Citizens of Earth (Wii U) Review

It would be easy to dismiss Citizens of Earth at first glance due to its rather bland and generic aesthetics. The game mostly looks like a cheap Flash game that would be available to play on a browser or on a mobile device. Lacklustre and limited animation and characters that do not express themselves beyond their initial portrait would make any player assume this game is pretty cheap cash grab that Atlus put out to ride that endless hunger the Earthbound fans have had for a sequel. Sure, even the colour palette is largely uninspired, consisting of mostly primary shades and the environments are flatly drawn. Character designs are nothing to write home about either and resemble stock cartoons that can be found in public domain collections of generic character designs. However, if there was ever a case for not judging a book by its cover, Citizens of Earth would be the author.

Despite its uninspired aesthetics that fail to do its inspiration justice, this is actually a very well crafted and deftly balanced RPG. The game wears its influences like a badge of honour, and Eden Industries, the developer, has often proudly proclaimed how Earthbound is its main influence. However, another influence is Suikoden, which is illustrated by the vast amount of characters that can be recruited. Gamers assume the role of the Vice President of Earth whose epic quest begins with a cup of coffee (and a throwback to Earthbound and Chrono Trigger, naturally), and the game does a decent job easing the concepts and gameplay mechanics with a few easy recruits and basic mooks to fight. Each recruit is very unique, in and out of battle, with talents that impact the gameplay in meaningful ways. All of the recruited characters are like regular Joes and Janes that are defined by their occupation, which in turn define how they are used in and out of combat. One example is a butch lifeguard who will make underwater zones accessible and has a wide variety of life-giving skills and water-element attacks. With over 40 citizens to recruit and each of them requiring a side-quest to complete in order to persuade them to join the Vice President's ranks, Citizens of Earth gets a lot of mileage out of simplistic gameplay using the medium to its fullest extent.

The sheer size of Citizens of Earth is another surprising aspect. A huge, sprawling city with many sectors and districts, even woodlands and rural areas, are there to be explored. The boring visuals really do make it easy to be surprised sometimes by how much Eden Industries packed into this game. There are some surprises that are negative, though, like the frequent load times. When a game that looks like an early Flash game has so many load screens, especially when running on the same platform that had Bayonetta 2 with very few instances of loading times and pushed some of the most impressive visuals, it's mind blowing that Citizens of Earth has so much loading and so frequently. The loading does take a toll on the pacing, too, since character movement is pretty expedient and moving from door to door and exploring at a pretty brisk pace is all brought to a screeching halt every few seconds to enter a small house or take a flight of stairs (of which there are many). It is also worth noting the game did randomly freeze within four hours of playtime during the review process.

Another quality Citizens of Earth has is that of a '90s era LucasArts title. The style of writing and sense of humour has more in line with a LucasArts-type game than it does with the offbeat tapestry that Shigesato Ito penned. This quality does help it stand out on from the crowd, rather than just being a wannabe - where Citizens of Earth shines is in its writing and story. It greatly helps that most of the dialogue is voiced and flawlessly performed. The lead, in particular, who is the Vice President, has the right combination of egotistical politician, news anchorman, and just a right amount of pompous momma's boy. It makes events more unique by focusing on a comedic slant rather than heart, not that it lacks heart, it just is not the core pillar of Citizens of Earth. Like The Wondeful 101, Citizens of Earth is a game about the power of the regular guys and gals who make up the world; the power of team work and the triumph of the human spirit.