Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome

"One of the weaker NIS titles"

Makai Kingdom is yet another SRPG from NIS. I think this is the latest, excluding Disgaea 2. I've played a number of these srpg games in the past but I must say that Makai Kingdom is perhaps the most complex one I've played yet. Is it worth playing though? Read on!

Our story with the super powerful demon lord winning a battle and then being turned into a book. Now he needs to find a way to get back to his original form and gets the help from the other demon lords or whatever they are called. What takes place is zany and wacky and true to NIS form it is amusing. Until you realize the plot itself is paper thin, with a few interesting twists and the characters feel like half hearted attempts after the success of Disgaea. I actually found this to be the weakest plot wise of all of the NIS games.

Graphic wise the game is solid. It uses sprites so 2d fans will love the look of the game. The characters are nicely done and I love the expressions on their face when they get attacked. Very amusing. The levels themselves are very random in not just design and look but they fit together like broken pieces of different puzzles so it never looks right.

Sound wise this game is mediocre at best. The voice acting is the same people as always so it's fairly solid but it may make you wanting the other games. Sound effects are decent but nothing special. My Prinny's sounds were driving me insane by the end of the game. The music was alright but nothing special.

The game has very simple control. Stick moves stuff around. X brings up menus and triangle is your completion window that allows you to utilize your attacks and end the round.

If you've played NIS' other SRPG titles then take part Disgaea and mate it with Phantom Brave and you'll get Makai Kingdom but there is also some new stuff here as well.

You start the game in a town of sorts and you have a few buildings (item shop, hospital). There are items around like rocks and trees. Use these to create characters and set the bonus stat points. As you kill more different types of enemies and level your guys up you'll get new guys to make. I really like how as the character levels you get new forms of that character so in the end you have a wide selection to pick from. You can also bring back items from the dungeon levels (have someone holding onto it when the level ends) and make new characters.

Once you have that under control and advance further in the game you learn that you can bring in buildings to the dungeons. They give you different stat boosters which I found interesting but just a bit too complex for me. Even later on you can bring in machines like robots and stuff to ride. It's an interesting touch but really complicates the game more than it needs to be. You can also equip weapons to your guys, which can be bought in stores.

So, battles start with just the book on the stage. Go to it and invite guys to the dungeon. Place them within the radius and now you can move them in their own circle radius. This really hinders the movement and you can only move that far into the stage. This slows down everything and doesn't make it as fun as the previous games. You can attack the enemy, or pick them up and throw them out of bounds but be warned, doing that causes the enemies to level up.

Now there is something I didn't pick up on for a very long time and that is what determines when a level ends. There were a couple times where I had killed everything in a level and it didn't end. See, the game has a weird point setting. Each enemy and item on the map has a point balance and you need to gather at least 700 points to make the stage enable. It sounds easy but there are secret zones where you'll need to throw something to open them up and get those missing points. This won't always happen but it does.

The game is fairly long and offers a lot of stuff to do like reincarnation and bonus dungeons so playing through the game again is almost a must and fans of NIS will get a kick out of the secret bosses. That being said I can't help but feel like I'm missing something in my description of the game play but I can't put a finger on it.

Makai kingdom is perhaps the hardest game from NIS so far and that wouldn't be a bad thing if the entire game didn't feel so slow. Watching the enemy's attack, which can take a rather long time, can really drag it down and the word tedious kept crossing my mind while playing the game. It just really dragged and that is the reason behind my lower score because a game should never feel tedious. Fans of NIS will love this title and it is like a love child of Disgaea and Phantom Brave but maybe some things shouldn't be mixed.

Story - 5/10
Graphics - 7/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 9/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay Value - 6/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/07