A World of Keflings

Xbox Live Gold Members free game of the month for Nov. 1, 2013 is A World of Keflings. I downloaded this game because 1) it was free, 2) the cover appeared to be kid friendly, and 3) it looked kid friendly! Once it was done downloading my son and I started it up; me hoping it was easy enough for him to learn and him barely containing himself from snatching away my controller and taking over.

Right away we were both drawn into the game. The game play incorporates the players' xbox live avatars as the 'giant hero' character who has found his way to this miniturized world inhabited by a short stature type of people called the Keflings. The first part of the game is focused around a learn-as-you-play tutorial which runs the player through sometimes long-winded but funny dialogue or our host Keflings as they teach their giant hero how their land, people, building, and resources all work. After doing a few short 'missions' my son and I got the hang of all the controls and the jist of the game.

We started in the frozen ice land of the Kefling world and by working through the story dialogue mission by mission we opened more 'lands/worlds'. The second land we went to was the forest area where the majority of the game takes place. Finally, the last land to open is the desert.

The download offers a total of 21 achievements, 12 available to be unlocked without a DLC (which opens more lands, more missions). Nearly all of the non-DLC achievements are obtainable by just completing the missions in the story mode as you progress. There are a few achievements that are earned for completing various tasks that may or may not have been unlocked as you played. By the time my son and I finished the game we still had to go back to collect 3 achievements (all are very easy to get).

Here's a list of the pros and cons of this game.

Pros: 

• Cartoonish, bright colors, comical, engaging
• Easy to learn controls and abilities
• Very small maps/lands that are impossible to get lost in
• Easy to understand, straight-forward missions
• 'What's Next?' button to remind and guide the player on current tasks
• 2-player capable

Cons:

• All text dialogue (difficult when a 4 yr. old skips through & you miss what you're suppose to do next)
• Over-crowded maps (plan building locations very carefully or it becomes a pain to navigate!)
• Split-screen not vertical/horizontal fixed so constantly disorientated/confusing of who is who
• Requires DLC to 100% the game

Achievements (non DLC):

• All You Need Is Doug (5 g). Thawed out poor frozen Doug
• Story Progression. Chapter 1. Finish building the campfire. Build the house. Pick up frozen Doug, place him next to the fire to melt. 

• Endless Doug (20 g). Got to know Doug pretty well. Does he ever stop talking? 
• Story Progression. Chapter 4. Just go through the story mode. Unlocks after you build a tower for the pesky dragon, talk to the ice chief afterward, and watch the cut-screen.

• Smile On Your Brother (10 g). Received Collectibles from a friend. How sweet! 
•  To unlock this achievement for a friend: Go to the Sharing option at the start of the game. Select a friend, send them collectibles, done.
• To unlock this achievement for yourself: Hope your friend sends you a message back! Or, plug in a second account/controller and send to yourself (must be non split screen).
• Note: collectibles are objects you unlock/find throughout the game. They are the statues, trees, etc that are laying around the maps when you first arrive.

• The Stars At Night (10 g). Helped enhance your world with culture stars 
•  Game play progression. As you build and complete mission tasks you will be awarded stars. Just play through the game and you will quickly accumulate enough stars (20) to unlock this achievement. If you're impatient you can build a 'star-giving' building multiple times, knocking it down after completion each time and rebuilding for more stars. World 1, the Ice Castle, is the first building that stars are given for.

• I Would Walk 500 Miles (20 g). Visited the Ice Kingdom, the Desert Kingdom, and the Forest Kingdom
•  Story progression. Chapter 6. Just play through the game. You will be able to fit the missing pieces of the world gates as you progress. Unlocks as soon as you reach the desert world.

• Reunited (And It Feels So Good) (20 g). Talked to the whole family of builder brothers.
•  Story progression. Unlocks in the desert world after you build the bridge across to the princess. There are a total of 5 brothers to be found.
1. Ice world, start of the game
2. Ice world, unfreeze Doug by placing near the campfire
3. Forest world, given to you as a helper
4. Forest world, trapped in hardened candy/sap stuff, unlocked in witch's mission
5. Desert world, across the chasm with the princess. Build a bridge to reach.

• Be It Ever So Humble (25 g). Finished the Giant's Gift. How relaxing! 
•  Story progression. Forest world. Throughout the entirity of playing through the mission in the forest world you will be given 'gifts' by the king, etc. After you get the last one you can use the accompanying blue print to build your gift. Place it anywhere you want on the map.

• Come on, Vogue! (10 g). Expressed yourself with 20 different emotes. Strike a pose! 
•  Game play progression. As you work through the game you gain new 'Emotes', funny and useful actions that your avatar can do in the worlds. Press up on the D-pad to access your full inventory of these. Select 20 different ones to act out and get the achievement.

• Go Ahead And Jump (15 g). Watched a kefling bounce through a long series of cannons 
•  In the forest world, bottom left hand side of the map is a grouping of canons already in place. Grab a Kefling and put them inside any one of the canons. They will be shot out and around in a continuous pattern and achievement will unlock after a few seconds of this. OR, after building the 'Gear house' place two canons facing one another and drop a Kefling in, achievement will unlock after a few seconds.

• One Tree Hill (15 g). Adorned your world with 25 unique decorative pieces 
•  Game play progression. You will build several buildings that make decorative pieces (yellow background pieces); fountains, trees, statues, etc. You will need 25 different pieces. Just place them anywhere, doesn't need to be placed by a house or anything special.

• I Am The City (25 g). Helped out with building 100 buildings. 
•  Game play progression. Either start the buildings (and have the builders finish them to help towards another achievement) or finish them all yourself. Must get a total of 100 buildings all existing at the same time and/or spread over the three different worlds!
• By the end of the game it is unlikely to have gotten this achievement if you only stuck to building the required buildings in story mode. So go back and build easy buildings; huts, tents, houses, etc. (hearts are not needed for these buildings to count as finished!)

• Help! (I Need Somebody) (25 g). Started 10 buildings the builders finished without you 
•  Game play progression. Once you have builders (the bigger guys that constantly follow you around the map and carry pieces for you) you can start on this achievement. 
• Bring up the blueprints for a building (huts, tents, small houses work fastest) that you have already successfully completed at some point, go the appropriate buildings to select/make the pieces available, pick up one piece and carry it to where you want to build. Place your one piece down, then step away and let the Kefling builders carry in the remaining pieces and put them in place for you/complete the build for you.