Review: A World of Keflings

A few times in history will the entire history of history be knocked of its history of… I lost my train of thought. Oh, right. NinjaBee made this great game called A Kingdom for Keflings. And when games are great, sequels are made. Then reviews are written about those sequels. THIS IS THAT REVIEW! A World of Keflings (AWoK) is an inventive and impressive strategy simulator that brings your very own avatar into the playing field. In sort of a Gulliver’s Travelsesque way, your avatar is this giant among little Keflings. You command the Kefling workers to collect resources so you can ultimately build a larger village/kingdom for them. 

AWoK plays like one part RTS and one part ActRaiser. The building part, not the side scrolling action part. The gameplay for AWoK is very straight forward. After breaking out of a gigantic ice block, Bob puts you to work. You learn to use Keflings to collect bramble, stone, crystal, and so on. You are hand walked through new blue prints and plot progression. None of which seems to be too over done. 

AWoK is classified as a Strategy Simulation. You must collect enough resources to construct buildings. Each building creating a link in a chain that helps the development of your kingdom. Academies, Factories, Stone Grinders – each new building helps you build something new. Which in turn builds something new. The chain goes on and on.

While being lead through the game, there are plenty of extras and various tidbits to find and collect. One such item being icky eye balls. These eye balls are usually awarded by completing quests. I call them quests because people have gigantic yellow exclamation points above their heads. So, quest grind. Anywho, these eye balls can be turned in to the witch (once you build her a home). She will reward you with permanent upgrades to you or your Kefling in the form of a potion. These potions might up your strength, or your Kefling’s speed.

Another item group is sort of a “currency.” They are books, or machine cogs. They are used on specific buildings to either upgrade, establish, or create items from that building. As mentioned previously, the machine cogs are a form of currency to build cannons. Now, while I haven’t stumbled upon any other use for the cannons, other than launching Keflings, they are still pretty cool. You can choose a specific size and also choose the sounds and effects that happen after they fire.

AWoK is currently 800 Mega Space Pennies. In my personal opinion, this a 800 MSP well spent. And while playing Keflings, remember that this is the first of three games celebrating Xbox’s Games for the Holidays. So, grab the achievements and be prepared to find out what is unlocked in the next two games.

My only disappointment is the extent of limitation/repetition. It is nice in the beginning. You get a very nice introduction to the gameplay. But, the novelty wears off quickly. Gathering resources to build one part of the chain gets boring. I’d rather collect all the resources I would ever need and just build my final project. But, that wouldn’t be a very long game. So, Win-Lose.