Dec 28 2008
Through the Cracks: A Kingdom For Keflings on Xbox 360
With so many retail releases hitting store shelves every week it’s easy to miss out on the new titles that are just a few clicks (and a few dollars) away in online marketplaces. Through the Cracks takes a look at easily overlooked downloadable games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii.
A Kingdom for Keflings by Ninjabee
Available on: Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360
Price (as of posting): 800 Microsoft Points (roughly $10)
Upon first thought, a game in which there’s no conflict, no action, and no way to “lose” sounds pretty dull. Why would you keep playing? Why would you start it up in the first place? Why would you pay for it? A Kingdom for Keflings from Ninjabee defies all of that assumed logic and draws you right into its innocent, carefree, and addictive world. If you’ve ever spent an hour with Sim City, Civilization, or Animal Crossing you already know how easy it is to get hooked on managing the world set before you, and if you haven’t you’re in for a nice surprise.
At its core, A Kingdom for Keflings is a mix of resource management and real time strategy. You play as a Giant and are represented in the game by one of several pre-made characters or your customizable Xbox Avatar. It’s nice to see your online persona running around in a game but the character itself quickly morphs into a tool by which you sculpt your kingdom.
At first you’ll be doing a lot of grunt work yourself; chopping trees and chipping stones in order to stockpile resources to start making buildings. The Keflings at your feet are willing to work and via an intuitive show-and-tell process you can quickly pass your duties on to them. Simply pick up a Kefling, put it down near a tree and it’ll start making a pile of wood. Place another on the pile of wood, pick them up again and set them down at the destination (like the Workshop) and they’ll start ferrying resources to and fro. As the game progresses you’ll get more Keflings and learn to develop more resources but the process remains throughout; harvest and stockpile.
With a shed full of resources you’re now ready to build. At first you’ll have only a few blueprints on hand but the more you build and the more you expand your kingdom across the map, the more you’ll find. Each structure is made up of smaller components; for example, a simple house requires a Bed, a Hearth, some Storage, and a basic Platform. It’s almost like prefabrication as you build and place individual components around the land before they spring to life in a satisfying reveal. Beyond the necessities like Workshops, a Town Hall, and a Marketplace you’ll also be able to build Artisan shops that let you customize your town. Paint buildings, build statues and topiaries, and plant trees wherever you’d like. With your Blueprints list filled up you’ll ultimately be able to build a fitting castle around your newly formed kingdom, though there’s never any attackers to worry about.
And really, that’s about the extent of it. As you play you’ll find more tools to speed up your Keflings’ work and new buildings to manage but it really comes back to harvesting, stockpiling, and managing your quaint and innocent world. Managing the Keflings’ work and lugging around building parts is satisfyingly addictive and its thanks to the simple gameplay and conflict-free design. Of course, if showing villagers what to do and carrying stuff around sounds more like you’re real job than a fun diversion, this game isn’t going to change your mind. But for those of us predisposed towards organization and management, it’s a fun and worry-free game that works wondefully as a cheap downloadable offering.
Adding a social aspect along the lines of Animal Crossing, there’s also an online mode that lets up to four players cram into a kingdom and work together for the betterment (or detriment) of the world. Using Xbox Live’s voice chat works great for shooting the breeze while friends manage workshops, ferry building parts to one another, and decide what color the Cathedral’s roof should be.
The whole game has a few glitches and hang ups which are exacerbated in online play, but with auto saves and no conflict or losses to worry about, it’s never too disheartening to get booted out of a party. There’s also a tiny amount of music that gets repetitive quickly and the graphics would be even better with a bit more diversity but for $10 it’s become one of my favorite Xbox Live Arcade downloads.
