By Jeann Wong
Price: 1500 Points
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King could easily be a full retail release, judging from its incredible graphics, polished performance, and stunning presentation. As the first town-building and strategy management sim to hit the Wii Shop Channel, and the first Wiiware released by SquareEnix, this game will definitely leave many with a lasting impression. While traditional Final Fantasy games will have you fighting, defeating bosses, and leveling up, this release is a much more relaxed where you stay in town and command adventurers to do your bidding.
As the child king responsible for restoring a Kingdom from the ground up, you’ll order and commission adventurers to explore dungeons to collect Elementite used to build houses, shops, weapon shops and armouries. Each day is timed with a clock, so you’ll have to use your resources wisely. Each day, you’ll issue “behests” or quests for the adventurers to achieve, which can be anything from exploring a dungeon, to defeating a boss (which rewards you with elementite and possibly new buildings), or even finding dandelions in town. You’ll raise morale by speaking to the townsfolk and solving their problems, usually involved with raising a new building.
While there isn’t much to do when you start out, the underpinning story unfolds as the days pass, adding more dimension to the somewhat repetitive gameplay. Seeing your kingdom grow is magical and you’ll never run out of things to do, as you transform a barren land to a bustling metropolitan. My Life as a King has completely blown me away, and should definitely be a part of every gamers collection.
We Say
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED