I am an iPad addict, every night before I hit the sack I spend an hour searching the iTunes store for some hidden gem I might have missed. While you might think im mad, I have actually found some of the best software at 3am in the morning.
Today we are looking at a review I hadn’t planned, but I just had to review “My Kingdom For The Princess” because I think it is probably one of the best games currently available for the iPad.
Corny name aside, MKFTP has addictive gameplay, a scripted story and very high production values as well – which is something I can only say about a handful of titles on the store. This doesn’t look like it was patched together by a 16 year Dutch kid over the weekend. (No offense to any 16 year old Dutch coders reading this).
The title is a resource management game and you take control of Arthur, a famous knight who has offered to help rebuild the kingdom. You see a while ago Princess Helen was visiting her uncle King Sigmund when a horrific tornado struck the lands. The royal castle managed to survive, but the noise of the tornado managed to wake up the evil dragon Firemouth. The legend said he wouldn’t go back to sleep until he ate 37 people. Helen’s father was hit by lightning and he is nearing death. Bless him. Helen has to return home to her own kingdom to aid her father, but the roads are all damaged and the journey is impossible.
Arthur has to help the princess get home by fixing the roads, and his own personal side mission is to make her fall in love with him. Arthur has a band of merry workers to help him on his journey … well technically he only starts with a single worker, but as the game advances you get access to more, which means you can do more than one task at a time.
The game starts in a semi tutorial mode, telling you how to complete the level, which is simple enough, you need to cut down branches which block the road. When you click on the object, the worker emerges from a temporary building and cuts them down … earning you some wood, which is obviously used to build many items in the game. The interface is as straightforward as it gets, helped by the fantastic Apple touch screen sensitivity.
Resource management is a primary focus of the title and while wood is used to build and repair things, the workers also need food to stay active and this ties into the creation of farms. As you play there are many buildings that can be repaired for less cost than actually making them from nothing. All of these add resource bonuses which help you on your journey.
Sometimes rocks may block the roads and to break them you need gold. The main three resources are therefore, wood, gold and food and they are shown at the top of the screen. Thankfully the game throws bonuses your way from time to time and you can pick up all the items on the side of the roads.
As well as the main mission of repairing the roads to get to the next location, the game adds in side missions. You will collect clams, pick rare flowers and the joy of the game is that the strategies change from level to level, its all a battle against the clock. If you don’t complete the given level after a certain time, you lose and have to try again.
If you manage to complete the level before nightfall you will be rewarded with a part of the castle. You get a warning before night is falling and the game has a colour scheme that changes from day time to sunset to give plenty of warning.
The developers have also added in extra items, such as water wells in the hot areas, which will improve worker movement speed … a massively important part of being successful, especially in the constant battle against the clock.
I completed the game in around 10 hours, normally around an hour of game time every night for the last few weeks and I had a ball playing it before getting some sleep. You can also replay the levels to get higher scores, or to beat your times, so there is an element of replaybility to keep you coming back for more.
The graphics are beautifully drawn and are some of the nicest I have seen in an iPad game and the audio, while slightly annoying is well produced. There are cut scenes, ambient effects and little tunes to keep the atmosphere levels high.
My Kingdom For The Princess is a fantastic little game which I feel might go missed although I have noticed recently that Apple are promoting the game in the store which is good to see. For a few pounds it is really good value for money and I can recommend it to any iPad owner.
