Ign.com

I defended the WiiWare service a little earlier in this blog, but now I have an even better reason to sing its praises: the superb Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King.

Some might dismiss this either because it is a "Sim" game (you build a kingdom and send out adventurers to fight for you, instead of doing the fighting yourself) or because it has the dubious "red" Nintendo Wi-Fi logo (the "pay to play" logo, meaning that there is additional game content available for purchase).

Fortunately I can tell you that each concern is a non-issue: This game is extremely fun, very addictive, and easily worth the $15 (1500 Wii Points) that it costs. This is a better game all around than many full priced boxed titles, even other Square Enix titles on Wii, such as Dragon Quest Swords.

In the game, you begin with a huge castle that is empty, save the spot where you, the King, sleep in. You gather stuff called "elementite" to use your magical power, "Architek," which is how you instantly create homes, shops, universities, and other locations. The premise is that an evil force destroyed the Kingdom, sending the citizens out in exile, and rebuilding a home means that its original occupants come back, which in this game means a parent and an adventurer.

The adventurers are key. You run out of elementite pretty quickly, and the only way to get it is to go out there and battle monsters in the game's many dungeons. However, here's the catch: These are dungeons you never see. You, being the king and all, can't risk being put out to pasture by bad guys. So you dispatch your kingdom's ever growing band of adventurers, who in fact would represent the player character in a "normal" Final Fantasy game. They have stats, level up, and take on jobs (such as Thief and Black Mage, for example) and even form parties with one another on their own. They'll go to your shops and upgrade their equipment and magic. I'm really pleased at how intelligently these AI controlled heroes work, and it's a lot of fun watching them go about their business.

At the end of each day (which lasts a few minutes), you go to sleep and awaken to read the various reports for your kingdom. This includes how your adventurers did (they don't die, by the way- they simply go back to town with nothing, and they have to say in their house and recover for at least one day). Completing these quests unlocks new types of buildings and advances the story.

The story is told through cutscenes that are tastefully dispersed throughout the game. It serves its function well and gives a straightforward backdrop to the game. The graphics are simply outstanding for a downloaded title with severe space limitations. The kingdom is rendered in full 3D, with lovely detailing on all the buildings. You really get a sense of accomplishment as you see your town build to an impressive fantasy metropolis, complete with imposing universities and pleasant shops. The sound is repetitive, clearly a sacrifice for downloadable content. In the JRPG tradition, though, the main theme is constructed in such a way that it doesn't become annoying: just be prepared for it to lodge itself into your head FOREVER.

Finally, I can assure everyone that this game comes fully and completely playable without buying one single thing. You are not exorted to make any purchase, at least so far (and I've played this game literally all weekend, probably about 5-6 hours of playtime). In fact, the extra stuff seems to function as away to extend the game's already impressive play length, adding dungeons, extra features to your town, and new buildings (the buildings allow new weapons/techniques to be researched and used in game).

All in all, this is an A+ WiiWare effort, and easily stands out as the best WiiWare title so far. It trumps LostWinds because of length of play. LostWinds is a fine effort, but you can easily finish the game in one sitting if you are so inclined. My Life as a King can really play as long as you'd like it to. Actually, I'm prepared to say that, as of now, this is my favorite game from a console download service, easily besting anything I've tried on Xbox Live.

So... go download this game (-: