A World of Keflings

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

A World of Keflings is a family-friendly Management Simulation released on Xbox 360 in 2013, ported to PC in 2013, and then ported to Wii U in 2014. In this game, players take the role of a giant (in the Wii U version of the game, their Mii avatar) assisting the diminutive Kefling people in rebuilding their kingdom.

The presentation in this game is whimsical and silly, with oddly-constructed relatively low-poly 3D characters that give this game an offbeat look. This look is complimented by the Keflings’ nonsensical warbling voices, and a bouncy but generally forgettable soundtrack.

When it comes to the gameplay, A World of Keflings is a bit odd. In the opening I refer to it as a Management Simulation, as this is the closest genre that I think truly fits, but in many ways the way this game is constructed is closer to a Real-Time Strategy game. Players manage resources, assign workers to tasks that they continue to work on as you leave them to it, and there’s even a development tree that’s fairly comparable to what you might see in a Real-Time Strategy game. In fact, the only thing that really sets this apart from a Strategy game is… well, the lack of a need for any sort of strategy.

Players are developing their little civilization much as in a Strategy game, but there’s no clock, no opposing force you’re working against, and if you make a mistake you can always re-assign a unit, break down a building, or even shove placed buildings around to your liking. As such, there’s not really any stress or any need to scurry to complete tasks like you would in a Real-Time Strategy game.

What you will find are some well-integrated touchscreen controls that make the game easy to micromanage as if you were pressed for time. And while I haven’t played the other versions of this game to compare, I would venture to guess that the touchscreen integration here makes the Wii U version the best version of this game.

The main problem is, without a pressing need to efficiently complete goals, and with the game’s goal structure being fairly linear, this ends up just feeling like the game repeatedly bossing you around and telling you what to do next. There doesn’t seem to be much room for creativity, and what creativity you do contribute hardly seems to matter. As long as you eventually get around to the next task the game has set for you, it doesn’t really care about what you did before you got to that goal.

As such, while I call A World of Keflings a Management Simulation, it doesn’t really hit the same sort of notes that make Management Simulations enjoyable. Neither does it challenge the player like a good Real-Time Strategy game does. That’s not to say this game doesn’t have its place – I think that this is an ideal training ground to get newer players used to the concepts within Real-Time Strategy games before graduating to a Real-Time Strategy game that will actually fight back. But for more experienced players of these genres, I can’t imagine this game will have much to offer.

tl;dr – A World of Keflings is a family-friendly Management Simulation game that actually plays more like a Real-Time Strategy, with players placing units to tell them what resources to mine and what to build, only without any opposing force to worry about. It’s too linear to be a fun Management Simulation, and the lack of challenge makes this a poor Real-Time Strategy, but this still has some use as a way to get beginner players used to the mechanics of Real-Time Strategy games. Veteran players, on the other hand, should skip this one.

Grade: C

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