 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Strategy Simulation Developer: NinjaBee Publisher: Microsoft |
Everyone has a little piece of them that wants to build a civilization. If this wasn’t true, such games as “SimCity” would not continue to be updated and continue to be popular in the gaming industry. Those who have
recognized this need to be a contractor to a small civilization have resorted to strategy games in order to feed that hunger. Luckily for those who enjoy these types of games, developer NinjaBee has created a game that
hits all of the elements that this gamers look for, “A Kingdom for Keflings.”
For those who are wondering what a Kefling is, a Kefling is an average medieval villager who is hopelessly unable to build anything. The player takes on the role of a giant who is able to get things done in the best
possible way, by delegating the jobs to the Keflings in the village. Upon starting the game, players are informed that the poor Keflings need a town built and that is what the giant is supposed to do, build a city. As any
good contractor would say, construction is as much about managing projects, people working, materials and components of actually building things.
Scattered throughout the world of the Keflings are natural resources that can be gathered, such as pine trees, stone, sheep and crystals. These resources can be gathered by both the players or the Keflings and can be
turned into building materials, but it does take a little bit of work. For example, the trees must be cut down and then be cut into planks before they can be used to build, rocks into stackable stones, sheep’s wool in cloth
and so on.
There is a lot of management that goes on in “A Kingdom for Keflings,” but it wouldn’t be accurate to call this a strategy game. There aren’t any enemies in this game to attack, no timer, and no real consequences for
not doing things in a particular way. The game is more of a city simulation of sorts, but it works remarkably well.
Like a puzzle, the game is the sort of game that is best approached is small bursts. Much of the game play is repetitive and can become tiresome after a long amount of time at the controls. Also, as the blueprints begin
to grow in size and become m ore complex, the thought of even beginning another building can sometimes be quite overwhelming. These don’t need to necessarily need to be negatives though, because the game
seems to be designed to push players outside of the game and then pull them back into the game again.
In order to get things done in the game, players need to pick up a Kefling and drop them off by a resource. Like a good, little Kefling, they will get straight to work. Players must then grab them again and move them to a
structure that converts the product. Once this is done, the Keflings will continually gather sources and drop them off at conversion structures. The nice thing is that the Keflings are flexible in their jobs, they can
continually change jobs as needed.
“A Kingdom for Keflings” is one of the first games to support the brand new avatars that came along as a part of the Xbox Live Dashboard update. The integration of the avatars is smooth and works well with the game.
At the beginning of the game, players are asked to choose which giant they want to be, either their custom avatar from the Dashboard or one of the preset characters in the game. If the avatar is chosen, it will be fully
rendered with the game, which is pretty cool to see.
As players make their way through the game, new buildings, resources and components become available to the player. Also, players will be able to earn and find upgrades for themselves and the citizens of their
village. The overall goal of the game is to build a castle, for the little village of Keflings. For those who are able to keep on task through the game, the Keflings will adore them for their efforts. For those who don’t stay on
task, it’s okay, the Keflings really don’t care. It is impossible to fail at “A Kingdom for Keflings,” unless strangers from online are invited to join in the game.
There is a multiplayer function available for “A Kingdom for Keflings,” which allows up to four people to play together online in a single village. This isn’t recommended for those who like to have a certain structure to
their village because any of the players can build new structures and destroy old ones at any time. In the random matches room there are a lot of people begging those who join their game to not destroy their buildings
that have already been built in the village. Multiplayer would have worked a lot better if it would have been available as a local multiplayer option, which would make the game much more of a family game, where parents
and children can play a single co-op game on the coach, or where siblings can attempt to destroy the village as fast as the other builds it back up.
