Citizens of Earth

Editor's Notes

PC version reviewed.

Introduction

After Canadian microstudio Eden Industries failed to secure Kickstarter funding in 2013 for their old-school RPG 'Citizens of Earth', Atlus swooped in to save the day. Described as a cross between cult SNES favorite 'Earthbound' and the long-running 'Pokémon' series, 'Citizens of Earth' is a 2D comedy roleplaying game with a large cast of collectible party members.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

Any discussion of 'Citizens of Earth' would be incomplete without first describing 'Earthbound'. It was a less conventional, more obscure analog to the 'Final Fantasies' and 'Phantasy Stars' of the time, being set in a modern time period (more or less) with ATMs and phones, a far cry from the oft-used fantasy setting. The main character was Ness, a young boy who recruited a small party of good kids and set out to save the world from an alien menace. It was unorthodox, it was goofy, and it was awesome. 'Citizens of Earth' is its slightly more grown-up spiritual successor, and it only took us 20 years to get one.

In 'Citizens', the main character is the newly elected Vice President of the World, a smarmy, shallow politician who abhors violence and yet frequently finds himself in violent situations. He can recruit an army of townspeople to fight his battle for him, from his mom and brother to a homeless guy, a plumber, a cat lady, a conspiracy whackjob, and many others. Each one has abilities that can be used in combat and in the map. The mom is a debuffer and healer and offers tutorials from the main menu. The school mascot buffs the party and can change the difficulty level. The baker heals his companions with his sweet pastry magic and can sell baked goods to the VP. Party members can be swapped out at any time outside of combat and, if circumstances are dire, any battle can be restarted and the active party members swapped out.

The vast majority of NPCs can be recruited by the VP, provided he fulfills their entry requirements. Some of these are more difficult than others - cat lady asks you to find her kitties of course, while yoga instructor requires you to be at least level 20. I spent a good fifteen minutes hammering on my mouse trying to recruit the bartender, who can only be acquired by defeating his exasperating minigame. Like 'Pokémon', this aspect of party collection and management is very addictive. I wanted all of the party members, even if some of them weren’t particularly suited for combat. To make leveling up more fun, each active party member raises a certain stat of their fellows upon gaining a level, which let me micromanage my party accordingly.

Combat is conducted by moving into an enemy, which then becomes a turn-based affair. The fights are enjoyable for the most part, and feature a simplified mana system that lets each character accumulate and spend mana without having to rest or use items. The ability menu gave me trouble at times, registering lots of misclicks and making me backtrack through the turns to fix them. Also, combat can be a bit grindy and there are unwelcome spikes in difficulty, even through the main storyline.

'Citizens' has a great sense of humor. It is rife with pop culture references and cheeky satire, along with frequent easter eggs and homages to 'Earthbound' and other old-timey RPGs. The story starts with the VP at home after winning the election, and soon explodes into a mess of mutated telephone deer, cybernetic coffee tycoons, enraged tourists, and other spoofs of Western culture. It doesn’t always make sense but it doesn’t have to - it’s well-paced and well-written, with lots of odd conversations and characters. The best bits are found outside of dialogue, in the characters themselves and in the environment. The critical path is not overly restrictive, and I was always quite free to wander off and work on my recruitment agenda or build my characters.