Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

A Kingdom for Keflings Review for Xbox 360

A Kingdom for Keflings Review for Xbox 360

Building for Fun!

Ever since the original SimCity series, it seems a whole genre of games have cropped up around construction. Titles like MySims and World of Goo focus almost exclusively on being able to put things together and building structures, and it seems that gamers just can’t get enough of building and creating things. A Kingdom for Keflings takes several notes from these types of games, but instead of creating specific structures, you are charged with building a whole kingdom!

A Kingdom for Keflings screenshot

You play as a giant version of yourself, and are able to order around the much-smaller Keflings. The game starts off rather simply, with only a handful of Keflings and a single structure that can turn raw wood and stone into simplistic structures. These structures must be placed in a certain order to create specific buildings. For instance, if you place a bedroom, hearth, and storage structure in the right order according to a blueprint, these three structures will change into a house, which will bring more Keflings.

Although the game starts off quite simply, the gameplay becomes intricate very quickly. As you go on, you will need to create special facilities for refining resources, and you will need Keflings for transporting raw materials to these facilities. You will also be able to create advancement facilities for Keflings, where they can become educated or learn a special trade. Although construction is the game’s main mechanic, as you progress, your main goal will be to organize the little creatures into a functioning society complete with governing figures, manual laborers, and academics.

The main building mechanic is simple enough, but the real challenge in this game comes from keeping up with your own organization. While it seems simple enough to keep track of a dozen Keflings, once you pass the twenty-citizen mark, it becomes quite difficult to remember who is filling what job. One area where this title comes up a little short is in the organization department. Short of writing everything down yourself, it is very hard to keep track of all the different Kefling occupations. When assigning tasks for new residents (or changing one’s profession), it can be difficult to know what positions are over-filled and which ones need more help. For instance, I frequently employed too many transporters, but not enough laborers, so I ended up with long lines of transporters waiting for a single laborer to bring a natural resource to a processing plant.

A Kingdom for Keflings screenshot

But as long as you can keep your Keflings straight and avoid assigning too many Keflings to any single task, this game is thoroughly enjoyable. It uses a blueprint map with many tiered levels to drive the game’s progress. Each building (or group of buildings) you create will unlock a new class of structures, which will have more complex materials and require new Keflings. The difficulty isn’t that intense, but completing the master blueprint and unlocking all the different buildings will take between ten and fifteen hours, which is pretty respectable for a downloadable title.

In addition to playing all by yourself, A Kingdom for Keflings also has support for online co-op for up to four friends. The co-op mode goes noticeably faster than just playing solo, so if you are looking to burn through this title in less than five hours, then the co-op mode is perfect for you.

A Kingdom for Keflings screenshot

One of the most interesting aspects of A Kingdom for Keflings is it’s one of the first titles to use your Xbox 360 avatar as an integral part of the game. Although this mechanic is completely extraneous to the actual gameplay, it definitely adds to the initial fun of the game. Playing as your avatar won’t get you any special benefits, but it does make the game feel more personal, which is definitely a good thing.

The graphics in A Kingdom for Keflings can best be described as simplistic, although it isn’t necessarily a bad thing here. There is only one game area, and when you walk around it before development, it is all very…green. Once things get going though, the landscape does start to pick up, and the structures you build are nicely detailed. However, this is where some problems crop up too, unfortunately. As more characters and buildings start to fill the screen, the framerate drops very substantially, creating a lot of chug and shudder effects. But, for the most part, this title does look nice, as long as you can forgive some of the technical issues that plague the games second half.

A Kingdom for Keflings screenshot

Another area that could have used a little tweaking is the control. While the basic control scheme only really consists of picking things up with an action button and walking around with a thumbstick, much of the construction element of the game relies on being able to navigate through complex construction menus, which can be quite cumbersome and eat up valuable playtime. Although it is not a major gameplay hindrance, collapsible or shortcut menus would have greatly helped ease some of the menu-selection issues and made finding what you want a little bit easier.

As far as sound is concerned, Kingdom for Keflings can best be described as minimalist in this regard. The soundtrack consists of four acoustic-style tunes that change according to the season. The tunes are fairly nice, but they can become a little repetitive if you plan on playing for more than an hour. The sound effects are also a tad on the small side, with minor grunts and yells from the Keflings making up the majority of the noises you’ll hear while playing. Although the sound elements in this game certainly aren’t horrible, they just aren’t that great either.

Overall, A Kingdom for Keflings is a delightful little title which combines the managerial aspects of games like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King and the construction elements of MySims. The result is a nicely balanced game that is appealing to gamers of all sorts, and it finds several ways to distinguish itself from other downloadable titles. Although the use of the avatar isn’t integral to the gameplay, it is definitely a nice touch and serves as yet another positive aspect of this game. If you are a fan of strategy or construction-style games you owe it to yourself to check this one out, as the addictive and fun gameplay will most certainly keep you coming back for more!

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.6 Graphics
Graphics are a little on the simple side, and framerate issues occur during the second half of the game. 4.0 Control
The menu-based system works well and is easy to use. However, a few shortcut buttons would have helped facilitate complex actions a little better. 3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Acoustic-style music is very nice in small doses. Sound effects are minimal. 4.3 Play Value
The premise is very simple, but the gameplay evolves nicely as you play through. Though I can’t imagine spending more than fifteen hours on this title, the time you do have with it is fun and memorable. 4.0 Overall Rating – Great
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Build through all four seasons, with a dynamic musical score that changes depending on the progress of the city.
  • Players of all ages can customize their kingdom by painting buildings and walls, planting trees and topiaries and constructing statues and other works of art.
  • Online multiplayer option allows up to four giants to build a kingdom cooperatively over Xbox LIVE.

  • To top