Citizens of Earth (PC) Review

By Drew Hurley 24.01.2015

Review for Citizens of Earth on PC

Citizens of Earth takes inspiration from the classic Earthbound with hints of numerous other games thrown in, and aspects of various JRPGs are abundant, along with some great comedy moments. It seemed it would have very wide appeal yet the Kickstarter did not meet even a third of its goal. Now that the game has a full release, and on numerous platforms to boot, does it live up to what it originally seemed to be, or was the failure to get funded justified? Following on from Cubed3's look at the Wii U eShop edition, now it is on to the PC version.

Citizens of Earth has had an interesting development story. Originally a Kickstarter project that garnered a lot of interest from the gaming press, it sadly did not meet its goals - far from it, in fact. Reading the original Kickstarter page it seemed it would do well and the lack of funding was a real surprise. Thankfully, however, Atlus swooped in and saved the day by not only publishing the game on PC, as per the Kickstarter, but also the stretch goal releases on PlayStation 4, Vita, Wii U eShop and 3DS eShop.

Citizens of Earth has the player taking up the role of the newly elected Vice President of Earth. Just after winning his position, he returns home for a vacation and gets embroiled in conspiracies and mysteries. The VP finds himself battling with the opposing parties, psychotic hippies and numerous pun-based crazy monsters like the Telefawn (deer with phones on their heads...) and Maracacobras (snakes with maracas on their tails...).

Although playing as The Vice President of Earth, that character is not actually used in combat, with there being over 40 characters to recruit instead, all of whom can be used in parties of three, and there is a great cast of characters to choose from. Citizens of Earth has an interesting concept in that every character falls into one of two categories: either an enemy or a party member. Every NPC can be recruited - the local barista, school teacher, weather lady, used car salesman, yoga instructor… and even the local homeless guy!

Screenshot for Citizens of Earth on PC

Each party member comes with a Talent that can help in opening up more of the game, so much so that it's worth recruiting as many party members as quickly as possible. Talents come in many forms; some are needed to open up areas of the world like the Gardener being able to cut down weeds or the Used Car Salesman giving the party a car to ride in, while others open up side-quests such as wanted lists from the Cop while some can alter the game itself, such as being able to change the time of day with the Scientist or the difficulty of the enemies with the School Mascot.

These Talents are levelled up through combat along with the characters' level, and bumping them up is a fairly quick process, allowing for better versions of the Talent. The Cop can get more quests, bigger weeds require a higher level for the Gardener, and so on. This helps extend the duration of the game, making it worth revisiting locations after levelling up talents or acquiring new team members. Talents can be a little frustrating, however, as simply recruiting the member is not good enough. To buy off the Baker there is a need to go to the Bakery and not have him as part of the current party and active Talents like cutting weeds or digging through trash require the relevant character to be part of the party. It's a small annoyance but constantly having to jump into the menu and edit the team each time gets old fast.

Screenshot for Citizens of Earth on PC

On top of the Talents, every character comes with their own attacks. Unlike many RPGs where every caster will use "Fire," everyone's abilities are unique themselves. The range of combat abilities is surprisingly large, with different elemental attacks, numerous buffs and debuffs and some of the game's signature comedy mixed in. Each of these unique abilities fit with the character; the Yoga Instructor and the Bartender both buff the party, but the Yoga Instructor gets the party to adopt Yoga poses for the buffs while the Bartender just hooks them up with different drinks. The attacks aren't just the same thing with different names either, they really are fresh, each having different costs or secondary effects. The combat system is turn-based and uses a system of "energy," with some restoring energy and others using it, whilst some of the characters even have the ability to steal or give energy. It's simple but very effective.

The combat can be either one of the highpoints of the game or a real grind, depending on how it is played. Swapping team members around and experimenting with different setups allows for some great fun, and toying with different combos and developing synergy in the teams can keep gamers entertained throughout. It's not difficult to do so either since the School Mascot's Talent to alter combat difficulty allows for using even the most under-levelled allies. For those that want to stick to one team and power through, though, they will find even the hardest difficulty too easy, however, and the combat becomes a boring chore, especially in the crowded areas.

Screenshot for Citizens of Earth on PC

The story has some really funny parts, with some fantastic laugh out loud moments, although occasionally the humour is very of its time with meme references scattered throughout. For instance, the Used Car Salesman will ask "Do you even shift, bro?" as such it certainly has an audience right now, but it may not age as well. Each chapter works well in the overall story, although some drag a little towards the middle of the game, but the final chapters bring this back with a superb ending.

The PC version had a number of small graphical bugs, occasional crashes and oddities. There is also a strange issue with the combat in that at the end of each battle the game seems to hang for a few seconds, something that's very noticeable and frustrating, especially when slogging through large areas filled with enemies.

Revisiting areas, side-quests and achievements significantly extend the lifespan. Even for just a quick completion there's 20-30 hours of content, but getting everything done can easily double that. Much of the game is spent "revisiting," however, as after the prologue a huge amount of the final zones are open to explore. This is a double-edged sword, allowing the player to go around recruiting a bunch of the party members from the start, but trekking back through is not easy or quick, even with fast travel Talents, and it often feels a chore to traverse from one side of the world to the other.

Screenshot for Citizens of Earth on PC

Cubed3 Rating

7/10
Rated 7 out of 10

Very Good - Bronze Award

Rated 7 out of 10

Citizens of Earth has a lot of promise but frustrating aspects and small bugs really impact the final product. Despite these, it's still a solid game with an individuality and personality that make it worth picking up for classic JRPG fans, and essential for Earthbound lovers. However, the wider audience may find it harder to forgive the flaws.

Developer

Eden

Publisher

Atlus

Genre

Turn Based RPG

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

Comments

Comments are currently disabled

Subscribe to this topic Subscribe to this topic

If you are a registered member and logged in, you can also subscribe to topics by email.
Sign up today for blogs, games collections, reader reviews and much more
Site Feed
Who's Online?
jesusraz

There are 1 members online at the moment.