Citizens of Earth

 PC
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 28
  3. Negative: 3 out of 28
  1. Twinfinite
    Jan 20, 2015
    100
    A must buy for any fan of RPGs, games to make you smile, or just a downright fun experience at a fraction of the cost [of] most AAA titles.
  2. Game Over Online
    Jan 20, 2015
    92
    Citizens of Earth is a must-have for anyone who loved Earthbound either in its heyday or has had a chance to play it with the Wii U re-release.
  3. Softpedia
    Jan 20, 2015
    85
    Citizens of Earth is a great role-playing experience that manages to evoke the feel of Earthbound and other JRPGs while still doing its own thing. The gameplay is fun, the environments are varied, and the crazy citizens make the whole title feel refreshing. Sure, there are a few quirks here and there, but overall, you can't lose by playing this great title.
  5. Hardcore Gamer
    Jan 20, 2015
    80
    It might not resonate as strongly as Earthbound, but Citizens of Earth is arguably more fun to play.
  6. Slant Magazine
    Jan 20, 2015
    80
    As the game puts it, the penultimate section is mightier than the swordultimate one, and if that joke makes you laugh, then at least your time with Citizens of Earth won't be wasted.
  7. God is a Geek
    Jan 20, 2015
    80
    Citizens of Earth is a quirky JRPG with a sense of humour that loves to make fun of American stereotypes.
  8. Ragequit.gr
    Jan 27, 2015
    78
    High production values and sharp wit, coupled with a surprisingly deep (given the JRPG genre conventions) combat system. Genre fans will rejoice, but the constant fighting alongside the light-hearted story will not appeal to all.
  9. Cheat Code Central
    Jan 26, 2015
    76
    The best thing this game has going for it is its fun factor. It his all the JRPG notes that a good JRPG should, and if you ignore the rest of its downfalls, you will really enjoy it.
  10. Game Informer
    Jan 20, 2015
    75
    Citizens of Earth is a cleverly written, charming, and nostalgic game that is hindered only by repetitive combat combined with a high encounter rate. Those who see past the minor design flaws and few technical problems will find a strong EarthBound-inspired RPG that is entertaining from start to finish.
  11. Ten Ton Hammer
    Nov 1, 2015
    72
    Ultimately, it isn't Tales of Game's Presents Chef Boyardee's Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa, but it's a great way to pass a few chunks of time and you'll walk away satisfied.
  12. RPG Fan
    Feb 8, 2015
    72
    Satirical humor, thematic citizens, neat puzzles.
  13. 3DJuegos
    Jan 22, 2015
    70
    Citizens of Earth's efforts to offer a different and original approach to the RPG genre are appreciated. It tries to move away from all kind of conventions, but its implementation is unattractive and too simple.
  14. Worth Playing
    Jan 22, 2015
    70
    It's got some serious RPG chops, too, so if you're a fan of lighthearted RPGs, you'll enjoy Citizens of Earth.
  15. GameFront
    Jan 21, 2015
    70
    If you can look past the technical issues, the lackluster story, and some of the frustrating design decisions, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get lost in Citizens of Earth’s beautifully bizarre world.
  16. Shacknews
    Jan 20, 2015
    70
    Although Citizens of Earth has its fun moments, I can't say that any part had me rolling in laughter. Its cast of characters may be cute and entertaining for a while, but relying on stereotypes and characters makes them forgettable. As a consequence, the entire game ends up being forgettable.
  17. Vandal
    Jan 20, 2015
    70
    Although the game works, it has some great ideas that never reach their full potential. It's a little surprise, but with better characters and story, it could have been a huge one.
  18. CD-Action
    Apr 30, 2015
    65
    Pleasant exploration and interesting turn-based combat are unfortunately counterbalanced by too much backtracking, over-the-top number of fights and not very functional map. [05/2015, p.65]
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  19. IGN
    Jan 22, 2015
    65
    It charmed me with its blend of old-school RPG and contemporary satire, but nearly lost my vote with its sluggish pacing, irritatingly high enemy encounter rate, and crashes.
  20. Game Revolution
    Jan 21, 2015
    60
    Despite some poor design choices and a few bugs, Citizens of Earth is still an enjoyable game that will appeal to turn-based RPG fans who like quirky humor. It's just too bad that there's such a strong focus on keeping players busy rather than interested.
  21. USgamer
    Jan 20, 2015
    60
    The entire thing doesn't come together as a solid whole. The citizens you can recruit are interesting, but the rest of the game's story is only skin-deep. Combat is solid, but it can get tedious and boring at times.
  22. Destructoid
    Jan 20, 2015
    60
    As-is, Citizens of Earth is at best a semi-mediocre journey with lots of quests to complete. Alas, it seems that while it tried its best to do so, it just couldn't quite grasp EarthBound's true form.
  23. Impulsegamer
    Jan 20, 2015
    60
    Brilliant and completely infuriating in equal measures. Citizens of Earth is worth a punt, but perhaps only after some careful deliberation.
  24. RPGamer
    Jan 20, 2015
    60
    Citizens of Earth could have been a modern classic, but a few questionable design choices sadly hold it back.
  25. Kill Screen
    Feb 4, 2015
    58
    Although it suffers from the dated standards of structure and action—acting more as an imitation of what we might remember of the SNES-era than a succession—Citizens of Earth flourishes when it embraces its own silliness.
  26. Eurogamer Italy
    Mar 5, 2015
    50
    Citizens of Earth wants to be the new EarthBound but fails the target due to a poor character design, a weak story and a boring turn based combat.
  27. Metro GameCentral
    Jan 21, 2015
    40
    It looks like EarthBound, and to a degree it plays like EarthBound, but this has none of the charm or character of the SNES classic – and considerably worse combat.
