Hands-on Preview - Makai Kingdom
Peviewed on 7/9/05
It's a freakin' Nippon Ichi game!
Makai Kingdom is the fourth Nippon Ichi developed game to hit
the PS2 stateside. That said, it follows closely in its predecessors'
footsteps, but manages to change up the equation in a variety of
fashions.
The graphics in Makai Kingdom are basically the same as
Phantom Brave, which means that they are functional if not the
most jaw-dropping thing you've ever seen. The environments are
rendered in 3D with fairly plain stylings. The 2D sprites are simple
and have little animation. Those turned off by the graphics in
previous Nippon Ichi games probably won't have this game change their
mind.
Enough of that, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this game. The
gameplay in Makai Kingdom borrows elements from some of Nippon
Ichi's previous games, but very few of these elements make it in
without some change. The process of confining characters to objects
is brought in from Phantom Brave but works a little
differently. Now a character can stay confined to an object
indefinitely. This is basically your character creation. You go up
to an object and create a character into it, usually based on what
stat bonuses and penalties a particular object offers. You start the
game with seven fairly basic classes, with the promise of more to
come. There are also buildings you can get for your base that can be
used for anything from shopping to healing. The battle system is much
like Phantom Brave in that there is no grid, but rather circles
to move around in. One of the major additions to Makai Kingdom
is the ability to put buildings on the battlefield. These can provide
various services and can be actually entered during battle. The enemy
can have them to, so watch out. Another interesting addition is
vehicles. They even have mechs you can pilot in this one. Overall,
the gameplay looks to be a highlight of the experience in this game
and shouldn't be missed by Nippon Ichi fans.
The story is very reminiscent of Disgaea in that it centers
around the Overlord of a Netherworld named Zetta. This time the story
takes on a broader scope of a multiverse of Netherworlds all ruled by
different Overlords. After doing a few very stupid things (ahem),
Zetta finds himself having to build his Netherworld up from scratch
all over again. However, to do this he needs other people to write
wishes for him. That seems easy enough, but every wish made takes
some Mana power from the writer, so he sets about getting some of the
highest level people around to help him. These people, of course, are
the other Netherworld Overlords. However, you don't get to be an
Overlord by being a nice guy, so he'll have to do various things to
get them to help. The story has potential for a lot of humor and
should please anyone who wants their RPG to go down with a good
chuckle.
The music and sound is as good as other Nippon Ichi games and there's
nothing here that would make you want to listen to something else.
The voice acting seems to be a bit of a step up from previous games,
and there's still that handy option of English or Japanese voice
acting to be had.
Basically, if you liked Disgaea, La Pucelle, and
Phantom Brave there is an extremely high chance you'll be
salivating over Makai Kingdom. Otherwise, it's really not
going to change your mind about Nippon Ichi's games, which for some is
a good thing. Look for it, and our full review around the July 27th ship date.
MOVIES
-Orie House
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