Come play with Hello Kitty!
Where can you find a relaxing atmosphere, with friendly people, and some of your favorite childhood characters, all in one place? Hello Kitty Online! If you read the interview a couple of weeks back, you know what it's all about from the developers and publishers of the game. Well, after playing the game since the opening of closed beta, this review has been put together for you, the player. While I'm not at liberty to go into full detail of the game, what I can tell you is that this game exceeded my expectations, and I've written my thoughts below.
While HKO may not be the death of WoW, as many rumors have insinuated, it is an absolutely beautiful game. This free-to-play MMO has outdone itself, successfully coupling the images and imagination of the Hello Kitty world, with an enjoyable and playable experience for the fans. The game incorporates social networking ties, with blogs, videos, and player information that can be viewed directly through the game. So, HKO isn't focused on grinding, or leveling, unless you want it to be.
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Keroppi is waiting for you!
While there are many quests, with a good storyline to go with them, the game does not focus primarily upon them. There are many things to do other than questing, like crafting and socializing. While crafting can be fun, collecting all of the items you need to make certain things does become time consuming, and even monotonous at times. The socializing aspect is where it really is. The atmosphere within the game is much friendlier than in other games I've played in the past. People are willing to give you a helping hand, or just sit in the town square and talk to eachother. The emoticons within the game are hilarious as well, and are fun to throw into random conversations.
Purin enjoying himself.
The quests are not very difficult, but you do get rewarded for doing them. Not only do you receive cool clothes and gear, but you also get experience and friendship points for each town. The storyline, which I will not give away, does engage the player, especially if you're familiar with the Hello Kitty family and franchise in the first place. If you're not familiar with it, I could see getting confused on which character to go to next, but you can always count on fellow players to help you out.
As far as the graphics are concerned, as soon as you enter the game you are taken to a beautiful and relaxing environment. Even the smallest details, such as stars embedded into the ground, are gorgeous. Everything is very colorful and fantasylike. The creatures you fight are slightly "Maple Story"-esque, in the way that they're too cute to believe that they will take you out if you're too low level. But, believe me, they will if you get too close, or don't know how to run fast enough. Many, many times. Also, the music in the game is extremely relaxing as well, and pulls you in to believe that you are really in another world.
HKO is extremely child friendly, but it's also fun for the young adult as well. I personally ran into multiple people in their early to mid twenties. And, though it's obviously aimed at the female crowd, there's a lot for guys to enjoy as well. Some clothing items are only available for boys or girls, and the other gender can't wear them. The many famous cities that you can visit are beautifully put together, and there are some familiar cites with the Hello Kitty flair added to them that you'll be sure you'll want to visit.
The Bottom Line: Because HKO is still in closed beta, you'll have to look at the rating as it is. The game is still buggy, but that's to be expected. I'm sure that all of the bugs will be worked out by the time the public release comes around. The graphics are smooth, and what you would expect from the Hello Kitty world. Very detailed and very much from a fantasy world. The controls are easy to master, and the quests are relatively easy to finish. Very child friendly, and very friendly in general. I'm going to give this game an 8.0/10, because some might find it too easy and friendly. Also, it is very much female oriented, and the colorfulness might be a putoff to the male crowd.
Comments
I was playing and found a few girls in their 20s/30s. People are very friendly in it, I was surprised. A lot of the more experienced players were running around helping the new people and telling them how to make friends. I'd really recommend this for a teenage/preteen girl.
I a 26 y/o female and LOVE IT. I'm also an ex WOW player and FFXI player. I find that after 10pm EST on weekdays is when it's mostly adults.
Lets see so it got 8/10, because it may not appeal to the male crowd. Oh, how DARE a MMORPG not appeal to the male "majority" right? How many popular female targeted MMORPGs are out there? I think Hello Kitty may be the first.
Perhaps you aren't aware of the prevailing sexism in the gaming industry towards women. Our interests in games are seen as either laughable, or indulging in childish things. I find games like WOW or Everquest, to be just as if not more immature than the games women play. If we're going to suggest which group of gamer is immature, well I think playing Mr. Macho Swordfighter should be up there.
This game should be a 10/10, given how well it's done despite fighting the prevailing sexism towards female targeted games. A game doesn't need "adult" content to appeal to adults.
There are female and male players, who can manage to play a game that doesn't involve overt sexual imagery, or phallic weaponry. I guess that's a revolutionary concept when it comes to M
MMORPGs, it showed as including the end of my text when I posted it. heh.
Jackie,
I'm glad you express concern on the sexism that is all too evident in the gaming industry. I'm not sure if you noticed, but I too am a female gamer, and I'm highly aware of how it can be. However, I didn't give the game 8/10 strictly because it focuses on female gamers. That's completely fine. I gave points off because it's not really geared towards EVERYBODY, plus it's a little too easy for most hardcore gamers to really get into it. Even though I really liked the game, I felt that the quests were too easy to just breeze through, and even became monotonous. That's why I knocked points off. 8/10 is not a bad score at all. In fact, it's a very high score. I'll never give a game 10/10, because even something that seems close to perfection will have some sort of flaw. Thanks for your comments though!
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