Reviews

The minds behind Harvest Moon, Final Fantasy XII and Dragon Quest VIII have teamed up, Three Amigos-style, to create an RPG with life-simulation elements.

A little boy named Corobo is walking in the forest one day when he stumbles upon a crown that allows him to control the will of any person. Corobo is made king of his village and instructed by Howzer the bull-knight to turn it into a magnificent kingdom.

I have a palace. Do you have a palace?

Sitting on your new throne you meet your three ministers: Howzer, your go-to man who suggests and implements new building projects, Liam, a burly man who gives you tutorials on the different kinds of workers you need and what specific skills each one holds, and finally Verde, a girl with a crush on Corobo who saves your progress and keeps you up to date with how much money you have and how the populace feel about you (i.e. Love, Hate, Meh).

Your first order of business is to search for buried treasure to fund new workplaces in the village. Since you're a king, you can get civilians to do all the work for you just by walking up to them and waving your sceptre. They will then follow you and dig wherever you point them. Pretty soon you'll be able to control more people and can assign them specific roles like Grunt Soldier, Hard Working Farmer or Construction Worker by sending them into designated huts for training.

Following last night's curry with Geoffrey and the gang, Zippy was feeling a little under the weather

You can lead five civilians at first, but the amount rises for each special Badge you're awarded - usually for killing a large UMA monster that's stopping you from expanding construction into the forest. Grunts are good for fighting, while Carpenters only build bridges over water and stairs up cliffs. Hunters use bows and arrows to kill from a distance and Farmers simply dig in fields. To change their job, just send them to a training hut.

Depending on your goal - killing UMAs, chopping up firewood, digging up vegetables - you must summon the right men for the job. Later on you can build a podium to call certain groups, but in the early days you'll have to find them one by one and sceptre them in the face! Boo-ya!