By GG-Kaboom 2 years, 4 months ago • 1 Comment
Hello Kitty is a known symbol throughout the world that everyone adores. Kids love her, teens love her, but you can’t blame them. Who could resist such a cute face? To bring the world of Hello Kitty to it’s fans, Sanrio Digital paired up with Aeria games in an attempt to bring us the fantasy world she lives in. As I was venturing through PAX I got the chance to meet up with the lovely Padma Fuller and Robert Ferrari from Sanrio Digital, along with Grant Wei with Aeria games. After talking with them for a few minutes I couldn’t wait to try the game. If their bubbly personalities matched HKO then I was in for a real treat.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew was the game was filled with the color pink. Come to find out, It’s just like any other MMO, but without violence. Aeria wanted to maintain a family friendly, and safe for all ages environment. Like most other games, your goal is to level up, but not by killing things. I know you’re probably wondering, if you don’t kill things for experience then how do you level? You tame them! HKO focuses on gaining experience through taming animals and skills such as cooking, tailoring and harvesting. For instance, as you continue to level up tailoring you are able to craft more detailed and difficult items. You can then go on to trade those items with other players. After a kind lecture about Sanrio Digital, Aeria games and the mission of HKO I was granted some play time. My adventure first begins in the lovely Sanrio Harbor. To save you readers some time, I broke the game down into 3 main categories.
The character customization in the beginning is minimal. You get to pick the standard options such as hair, face, name and even blood type. I’m curious as to why you can pick your own blood type, but I’m sure there’s a reason for it further in the game. As your character levels up you can achieve all types of add ons for your rag doll through quest, trade and skills. Your characters rag doll however is by no means limited.. You can hold up to 17 different items! Which include clothing, accessories and tools. In the future I’d like to see an addition of more appearance options like hair styles, hair colors, etc. When I have a character that I can truly build to my liking it makes me more willing to play.
Controls in HKO are a bit different from the defaults I’m use to. Instead of the typical WASD moving your character it actually opens maps and skill information.. The way you move is with a simple point and click. The simple chat feature is convenient.. Just press enter, and you’re chatting it up. As for mounts..well they’ve not yet been added, but you walk so fast I didn’t see a need in having one. Ultimately, I’m disappointed with the overall controls. I didn’t find an option to customize or move keys, and I looked every where in the settings. So game play is stuck on their way, not yours. And I couldn’t find a zoom in/out button. I’m the type of gamer who enjoys being able to see all my surroundings, so I prefer to play zoomed out, but again, I couldn’t find that option either.
To some the graphics may seem childish, but I beg to differ. I find the environment to be creative, colorful and adorable! The scenery is filled with pastel colored flowers, and glistening blue oceans. Your surroundings are highly detailed. From the clothing the NPC’s wear down to every single strand of grass. A real effort has been made to make this game beautiful. Of course you have to have music to match the view too. Aeria really nailed it head on with their music choice. I tend to turn background music off in games because the constant looping of it bothers me. I never had to do such a thing with HKO. The tunes are soft and relaxing. It reminds me of being rocked to sleep when I was a kid. Ahh, good memories. All in all, both the visuals and sounds of Hello Kitty Online truly create an atmosphere of peaceful, stunning game play.
Bottom line, I think Hello Kitty Online offers a fun, nonviolent way to enjoy a MMO. Although I will admit I feel it could use some touch up work, and a few additions like the zoom in/out feature. The game is still currently in Beta testing so who knows what will change. Grant did assure me however, that we’ll be seeing new cities and areas to venture to by the full release date. If you’re looking for a game that’s suitable for your kids or younger siblings then HKO is the one! The community has a wide variety of players including teens, adults and guys too! Believe it or not guys are just as involved with Hello Kitty Online as girls. My advice is don’t judge a book by it’s cover and go for it! The game may shock you as it did for me.
Coming soon...
AbbyEqualsLove
2 years, 4 months ago=D