Citizens of Earth starts players out as the newly elected Vice President of the World who is proud that he is still a mama's boy. Now that he is an official politician then he must gather up a posse of followers to do his bidding and solve the various problems occurring around the city. The environments give a slight throw back to all of the great JRPGs before it and employ the use of some strange and peculiar enemies to take on.
Citizens of Earth has our Vice President returning to his hometown oddly enough named Home Town where he is gathering up party members for the adventures ahead that includes Brother, Mom, Farmer, Cat Lady and who ever else he can recruit. Gamers can eventually gather up to 40 members to their party (only 3 can battle at a time) with each one having their own unique capabilities during combat. The abilities of your party members are usually directly related to their role such as Mom can spank or nag enemies to death. Yeah, it is pretty silly. Of course the Vice President is just there for moral support and literally is a side-line cheerleader most of the time. Your party members can also use their talents outside of combat to help you get through the lustrous and beautiful game environments in Citizens of Earth. Your rag tag crew of archetypes can help you complete main quests, navigate obstacles and take on strange creatures across the world while leveling up and gaining new abilities.
In order to proceed throughout the environments in Citizens of Earth then players must unlock abilities by performing certain tasks with specific citizens. In the beginning, you will spend countless hours trying to unlock new content just trying to change the weather, game music or camera angle. This however grows old rather fast and you find that you want to just complete your main objectives and finish the game. The content and humor start out charming but slowly becomes monotonous and infuriating as you battle your way through countless hours of repetition (for example: the Executive Retreat mission). This puzzle requires you to recruit the Executive Gardener to make your way through a hedge maze but find that you will be running around like a chicken with its head cut off just trying to make any headroom during this quest.
In the end, Citizens of Earth offers up the classic experience that gamers enjoyed from past JRPGs full of charming visuals and dialogue. For the $14.99 price tag, gamers will get hours and hours of gameplay (around 20+ hours to complete all of the main campaign and side quests) alongside its high replayability during post-game and New Game Plus option. However, with the nostalgia of old JRPGs comes the infuriating waste of time and fillers that many modern day gamers do not appreciate. Before picking up Citizens of Earth make sure you want to devote a ton of time in the name of "nostalgia for beloved JRPGs" because you will be doing just that.
Citizens of Earth is now available from all major retailers and can be purchased for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Wii U, 3DS, PS Vita and PC. Citizens of Earth is rated Everyone 10+ by the ESRB for Fantasy Violence, Tobacco Reference, and Simulated Gambling. For more information on the game, check out the official Citizens of Earth website.
Game Features:
- Single Player
- Immersive JRPG Storyline
- Fun Combat Mechanics
- Achievement/Trophy Support
Game Information:
Publisher & Developer: Atlus
Platforms: PS4, Wii U, 3DS, PC, & PS Vita (reviewed)
Release Date: January 20, 2015