Whenever I hear of a game like Little King’s Story I tend to be attracted to them simply because I know most will pass the game up with nothing more than a glance at the cover and name. Not that I blame them..but usually this is how sleeper hits become…well, sleeper hits.

Thusly I put on my gaming cap and rolled up my sleeve and took a little trip into a little kingdom. What I found was..interesting. And oh so fun.

So go ahead and take a gander inside for my review on Little King’s Story.

The game begins simply enough: A little boy of five or six years is sitting around in his room and enjoying his toys. And that’s about where normality ends as a family of multicolored mice (someone’s been around) makes their pesky entrance. Of course, the boy does the same any boy his age would: he cheerfully follows the mice into a tiny hole.

The hole leads into another world, as they tend to, and now no longer interested in the mice the boy gets lost. It’s fine however, as he eventually comes to a boulder that bursts apart to reveal a golden crown. Our little hero does as any sane person would do and puts it on, and there you have it. The entire premise and story of Little King’s Story. All the animals and all the people bow to him as a king, and thus the game begins.

While the story won’t be getting any praise from me, or most people for that matter, it’s ultimately as important as Pikmin’s story, which is to say not very.

The silken cream layer of the game is within the gameplay. Little King’s Story starts off with a few simple tutorialish goals, but once you complete them you’re allowed to reign as a true king.

You’ll spend most of your time obtaining money in a fashion similar to Animal Crossing: by gathering various type of citizens (grunts, farmers, carpenters) and then taking them to chop wood to clear passages and gain wood, defeat enemies to earn candies and luck charms, and dig holes to find gold coins and bricks.

After gaining the needed funds, you’ll be able to start upgrading your dirt-hole kingdom into an empire spanning the world. You’ll be building various structures such as a town square, a barracks, a hunter’s hut, a carpenter’s shed, and a farmer shack.

Each of them grant you a new feature or the ability to give your citizens new and far more useful jobs, thus allowing you to reach new areas and making old tasks, like digging holes, easier.

All this is done through a fairly simple set of controls. Basically, “B” calls back your citizens and “A” is the action button that tells them to get working on whatever you’re currently looking at. It’s extremely similar to the way you gave commands in Pikmin.

Aside from that combination, you’ll use the other buttons and the nunchuck for the usual mundane gaming tasks: Opening the main menu, turning the camera, movement, and so on. Those of you hoping for waggle controls will be disappointed, and I did see some instances where it would of been useful, but ultimately it was a thankful omission to the game.

As fun as the Little King’s Story is, it isn’t without it’s flaws. The graphical level and art style of the game fits much like it did Animal Crossing, but you can notice a few areas where more polish would of been nice.

The music, aside from the quite surprising intro background theme and perhaps two region jingles, isn’t very memorable even if it does the job and fits the setting.

The game’s also pretty easy. I turned it up to hard difficulty and still managed to beat the first few bosses on the first pass; they simply just seemed to take longer.

Little King’s Story isn’t a bad game at all, it’s just not a game for everyone. If you liked titles such as Pikmin, My Life as a King, and Animal Crossing, you’ll find this game very enjoyable.

If you’re interested, I’ve included a video version of my review below so you can see the gameplay a bit better.

Nintendo Wii, $49.99
Worth Owning? For lovers of Pikmin, Animal Crossing, and My life as a King, definitely.

Best Traits: Charming, if odd, characters and very enjoyable gameplay
Worst Traits: Music is subpar most of the time, gameplay eventually repetitive when earning cash

Grade: 8.5/10

Check out Little King’s Story and other Nintendo Wii reviews at Test Freaks.