As you may know I absolutely adore resource management games, and in particular, the free builder type games that make me use my brain. I also am an admitted nerd so throw together a builder game with a fantasy medieval theme and I'm pretty much sold...
Lucky for me Kingdom's Heyday had a lot more going for it than just the theme... bright, rich graphics, stellar gameplay, and subtle music made me want to wrap up this time management game as an early Christmas present for myself.... what? So I occasionally buy stuff for myself, wrap it up, and put it under the tree every year... at least I know I'll get a few gifts I really want!
Anyhow, if you're a fan of Green City and Green City 2, then you'll be thrilled to see that Kingdom's Heyday is pretty much the same game, but this one's set in a magical kingdom where you can build taverns instead of malls... sweet!
As far as the plot, Kingdom's Heyday presents us with a comic-book style telling of a story of a king bored to death in his castle, itching to go to war with... someone... anyone. His cool-headed daughter watches in exasperation as he marches off in search of glory and then turns her attention to more important things, like building the kingdom and increasing prosperity for all who live there... you know... the important stuff.
The graphics are darling, bright and cheery and detailed - the perfect setting for breaking ground on new and exciting towns and cities for your people to live in.
The music I dismissed as first as just your random happy music, piped in along with various crowd noises. It was appropriate with a medieval flair, but there was something more subtle going on than I first realized. I'm not sure when it happened, but as the levels got harder, I noticed the music change to something with an edge of anxiety... and before I knew it, I was sitting at the edge of my chair, sweating in the hot afternoon sun and holding my breath as I clicked as fast as I could in order to reach the expert rating. Well done developers... well done.
That's going to take me to the meat and potatoes of Kingdom's Heyday... the gameplay... which was simply fantastic. I know it probably annoys some people to no end if one little mistake can ruin a board, but I can't help it... I love it. These free building style of games make you really think and come up with a strategy before you rush into anything. If you don't set things up just right, and you don't time everything perfectly... you'll have to hit that restart button over and over again.
Of course these buy em, sell em games go against my hoarding nature, so that's something I do need to adjust in myself. I tend to want to hold on to all my property, build it as high as it can go, and sit back and reap my rewards... unfortunately, you can't do that in Kingdom's Heyday. You have to be willing to sell your property in exchange for a quick influx of cash in order to build up the important level objectives. If you don't, you won't get very far at all...
Overall, Kingdom's Heyday was a challenging, exciting, and downright addictive time management builder game that I couldn't get enough of... in fact... I think I hear my people calling for more taverns...