Citizens of Earth (PS Vita) Review

Welcome to Earth! As the newly elected VP of Earth, the first order of business is to address all of the protesters that have overrun town. From there it quickly escalates to a mission to save the world, but that's not all. Delegating duties plays a major role in Citizens of Earth because nobody actually expects the VP to get his hands dirty, right? There are 40 unique townsfolk to call to the cause, but they don't all come easy.

Recruiting citizens is actually quite a bit more fun than it sounds. What really helps is the variety of ways in which they are all obtained. Some require just being in the right place at the right time, while others can involve anything from a mini-game to a full on quest with major impacts to the game. Luckily, not all of them have to be gathered in order to complete the game. This makes Citizens of Earth more accessible to players looking for a slightly more casual RPG experience, but in order to see more of what is on offer, it's probably a good idea to track down a good chunk of them.

Each of these citizens, along with possessing their own attack sets, also has unique overworld skills. The most useful of the bunch are the faithful few that provide quick transportation, such as the Car Salesman, Psychologist, and Pilot. What's odd (and perhaps a stroke of genius) is that some of the characters have abilities that are usually found in the settings menu. For example, the School Mascot can change difficulty while the Beekeper can switch the zoom level of the camera. While it can certainly be argued that it would be more convenient to have these options under the Settings, it does help generate a certain level of immersion that a pause menu cannot.

All of these civilians can be found within a world equally as zany. This Earth comes with a jungle, desert, and beach all within walking distance of the main town. Along the way, tons of kooky enemies will engage the VP in a battle of insanity, but none of this seems out of place. The developer did a fantastic job of bringing the world inside the game to life. The humour is persistent and great throughout, with some serious bits thrown in for good measure. It's hard to walk a fine line between funny and overbearing, but Eden Industries does it perfectly.

There is an area of the game that could probably (read: definitely) use a little more attention, though: the glitches. Some are minor while others are major. The biggest offender is probably the crashing that occurs every once in a while when the game tries to load a new area. Smaller inconveniences include getting stuck behind background scenery and text boxes being blank. Some objects can also appear blurry, which was extremely disappointing in the final boss fight when the enemy appeared to be covered in Vaseline, standing behind a wall of glass blocks.

Citizens of Earth also suffers from excessive loading screens. Whether it's going from one section of the world to another, or simply going up one floor, there will be a loading screen. How long that loading screen lasts seems to vary, with some only hanging around for a second while others can wear out their welcome after 10 seconds. There is a silver lining to these grey clouds, however. Every time a loading screen pops up, the game auto-saves, usually negating any issues arising from the game crashing.