General gaming

General gaming

New Little King's Story Review: Frustration Reigns

Posted: 10 Oct 2012 07:22 AM PDT

New Little King's Story for the PS Vita is a classic case of hating the ones you love...or maybe it's loving the ones you hate. There are so many interesting mechanics, clever elements, and addictive scenarios that adorn this title, but they all come with an asterix due to some maddening design choices, frustrating bugs, and a frame-rate that simply can't keep up with your world building.

A follow up to the Wii's 2009 sleeper hit, NLKS places you in the role of Corobo, a deposed king who needs to rebuild his realm in order to regain the throne. The general act of expanding your kingdom plays out with a formula similar to Nintendo's Pikmin series; Corobo himself is fairly weak, so it's up to the players to wrangle up a posse of townsfolk, deputize them with a variety of different jobs, and set off to slowly illuminate the dark corners of the map. Your followers include basic warriors who excel at combat, farmers that can dig holes to find buried treasure, lumberjacks who can help build bridges, and a whole mess of other classes that each perform a unique and important duty. Your crew follows you around wherever you go, and once you find an obstacle in need of overcoming, the King can direct his legion at whatever the problem may be.

nlks

As you compete tasks and gather more resources, your kingdom will expand, opening up a wide array of new game play opportunities. Players can choose to spend their money on housing that creates more townsfolk, specific buildings that open up new characters classes, and even shrines to help strengthen Corobo himself. NLKS also contains a slew of RPG elements that allow you to create a very personal experience. Each party member can be adorned with various equipment, unique princesses help aid you with passive abilities, and a crafting system utilizes the wifi capabilities of the Vita. Sadly, the latter social functions are cumbersome at best, and the entire title has a tendency to not fully explain a lot of its more obscure mechanics.

The Evolution of Deathmatch and the War on Violence

Posted: 09 Oct 2012 11:27 AM PDT

Feature

1UP COVER STORY

Header

1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 8 | DEATHMATCH! GAMES AND COMPETITION

The Evolution of Deathmatch and the War on Violence

Cover Story: Where does the modern landscape of player versus player fall within an endless cycle of political attack?

"W

e have a responsibility to our kids and our communities to protect against the effects of games that depict ultra- violent actions, just as we already do with movies." Then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger April 27, 2010

The State of California recently came very close to imposing some of the most stringent sanctions to be brought against any American medium with the passing of AB 1179 in 2005, a law which would have fined retailers for selling games deemed violent by the state. Though the Supreme Court recently overturned California's blatant disregard of the First Amendment by affirming a lower court's judgment that the law violated the constitution, the victory stands as merely the latest in what is sure to continue to be an uphill battle for game makers and game retailers.
Posted by Shri Krishna

Total Pageviews

statcounter

View My Stats