For those who are in the mood for a extremely laid back Xbox Live Arcade game and really want to get their new avatar into action, “A Kingdom for Keflings” is the perfect choice. This entertaining, distinctive and fanciful
game doesn’t have any of the high pressure that is usually packaged with many of the strategy and simulation games that have recently come out. Although there are a few issues with the presentation and multiplayer
options, it is one game that has possibilities to build upon.
recognized this need to be a contractor to a small civilization have resorted to strategy games in order to feed that hunger. Luckily for those who enjoy these types of games, developer NinjaBee has created a game that
hits all of the elements that this gamers look for, “A Kingdom for Keflings.”
For those who are wondering what a Kefling is, a Kefling is an average medieval villager who is hopelessly unable to build anything. The player takes on the role of a giant who is able to get things done in the best
possible way, by delegating the jobs to the Keflings in the village. Upon starting the game, players are informed that the poor Keflings need a town built and that is what the giant is supposed to do, build a city. As any
good contractor would say, construction is as much about managing projects, people working, materials and components of actually building things.
Scattered throughout the world of the Keflings are natural resources that can be gathered, such as pine trees, stone, sheep and crystals. These resources can be gathered by both the players or the Keflings and can be
turned into building materials, but it does take a little bit of work. For example, the trees must be cut down and then be cut into planks before they can be used to build, rocks into stackable stones, sheep’s wool in cloth
and so on.
There is a lot of management that goes on in “A Kingdom for Keflings,” but it wouldn’t be accurate to call this a strategy game. There aren’t any enemies in this game to attack, no timer, and no real consequences for
not doing things in a particular way. The game is more of a city simulation of sorts, but it works remarkably well.
Like a puzzle, the game is the sort of game that is best approached is small bursts. Much of the game play is repetitive and can become tiresome after a long amount of time at the controls. Also, as the blueprints begin
to grow in size and become m ore complex, the thought of even beginning another building can sometimes be quite overwhelming. These don’t need to necessarily need to be negatives though, because the game
seems to be designed to push players outside of the game and then pull them back into the game again.
In order to get things done in the game, players need to pick up a Kefling and drop them off by a resource. Like a good, little Kefling, they will get straight to work. Players must then grab them again and move them to a
structure that converts the product. Once this is done, the Keflings will continually gather sources and drop them off at conversion structures. The nice thing is that the Keflings are flexible in their jobs, they can
continually change jobs as needed.
“A Kingdom for Keflings” is one of the first games to support the brand new avatars that came along as a part of the Xbox Live Dashboard update. The integration of the avatars is smooth and works well with the game.
At the beginning of the game, players are asked to choose which giant they want to be, either their custom avatar from the Dashboard or one of the preset characters in the game. If the avatar is chosen, it will be fully
rendered with the game, which is pretty cool to see.
As players make their way through the game, new buildings, resources and components become available to the player. Also, players will be able to earn and find upgrades for themselves and the citizens of their
village. The overall goal of the game is to build a castle, for the little village of Keflings. For those who are able to keep on task through the game, the Keflings will adore them for their efforts. For those who don’t stay on
task, it’s okay, the Keflings really don’t care. It is impossible to fail at “A Kingdom for Keflings,” unless strangers from online are invited to join in the game.
There is a multiplayer function available for “A Kingdom for Keflings,” which allows up to four people to play together online in a single village. This isn’t recommended for those who like to have a certain structure to
their village because any of the players can build new structures and destroy old ones at any time. In the random matches room there are a lot of people begging those who join their game to not destroy their buildings
that have already been built in the village. Multiplayer would have worked a lot better if it would have been available as a local multiplayer option, which would make the game much more of a family game, where parents
and children can play a single co-op game on the coach, or where siblings can attempt to destroy the village as fast as the other builds it back up.
For those who are in the mood for a extremely laid back Xbox Live Arcade game and really want to get their new avatar into action, “A Kingdom for Keflings” is the perfect choice. This entertaining, distinctive and fanciful
game doesn’t have any of the high pressure that is usually packaged with many of the strategy and simulation games that have recently come out. Although there are a few issues with the presentation and multiplayer
options, it is one game that has possibilities to build upon.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
