjoy living and don't look for any old reason to complain. Ok, the adventurers to get a bit disheartened sometimes but a quick chat with their king or a national holiday and all is well.
The controls feel natural, if a bit broken. The camera sometimes gets caught behind something but, hey, I've seen worse. The best bit is that you only need to Wii remote to play the thing. You can use the Nunchuck if you wish but it doesn't matter really. Ok, using a D-pad to control a 3D character is a bit weird but you get used to it.
Ok, gameplay-wise, its a bit slow and plodding sometimes and the days are cripplingly short other times (about 10 mins), but the slow-plodding bits can be aided by ending the day early, so thats dealt with and the quick days leave something for the next day. Who knows, you may even change your mind in the interim.
You may notice this review is a bit shorter than my other ones, for the simple reason of a) I'm trying to keep it punchy, and b) There isn't a lot you can say about this game. It's charming, easy to pick up and, above all, fun! I would say this is the gaming equivalent of some highly addictive drug, like Heroin or something, but on reflection I don't think so. I think this is more like smoking, which is also highly addictive, I know, but let me explain. With Heroin, you get a definite high that you know about as well as the addiction, whereas with smoking you don't get the high, just the addiction. Same with this game. You don't get any real benefit from it, like the satisfaction of beating an end of level boss, you just want to play it more, and more, and more. Maybe I'm missing something and I have to complete the story before the benefit comes in. We'll see.
My one gripe is with the add-on content. Credit, where its due, you don't actually need to to get the full game experience. It's all there. The extra stuff, is just that, extra. But even so, it would've been nice to have the other tribes in from the start but what can you do? I'll get the extra tribes and maybe some new locations, when I can afford the points, but it's still a good game even without it and a recommend it as a buy.
Enjoy!