From IGN:

"A Kingdom For Keflings Review
Out of my Avatar's way, Peck!
by Ryan Geddes

November 21, 2008 - Somewhere buried deep within all of us is a general contractor struggling to come out. Those of us who recognize this early become general contractors and save themselves a lifetime of angst, but the rest of us must resort to strategy videogames to scratch that nagging construction itch. Fortunately, developer NinjaBee (Band of Bugs, Cloning Clyde) has created a game that does just that: A Kingdom For Keflings.

Keflings are just your average medieval villagers who are hopelessly inept at building things. You, the player, are a towering giant with a knack for getting things done the old-fashioned way: delegation. At the opening of the game, you're informed that the poor little blighters need a town built and that you're just the giant for the job. And any good contractor will tell you, construction is as much about managing a constant and complex flow of people, materials and components as it is about actually building things.

Scattered around the colorful 3D map are natural resources such as pine trees, stones, sheep and patches of precious crystals. All these materials can be harvested by you or your Keflings and turned into building supplies, but it's not as easy as chopping down a bunch of trees and making a house appear. Trees must be turned into planks, rocks must be cut into stackable stones, sheep must be sheared and their fiber spun into cloth, etc.

So, for example, if you want to build a school to make your pliable little friends smarter, you'll need to unlock its blueprint (usually by building a precursor structure) and then follow it to build the required components out of the materials you've gathered. You can only build certain components at certain workshops, and you'll need to build those as well. As you can imagine, things quickly become quite complicated, and soon you'll have a cluster of buildings all doing different things and a gang of Keflings scurrying about their business.

There's a lot of management that goes on in A Kingdom For Keflings, but it wouldn't be quite accurate to call it a strategy game. There are no enemies waiting in the wings to attack you, there's no timer ticking feverishly away, and there are no real consequences for doing things any particular way (even if you flub a building or component, you can always break it down and recycle its parts). Keflings is more like a city sim crossed with one of those tabletop 3D puzzles your grandparents think you're so fond of. And as such, it works remarkably well.

Like a puzzle, A Kingdom For Keflings is the sort of game best approached in short, concentrated bursts. Much of the gameplay is repetitive and routine, which can grow tiresome after too long at the controls. And as the blueprints balloon in size and the projects become more complex, the thought of starting yet another building can be somewhat overwhelming. But neither of those things are necessarily negatives, because the game seems purposely designed to gently push you away and then pull you back in. After spending an hour or so in Kefling-land, I'd turn it off and do something else for a bit, but my thoughts would eventually roll back around to my ever-growing kingdom. Sooner rather than later, I'd be back to build again. It's the kind of pace rarely set by videogames, and I found it refreshing.

But the magical land of the Keflings is not without its troubles. For starters, it doesn't run very smoothly, and I found the framerate to be consistently low. When there's a lot going on on-screen, things really start to chug, which did affect my overall experience. The music is also a sticky spot. Although its acoustic granola stylings are a nice change from the traditional videogame bleeps and bloops, Keflings's soundtrack begins to seriously grate on the nerves after a while, to the point where you'll soon reach for the Options menu to switch it off. The problem is, once you do, the land of the Keflings is eerily quiet. Despite the fact that there are sheep being sheared, trees being chopped and rocks being chipped into tiny usable bits, you'll rarely hear a sound effect from your little laborers.

Keflings may not be much to listen to, (( insult note: I like the music )) but it has a great visual style. The art is whimsical and full of character, and the Keflings, despite their diminutive stature, have a lot of personality. And the gameplay is instantly engaging. Rather than sticking you with a reticule and turning you into a faceless superbeing, NinjaBee puts you in the thick of the action and asks you to get your giant hands dirty. There's no pointing and clicking here.

To get things done, you'll need to head over to a Kefling, pick her up, head over to a resource and then plop her down. And like a good peasant, she'll get straight to work. Then, you must grab her again, walk her over to a processing structure (lumber mill, contractor's office, etc.) and show her where to place the finished product. And like a kitten who's just been shown the litter box for the first time, she'll get the picture and handle things on her own from that point forward.