  28. DarkStation
    Feb 21, 2015
    30
    If you just want to play a game that’s all about pointless grinding, for whatever weird reason, then go ahead. But Citizens of Earth just can’t keep up with the promise of its story and falls flat after just a few hours and then you realize that you’re somehow not even halfway done.
  29. GameWatcher
    Jan 22, 2015
    30
    There may well be a half-decent game lurking beneath the facade of tired jokes and nods to RPG tropes and stereotypes, which Citizens of Earth then insists of portraying anyway, however it’s far too caught up in its own bravado to realise it.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 45 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 45
  3. Negative: 13 out of 45
  1. PowerLeveled
    Jan 20, 2015
    7
    What do you get when take an old school RPG and mix it with a new and fresh way of story telling? You get Citizens of Earth. In Citizens ofWhat do you get when take an old school RPG and mix it with a new and fresh way of story telling? You get Citizens of Earth. In Citizens of Earth, you’ll play as newly elected “Vice President” of Earth who wakes up at home after his first day in office, only to find a sinister plot happening in his home town.
    Citizens of Earth plays out just like you would expect from any traditional RPG, but rather than a hodgepodge group of people who don’t know each other, you’ll begin Vice President’s adventure fighting with (rather as) your mother, brother and other townsfolk from your home town. I think this worked well with the story line, because what better reason should a Vice President fight evil, when he’s not fighting next to his fellow politicians, than to protect his home? You can have up to three citizens in your party, all having different abilities like the Baker who produces freshly baked, health-restoring bread to heal his allies. Vice President leads his trusty citizens through combat, including a Barista who can scald enemies with hot coffee or sell useful power-up items to other party members. This type of initiation and story telling makes the title fresh and interesting and I wish more games would include a fresh, funny story like Citizens of Earth has, but does the meat of the game hold up to its great introduction? It left me wanting to see what all the citizens do, and collecting all of the Citizens of Earth helped stretch an already long title into a quest for more than completion.

    While Citizens of Earth isn’t a visual diamond, live game play does the title considerably more justice than a screenshot can give it. In the traditional style of a JRPG, you’ll be fighting in an arena for every fight, with menus for selection. Citizens of Earth looks as good as it gets in this regard, but it’s not flashy either, just respectable. With a cartoon-focused style, Citizens of Earth is its own league of art and design, but it’s not the shiniest title on the block – it just looks good.
    You’re the Vice President, as we mentioned earlier, and waking up in your mother’s house after your first day of ruling over the entire world is a fitting scenario for this tale of twists and turns. Set in a small home town sent into turmoil, Citizens of Earth runs across a major plot-line and a sub-plot, disguised as the major plot. As you spend your days fending off the forces of evil on Earth, your first adventure blends straight into a war at the corporate level – an appropriate fight for any new Vice President of Earth. At home, you’ll begin by taking on your former rival candidate for Vice Presidency, who causes a small riot in your town. Forcing a barricade of police around the city, this begins a small scale experience of that traditional RPG feeling that CoE will be known for. Tackling your way through endless waves of protesters; fans of your latest election of course, begin unlocking the Vice President’s first followers with the defense of the town, and later the world. Reaching forward, after the protesters are cleared, you’ll unravel a sinister plot from an alien civilization to take over the world – but can you conquer the scum of the universe, or will Moonbucks’ evil alien corporation conquer you? Citizens of Earth pulls a fun twist while not taking itself too seriously, making the story a nice change of pace in a world full of overly confrontational titles.
    During our play through of both the PC and PS4 versions of Citizens of Earth, this Eden Industries created title wasn’t as polished as we would like to have seen, and we were able to re-create some of the bugs we’ve found on the PS4, leaving something to be desired there. Though these bugs weren’t game-breaking, here’s what we found. First, on the PlayStation 4, the title crashed after just 1.5 hours of play in the local school. Accessible at an early part of the game, those who are brave enough to take on simulations of any monsters they have previously faced in much larger packs will enjoy the Virtual Reality mechanic. While this is a fantastic mechanic, many monsters in the game are able to spawn other monsters mid-fight. We found that in these VR simulations that we would experience moderate levels of game crashing glitches. While it is possible to grind out your characters’ levels in the “real world”, this VR simulation could clearly be the preferred method to anyone interested in power leveling – so this was especially sour for us. On the up-and-up, the title had our back with frequent auto saving, so it didn’t hurt too much beyond a restart, but it was still disturbing at some level. On the PC, some visual glitches occurred as well, where the screen may occasionally turn a solid green for a split second. To their credit again, Citizens of Earth was updated during our play test, and reduced this PC glitch considerably...Continued on PowerLeveled.com    … Full Review »
  2. somedude14
    Feb 12, 2015
    0
    "Nickleback" is to "Led Zeppelin" what "Citizens of Earth" is to "Earthbound". It isn't the developer's fault that depresses me so much, it's"Nickleback" is to "Led Zeppelin" what "Citizens of Earth" is to "Earthbound". It isn't the developer's fault that depresses me so much, it's that I couldn't help but realize how far we've fallen from the peak when trying to enjoy this. Once you've experienced the best there is, is there really a point trying to find ways to enjoy something that can't even hope to be remembered as a shadow of the legend it was trying to emulate?… Full Review »
  3. hornboy101
    Jan 27, 2015
    10
    Throw back to earthbound, every second of it is fantastic, witty, lots of humor. One of the most enjoyable games I have played in awhile. ItThrow back to earthbound, every second of it is fantastic, witty, lots of humor. One of the most enjoyable games I have played in awhile. It has that fantastic old school feel but doesn't feel old. The game play which seems simple at first can get more complex as you recruit citizens and face new challenges.… Full Review »
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