Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome

"More Strategy Love from Nippon Ichi"

Ever since Disgaea came out, Nippon Ichi has been the go-to developer for deep, time consuming strategy games. And in a very short time their catalog has become quite large and known for its quality. With Makai Kingdom, they've got yet another title to add to that list.

Like their other titles, Makai Kingdom's story is equal parts demonic revelry and outright silliness. This time around, another ruler of the Netherworld has gotten himself into a whole heap of trouble. To be exact, Overlord Zetta's desire and quest for power ended up destroying his kingdom and turning himself into a book. Yes, a book. One that can talk. But even being turned into literature isn't enough to stop his ambition, as he sets out to rebuild his kingdom.

Just like every other title in Nippon Ichi's catalog, Makai Kingdom takes a lot of cues from Disgaea. However, the battle system is actually stripped directly from Phantom Brave. Instead of using grid based movement, each character has a circle around them that shows how far they can move and what can be attacked. Just like Phantom Brave, this system is lacking in finesse as players may have to make several attempts before getting their characters lined up to attack something.

Other than that, the battle system is pretty much the same as always. Characters can be created from a vast selection of classes, then equipped with weapons that gain experience and endow new abilities. After leveling a character class up you can unlock more powerful versions of the same class. However, to create a character you must first sacrifice an item. Almost any item can be used to create a character and its properties will be transferred to it. For instance, using a rock to create a character will give it a higher defense.

There are a couple of notable additions to the formula in the shape of buildings and vehicles. Buildings can be summoned onto the battlefield and will give extra bonuses to any units summoned from them. For instance a hospital gives summoned characters extra health after every turn and units from a school receive extra experience for killing enemies. Vehicles have also been introduced and allow units to commandeer them and gain a lot more attack power.

Another interesting aspect of the game is the extension. An extension basically means making a battlefield larger, which introduces new enemies, items and makes everything stronger. To do this players can either throw an enemy out of bounds into the correct area, or killing an enemy or object that holds the level key, which opens the extension.

As is typical for Nippon Ichi game, Makai Kingdom looks like it could have come out on the Playstation, but the sprites are all just as cool looking as always. The environments are just as ugly as we've all come to expect, and overall the game looks pretty much the same as everything else the developers have ever released. The voice acting is laughably over the top – bad in a good, campy sort of way.

THE VERDICT
Devotees of Nippon Ichi know exactly what to expect, and Makai Kingdom is not a disappointment. Strategy fans who have never experienced a NIS title would be better served to start with Disgaea but if you've already got your fill of that title, Makai Kingdom is as good a place as any to go next.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/10/09

Game Release: Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome (US, 07/26/05)