S&S; Review: New Little King's Story

Title: New Little King's Story
Format: PS Vita
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Konami
Developer: AQ Interactive, Marvelous Entertainment
Price: $40
ESRB Rating: E

Going into New Little King's Story, I thought it was going to be another standout for the PS Vita, but I got the exact opposite of what I wanted.  Since I was a fan of the original Little King's Story on the Wii, I was pretty disappointed with the Vita's version.  
Story and Presentation:
The mysterious narrative of New Little King's Story begins as you take control of Corobo, a young monarch who gets overrun by a surprise ambush from dark forces.  He escapes with only a few of his followers, and is forced to reside far away from his homeland.  He doesn't give up though, this is where he mounts a counterattack to one day take back his home that was taken from him.  Even though you're surrounded by a bunch of ragtag citizens, Corobo still tries to rebuild his empire, save the princesses, and defeat the evil forces.  The story really takes a different route than the Wii version, which is great, it was very enjoyable experiencing the game in a different way.  In terms of the game's visuals, the graphics are all over the place.  The game is just rough, and it really never takes advantage of the terrific real estate of the Vita.  With some visual similarities to Pikmin, the overhead camera really puts the emphasis on rough edges and bland textures.  The King and his followers look pretty smooth, and their respective animations are fluent and smooth.  There are a number of technical problems that hold the game down, one being the horrible interface design.  The game will also take many frame drops, and bring the game down to a crawl.  This happens more often I would like, and it really hinders the overall experience.  There are a few bugs that will make characters appear out of nowhere, and cause other characters to become stuck on walls.  These bugs and technical issues are really prevalent in Coroba's adventure.  The music in the game helps counteract the awful and bland dialogue, with some catchy medieval tunes.  
Core Gameplay:
The addictive gameplay from the original Wii game is back, and its still a ton of fun.  A lot of your time will be spent recruiting new followers from the local townsfolk, and after you assign them certain jobs, you'll be rewarded with new special abilities.  Jobs like ditch-digging and treasure hunting are only the tip of the iceberg, as you earn more money and claim more territory, you will gain access to more advanced jobs.  Your scouted troops can be called to your aid with just a press of a button or a tap on the screen.  They are extremely loyal to you, and will try and assist you anyway they can.  The more followers you send to a specific job, the faster it will be completed.  As you gain the ability to have a bigger entourage, being able to strategically send your troops to a specific area or job will become essential in progressing through the game.  Corobo isn't a great attacker on his own, in fact he can't take much damage before falling to his death.  There is a lot of strategy in the game, that has similarities between games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Harvest Moon.  The terrific boss fights is one of the few bright spots of the game, almost each boss needs to be taken out in a creative and different way.  A few of the visual bugs make its way into the gameplay, some of your troops will fail to interact with certain objects . Not climbing trees and and refusing to enter different buildings gets old rather quickly.  Too avoid any targeting problems, I recommend using the touch options rather than the buttons, the game just handles the touch mechanics better in determining which enemy you're trying to target.  Despite the bugs, the gameplay is still the best part of this game.
Final Thoughts:
Despite the many technical and visual issues with the game, I still enjoyed my time with New Little King's Story.  The gameplay is so addictive, and you won't notice how much time you've spent with the game until you pry your eyes away from the screen and look at a nearby clock.  If you're big on management sims and in need of more games for your Vita, New Little King's Story is good game to get your hands on.
S&S Rating: 7/10 @whatsPlay