This does look like a video game that’s going to be worth the wait. Although some are saying it’s really similar to certain other games (I’ll let you be the judge of that), it brings a rather unique view to the whole dungeon crawl genre. There’s a bit of humor. And goblins. Goblins moving boxes. Goblins drinking. Goblins spouting poetry. And even evil goblins to mow down with you sword. (It’s a rather violent game in some spots…)

As with most RPGs, your character has a skill tree and can improve as you progress through the game, becoming more and more powerful. Don’t worry, the monsters coming from the middle of the earth get a lot more difficult to deal with too. Not so much that the game isn’t fun anymore, but enough to make it challenging, which is nice.

And there’s the humor. The goblins. Heh. This is classic goblin taken a little further from what’s available to see on the Internet. If they can pull off the social aspect of this ‘dungeon romp’ they’re going to have a hit video game on their hands – no matter what company owns it now.

If you’re wanting to see this game made, leave a comment below and let us know why you’re wanting to play it so bad. Thanks!

Little King’s Story begins with a young boy named Corobo who is shy and doesn’t have many friends. (Sounds like a gamer maybe? Smile.)  Corobo stumbles upon a mysterious, powerful crown while walking in the forest near his village. He soon discovers that the crown grants him the ability to charm any person, and make them follow his orders. Suddenly, Howzer, the bull-knight appears informing Corobo that he is now King of the village and that he must not take this responsibility lightly. Returning to his sleepy village as a King instead of a shy little boy, Corobo begins a quest to turn his small hamlet into a noble, fantastic kingdom. Very cool.

In a move rarely seen in the games industry, Little King’s Story is the result of the combined efforts of some of the biggest names in Japanese gaming. Known collectively as the Samurai Six, the Wii-exclusive title features executive producer Yasuhiro Wada (creator of the Harvest Moon series), producer Yoshiro Kimura (director on Chulip), director Yoichi Kawaguchi (main programmer on DragonQuest VIII), character designer Hideo Minaba (character designer on Final Fantasy XII), game designer Norikazu Yasunaga (game designer at Cing, developers of Hotel Dusk and Another Code) and monster designer Kazuyuki Kurashima (monster designer on Super Mario RPG). That’s quite an impressive team.

“With such a legendary team of designers behind it, Little King’s Story promises to be one of the games of the year,” says Yen Hau, product marketing assistant, Rising Star Games. “Our focus is on bringing the very best Japanese games to Europe – and we’ve worked incredibly hard to ensure that our gamers will be able to play this ground-breaking collaborative title ahead of its native release. Mark 24th April down in your diaries now – and cross out the following few weeks: Little King’s Story will be the game to play this spring.”

This is another “must-have” title for the Nintendo Wii.  The game is set for release on April 24th 2009 in the United States.  (It will be released first in PAL markets – aka Europe.) The game seems like it will be worth the wait, though.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and let us know!

In the game, you take on the character of Claude or Rena. The two characters are connected in the game, but I’ll leave that for you to find out more about. Smile.

A lot of the problems in the original Star Ocean have been taken care of – including having to journey back over vast distances in the wilderness/world to get somewhere you’ve been already, running into easily beatable foes again and again. A lot of people are going to be happy that this was changed.

Battles in the game occur in real time. You control the main character while the game’s AI controls other members in your adventuring party. The AI doesn’t do too bad of a job. If you want to take over another character in middle of a battle though (if you don’t think the AI is doing what you would be doing), it’s not a problem.

Overall, this is a pretty good adventure RPG for the Playstation Portable (PSP.) It might not be for all gamers, but if you like RPGs, there’s a good chance you’re going to like this one.

If you’ve played any of the Star Ocean series, we’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below letting us know what you think.

Until next time … remember to evolve a little each and every day.

What makes the early part of the game so … well, boring? Perhaps it’s the old school walking around and talking to characters that, for the most part, look pretty much the same. Ah, the good old Zelda and Ultima days of wandering around talking to people from villages far and wide…

Like I said, if you can get past that, there’s some decent damage able to be inflicted later in the game as it takes on a more heroic stance with, yes, wait for it – fighting and carnage. Let’s face it – in the action/adventure genre, that’s what gamers are looking for, right?

Throughout the game you’ll pick up special abilities – some that are constand and other that must manually be put into use during combat. You get the abilities by making the right decisions in combat and also on the (boring) dialog pieces.

The action and combat is fast paced and exciting, but the game could do with a lot more of it that it has. It’s still an ok game you might want to add to your collection, but only if you’re really into the genre.

Have you played Rise of the Argonauts? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you liked the game or hated the game (and the dialog), leave a comment and share with us. I’m sure other gamers reading the Video Game Freaks site would enjoy hearing some different viewpoints on the game as well.

Until next time, keep gaming.