And the little suckers are flexible, too. If you want to change a Kefling's job, just pick him up, tap the Y button to change his hat, and then plop him down somewhere new. He'll be instantly re-programmed. And if you're in a hurry and your scurrying plebes get in your way, just tap the X button to give them a swift kick. They won't love you any less for it. But if you feel guilty for punting them, just pitch in and do some work yourself if it makes you feel better, although you can theoretically play the entire game without lifting a finger to gather resources.

A Kingdom For Keflings is one of the first games to support the new Avatars that went live as part of this week's Dashboard update, and I can report that the integration works well. At the beginning of the Keflings, you're asked to choose which giant you want to be -- yourself or one of a selection of preset characters. If you choose your Avatar, he or she will be fully rendered in the game. I suppose it's sort of cool to see my virtual self picking up Keflings and having them do things, but Avatars are so new to my Xbox 360 experience that I haven't had much time to grow fond of myself yet. As a result I didn't really care much that my Avatar showed up in Keflings (although your experience may very well be different).

As you make your way through the game, new buildings, resources and components will open up, along with some upgrades for you and your townspeople. The overall goal is to build a keep for your Keflings and eventually a full-blown castle. If you keep on-task, your Keflings will adore you for your efforts. And if you don't, well, that's OK too. Again, this is not a high-pressure strategy game full of pitfalls and game-overs. As far as I can tell, there's really no way to fail at A Kingdom For Keflings, unless you invite strangers to play with you online.

There is a multiplayer function in Keflings that allows up to four people to play together online, but I recommend only inviting friends to your game unless you don't care about the structural integrity of your village. In the random matches I joined online, hosts seemed to spend the majority of their time begging newcomers not to destroy their churches. And unfortunately, there's no local multiplayer option, which keeps Keflings from being the perfect parent/child couch co-op game.

Closing Comments
If you’re in the mood for a laid-back XBLA game and have been itching to try out that shiny new Avatar, A Kingdom For Keflings is the perfect choice. NinjaBee’s latest downloadable game is whimsical, humorous, unique and has none of the high-pressure feel of your typical strategy game. Although it has its performance issues and presentation quirks, Keflings rises above both to achieve a Zen-like quality of pleasant addiction.


Presentation 8.0/10
Keflings crams a lot into a small package. It’s well-crafted and easy to dive into. The tutorials and tips are sometimes confusing, though.

Graphics 6.5/10
The buildings and Keflings are cute, but the menus and environments are a bit bland. Also, the framerate suffers seriously throughout.

Sound 6.0/10
The music is a mix between a Vermont acoustic jam band and an elevator ride. You be the judge. Sound effects are minimal.

Gameplay 8.5/10
The only thing more fun than grabbing Keflings is kicking them. There’s a real sense of satisfaction and accomplishment to building your little kingdom.

Lasting Appeal 7.5/10
Once you’ve completed the kingdom, there’s little else to do, and multiplayer only really works with friends. But DLC could change that dramatically.

OVERALL (not an average)
Impressive 8.2/10"



I didn't put it all in quote cuz personally I don't like reading a bunch in that gray field.

I played the game for 10 hours yesterday. I beat it at 3:30 am and kept playing to try to get the Vanity achievement. Then I decided to redecorate my kingdom so I started hulk-smashing everything back into basic components when my game froze. And I hadn't saved in the last four hours

So I started a new game and played till 4:30. I would be playing now if it weren't for the fact that my gf called me addicted, which I am, and she wanted to play as I have bogarted the 360 for the last 24 hours.

All in all I highly recommend this game. Its simple, its fun, its addicting.

And causes relationship strain.

Peck? Like from Willow? Lulz...

I'm not much of an RTS or Sim fan, so this really isn't going to do much for me. It sounds allot like an RTS... just without enemies. And that sounds incredibly boring. Maybe if I could jump online and hulk-smash everyone else's work, I'd be willing to jump in... but I'm sure that would make someone a wee bit too unhappy.

I thought it sounded boring too, but my gf was playing it and she showed me how it works. I was intrigued enough to try the trial version too and I liked it enough that I bought it. I have spent around 20-30 hours in this game. Its addicting.