Little King's Story

This game is an under-played gem of a title, and is an example of the reasons why I prefer Nintendo Wii over any other console at the moment; Not afraid to have cute graphics that suit the gameplay, lack of unnecessary violence and guns, short load times, and gameplay that is genuinely funny and carefree.
It's certainly not underrated - all the reviews I've looked at for this game give it ratings of over 90%, which should make it an instant classic. It has a permanent place in ONMs top Wii games along with Okami, also left untouched by the majority of gamers.

I picked this game up for £6 yesterday in HMV, although I have wanted to buy it since it came out, I'm now glad I waited for it. The past few months I've just seen in plummeting in price - clearly, nobody is buying this game! I suppose that's due to poor advertising, which goes for many excellent Japanese games (Okami, Monster Hunter on PS2).
It was developed by Rising Star, also responsible for Muramasa: The Demon Blade, another Wii exclusive, one with exquisite graphics and hardcore gameplay.
In LKS you control a king who controls his subjects. It plays quite similar to Pikmin, and also has elements of Animal Crossing, and Warcraft 3. You Convert your ordinary, lazy citizens into different job classes such as farmers or hunters, each suited to different purposes and obstacles. These hand-picked men and women follow you into the field to dig up treasure, collect resources and hunt UMA, the enemies of the game.



As you can tell from these images, the game is an absolute charmer. Your residents make sounds of their own language, much like the Sims, and it's amusing to watch them go about their daily business. Hunters practice their Archery, guards patrol the Kingdom, and Carpenters sit on a rug and smoke. Beat a boss and the next day a festival will be held, like when you defeat Cow Bones, everyone dances ritualistically, wearing skulls on their noggins.
So far, the game hasn't been too challenging for me, except for a poisonous frog boss who ate most of my men, we only just managed to take him down. It was exciting.
I'm looking forward to playing more of this game, it's not only addictive, it's NINTENDO addictive.

Buy it! £6! You can't go wrong.