New Little King's Story Hands-On - Preview
by Karl Koebke , posted on 06 June 2012 / 3,423 Views
Pikmin 3 has been requested every year for quite a few E3s, but Nintendo fans should remember that they already had a fantastic game in the same gameplay style. Little King’s Story was an adorable little strategy game in which you led around the denizens of your kingdom and tasked them with defeating monsters, cutting through obstacles, and building you bridges to new lands. Sadly it wasn’t exactly a sales blockbuster so the franchise seemed to be done after a single entry, but Konami has decided to give this series another chance at redemption on Sony’s new handheld and thus we get New Little King’s Story for the PSVita.
Little King’s Story was one of the best games for the Nintendo Wii but it wasn’t without its issues. Many gamers thought that having a Pikmin-style strategy game on the Wii without using the pointer controls for directing your minions was a ridiculous misstep that made deploying your troops more difficult than it should have been. Luckily, New Little King’s Story for the Vita does not repeat the mistakes of its predecessor. Tapping on the front touch screen allows you to pick up helpers as you pass through town and send your troops to specific objectives without needing to worry which direction the Little King is actually facing. The back touch screen was unused on the demo I played but there was a visual effect on the screen from touching it and the PR representative assured me that the full version would use the back touch screen as well, though he didn’t know exactly what it would do.
Improving the controls is great but that wouldn’t normally be enough for me to repurchase a game I’ve already played through. Thankfully this is an all new Little King’s Story with a different storyline as well as a new artstyle. Really just the core gameplay is exactly the same, which is how I wanted it. Exploring outside your castle in order to gather loot which you turn in for money to slowly build up your territory and the available services within is just as addicting as it was on Wii. It’s a simple but fun town-building and progression mechanic that I can’t help but enjoy. What remains to be seen is if the Vita version can continue what made Little King’s Story truly memorable: unique boss fights with interesting mechanics. Everything else seems to be dead-on the original, with the bonus of improved controls, so Vita fans should be sure to keep this on their radar as it promises to be one of the best games coming to the system.
