Bring on the Keflings!

Tired of running amok in a first person world and shooting everything that moves?

Tired of seeing bits of brains splattered against the wall?

Tired of violence in general?

Then try this wonderful little Arcade game called Keflings.

What is this game you say? Well think of all of the RTS games you used to play, where you have to gather different resource types, summon resource gatherers and build your base, minus all of the violence.

Well, maybe not all. You can kick your Keflings if you feel that they are not performing up to your high (or low) standards.

The sole purpose of these Keflings is to run around either chopping wood, mining rock and crystals and staffing buildings such as the sawmill or wood shop. In order to build anything, you as the God of the realm, have to go to the individual production shops, order the individual components such as a workbench, bed, stove and so on, carry them from the shop to the location where you want to put the new building, then watch the building appear when the final component is dropped in its place. In order to know where each component goes, you have access to floor plans which tell you where each square component is to be placed.

Every new building type you build will unlock a new building which will eventually lead to the castle, which is the ultimate goal of the game. You can also build decorative objects like sculpted trees so that you can customize the look of your kingdom, as well as a paint shop so that you can change the color of your buildings.

Are you excited yet? Drooling with anticipation to get your hands on this game?

Well don't trip over yourself or push your way through your friends just yet. It is nice to be able to play a simple, and it is simple, game that just oozes of niceness. What do I mean by that? Well, in order to get more Keflings to help you with the resource gathering, you have to build a house. Each house you build will give you 2 Kefligns. Well great! you say. I can just build a hundred houses, set all the Kefligns to gather all the resources, then come back and go on a mad building spree and complete the game in 20 minutes.

Not so! After you build the house, you have to activate it. To activate it, you have to fill the house with love... Yes, you read it right. You have to fill the house with love. And what is this love you speak of? 'Where is this love' (10 points if you can name the band) that I speak of? It comes in the form of giant red hearts. To get these hearts, you complete simple quests (gather 50 resources of a certain kind and bring to a building) or completely mine a resource in a small region. When you drop the heart in a new house, a boy and girl Kefling appear and wave at you to let you know they have nothing better to do than follow you around and wave hello.

Another hindrance to the concept of just letting the Keflings gather every resource in sight and go on a mad building spree, is that the Keflings will stop gathering and start slapping their knees in some form of Kefling dance if you as the god have been idle for too long.

Overall, I would still say that the game is entertaining, and can be played with kids of all ages without fear of them waking up screaming in the middle of the night. Although the younger ones will need help from an adult.

It does have a multiplayer component, which I have not tried, but I think you just share the tasks of building the city / castle.

I give it a 3 out of 5 paws for what it is. If a simple RTS kind of game with no combat and competition is not your style, then you will probably not enjoy it.

For 800 points, it is worth the few hours of time passing it will give you.