Sunday, 27 January 2013

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King Review - Wii & Wii U

So here in is my first Wii U review and first one of 2013 (mostly because you can transfer WiiWare).




Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King is an RPG and town building game released on the Wii as WiiWare but also playable on the Wii U. It is a game from within the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles sub-series of Final Fantasy, the much acclaimed series by Square Enix.

Story




As this is a Final Fantasy game the story is sound. A young king starts to search for his father and rebuild a kingdom in the aftermath of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (as I understand it, not having played the GameCube sensation) with the help of his royal companions. The king is of course, you.

Gameplay



Gameplay is different from a usual RPG as you do not do any adventuring and monster slaying yourself, but rather hire your subjects to clear nearby dungeons on your behalf. What you do is build the town up whilst they fight and gather more things for you to either train your adventurers better, such as getting a Black Mage academy or gaining items to let them get better swords or bigger houses.

Graphics




This is a Wii title so is in standard definition which is clear when playing on an HD TV. However the graphics are good for the time. If the chapter introductions were FMV rather than in-game cutscenes it might be nice. An HD update for the Wii U would be nicer though. *hint hint Square Enix*

Soundtrack



The soundtrack is mediocre but was worth enough releasing as a mini album as shown above. Some DLC tracks from Crystal Chronicles might have been good for those who played it before as there was plenty of other DLC.

Replayability




There's loads. There's all the downloadable dungeons to add extra races, there's all the different costumes and differing ways to lay out your town and even a New Game+ when you've finished adding even more dungeons.


Story: 5.5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 6.3/10
Soundtrack: 6/10
Replayability: 9.2/10

70%

0 – 19% Unplayable - why the hell did I even buy this?
20 – 49% Poor – Certain elements of the game hold it back
50 – 69% Average – More good than bad, but you might need to be a fan to really get in to it.
70 – 84% Good – A nice franchise or single game, that just misses out on being great because of a few flaws.
85 – 89% Excellent – You could play this for ages and be happy
90 – 100% Fucking Excellent – You should have this game and play it every single day.