Cute, engaging, and just as much fun to watch as it is to play. Only for people with souls though.
You play as a young boy who discovers a magical crown which imbues him with the power to command control over other people. Using this like any young boy would (let's be honest, the first time you discovered an anthill, you either stared at it with fascination or attempted to play God and control the ants' lives), he uses his powers to assemble a kingdom and begin his conquest to domina-er, unify the world.
The gameplay is very reminiscient of Pikmin, where you assemble a party of (forcefully) loyal subjects to explore the land, fight monsters, and cross obstacles. You can assemble a variety of jobs, ranging from miners who can break apart large boulders, grunts who are expert fighters but so ingrained into battle that they will harm the process of anything productive you try to do that doesn't involve killing, to carpenters who can build stairs and bridges to help you cross rivers and scale cliffs.
By correctly utilising your various subjects, you can overcome the numerous forces of nature that attempt to stop your conquest. You could use your grunts to fight off a giant snail, then use your lumberjack to get rid of a large stump in your way, then have your carpenters build a bridge behind that stump which allows you to cross a river. Than you could cross that river and invade a rival king's land, beat him in combat, and oust him from his land (which is now yours).
When you're not conquering nations or killing monsters, you'll be improving your kingdom with various buildings including houses, barracks, farms, and even theaters. These will all contribute to either giving you access to new jobs or by increasing your population. Also, all houses can be taxed, which offers a nice little bonus to your treasury if you can't be bothered with collecting the spoils of war.
If you haven't noticed yet, the game is slightly twisted yet cute at the same time. It conveniently avoids death (most of the time) by having all subjects who die wash up on the shore of a nearby beach the next day. If a subject should permanently die, the town will hold a small funeral service (which easily claims the title of "Cutest Funerals to Ever Occur in a Game"). Then if you decide to look deeper, you would also realise humorously that your king is in fact destroying other kingdoms in the name of greed and some gross misunderstandings. One hilarious example is when a rival king invites you to an alcoholic party. In response, your king destroys him and his alcohol. Depending on your level of cynicism, you could call this humorously cute, or a twisted satire of Western Imperialism. Your call, either way, it's hilarious.
The music in the game is in fact rarely original tracks, but in fact songs from famous ballets and classics such as the, "Nutcracker." This adds an extra layer of fantasy to the game, making it even more interesting. Anyone familiar with the classics will definitely recognise much of the music in the game.
Oh, and I'm going to specifically address something stated in Gamespot's review concerning the sound effects. That dog chew toy sound effect complained about in the review is barely noticeable. Honestly. Unless you play exclusively at night only in your kingdom (the only time in the game where there is no music), you cannot notice it unless you explicitly try to listen for it. It's definitely there, but it's very subtle.
Anyways, LKS is a fun game that will definitely keep you interested and playing. If you can get past the diabetes-inducing sweetness of the game, you'll find yourself a deeply engrossing experience that will be sure to keep you occupied as you embark on your quest for (cute) world domination.