Sometimes Simple is the Best

I'm a big Xbox freak. I love my Xbox and the fact that I can keep in touch with old college buddies with it. And one of the best features it has is the XboxLive Arcade. There are some really fun games on there: Catan, Castle Crashers, and, the object of this post, Kingdom for Keflings. When I downloaded the demo, I was mainly interested in being able to move my NXE Avatar around and have him do things than just stand there and wave at me and burp. Ok, so the burping is fun too, but that's besides the point. The point is, KfF is a great way to spend hours building things.

Now, this game really has no major driving point. There's no score, no danger, no massive horde waiting to wipe out your way-to-happy little people; just you (as a giant) your little Kefling workers, and the urge to help them build a town. While on the surface this seems somewhat stupid and idiotic, once I fired up the game, I was pleasantly surprised by it.

The Good

I will freely admit, it's really cartoonish, whimsical, humorous, and relaxed, but sometimes you don't want to spend hours killing hordes of enemies, or beating the crap out of friends. Sometimes you just want to help people build homes. The graphics are fairly well done (about as on par with Cloning Clyde and the aforementioned Castle Crashers) for the size of the game. The interface is simple and fairly straightforward (and yes, the tutorial helps. I'll say why in a minute).

The best part of this is keeping track of resources and Keflings. Yeah, having them harvest every tree is all well and good, but you can't build everything in the game from the basic components. You need to build resource refining buildings, and have the Keflings to carry the goods from one place to another. In short order, things get complicated, and you, as the Gentle Giant, need to keep your little workforce on task. At the beginning, it's nice to have a helping hand telling you how to manage all these resources and the tutorial gets you started with little fuss. All of this makes the game quite cerebral, which is a nice change as well.

Plus, it's a lot of fun picking up the Keflings and watch them flail their arms and legs while you set them about their tasks; something as easy as bringing them to the resource, then bringing them to the destination. After this, they get the idea and start doing it all by themselves.

The Bad

So, this game isn't the most in-depth plot-driven game out there. There doesn't seem to be any real reason to play other than the joy of resource management and helping cute little townsfolk. Plus the framerate drags a bit when there are too many of them on-screen. The music gets a little repetitive, and there aren't many sound effects from your workforce. Other than that, things are fairly decent.

The fact that there is no rush to do things is really a blessing in disguise. It means that there is no feeling of "I have to beat this NOW to unlock the next big thing." You can easily set the game down, go out and fulfill your thirst for violence and action, then return and relax right where you left off.

The Final Word

I really feel this game is definitely worth the 800MSP to get it. It's a pleasant change of pace from a lot of games out there. It's simple, fun, and surprisingly addictive. And if you want, you can get three of your friends to help you out.