Similar to
Pikmin or
Overlord, you have direct control over the King and command your subjects to perform duties based on their job types.
Little King's Story is more
Pikmin than
Overlord, but it shares ideas from both - well, most of them anyway. One of the more questionable design decisions is the absence of Wii-specific controls. The point-and-click interface seems like a natural fit for the game's mechanics, yet the game opts for an Analog Stick directed method. It works well enough, but is puzzling nevertheless.
A press of the button lets you grab a subject and, after aiming with the analog stick, toss them towards a goal. For instance, throwing a villager at a barracks turns them into a soldier while tossing a miner at a mine puts them to work. It's a simple system, but the lack of pointer controls makes it infinitely harder than it should be. If a subject hits his location, he'll go about his work. Otherwise, he'll run back, ready for another toss. It may not sound like a major deal, but go back and play Overlord or "new play control" Pikmin and you'll see the difference.
Little King's Story is engaging and fun, but whenever I stepped away from the game, I found myself wondering if I was really having fun, or just letting my completionist drive and the game's charm make me THINK I was having fun. Quests and goals keep you constantly moving forward, so you want to succeed and finish your cities. At the same time, the unnecessary "clunk" gets in the way. For me, it was an example of progressive thinking running into the brick wall of "how we've always done it," or at least a refusal to change.
I like Little King's Story enough to recommend it for Wii owners looking for the system's "the next big thing." However, in a completely contradictory tone, I also stop short at declaring Little King's Story the systems "next big thing". Despite its faults, Little King's Story is a fun game, but feels more like a stop on the Yellow Brick Road rather than the Emerald City of Oz.