Makai Kingdom blends the charm and new functions from previous company titles, to provide an interesting experience.
Overlord Zetta is a very successful Overlord, and is much feared throughout the entire cosmos. He is one day confronted by Pram, an Oracle, who informs him that his netherworld faced destruction. Alarmed by this, he wanders to a sacred temple, where he encounters Raiden. After eliminating him, thinking he's saved his skin, he opens the Sacred book. Inside, the book states that he's an idiot and will ultimately bring the end. Furious by this, he burns the book. Reality begins to cease to exist when this happens, and he feels it. In order to save his own skin, he binds his soul with the book. From a very powerful Overlord to a book. He seeks assistance from other Overlords in order to get his world back, and his body.
The story is told in a similar fashion to Disgaea, with many humourous lines. It helps that the voice cast is remarkably good in the localisation process. Many will recognise Pram's voiceover if they've played Disgaea, and some may even recognise Zetta's voice. All are very professionally done, and with the good script, it makes for an interesting story. The look of the game is on par with the graphics of Phantom Brave, but retains the netherworld feel of Disgaea.
This game has a lot to do in it, and a lot of tutorials to help players get an idea of just what to do with all the new stuff. Those that have played Phantom Brave will recognise the battle stuff immediately, as it incorporates the same free movement function. Many complained about Phantom Brave's confine system, as it really didn't make sense to eliminate characters a few turns after getting them out. Makai Kingdom uses a tweaked version of the system where character creation uses the Confining skill, and characters are summoned into battle, via Zetta. This is a vast and welcome improvement. The camera positioning is also tweaked to allow different views to be avaliable to the player, though the default one is a little small resolution. Battles themselves are mostly randomly generated, but indications of where these are can be found before going into battle. This gives the game a feel of freshness every time you play.
With the older mechanics, there are also some new ones. One significant addition is the inclusion of Wishes. These can be used to summon new buildings (more on that later), transmigrate, and make new characters. All cost Mana, gained like in Disgaea. Buildings are a new and novel idea, and can be summoned into battle. Some have special bonuses for garrisoned units, which also come into battle. The most important new addition is vehicles. A unit can hop onto a vehicle, and make bullets/bombs fly into their opponents with potentially devastating effects. They're built just like the characters, but require certain classes to upgrade them.
Speaking of classes, all the familiar ones from Disgaea, along with some new ones are present. The army related ones in particular help when it comes to using the new vehicles, and vendors get new items for their shop when they level up, giving a slightly fairer take on buying equipment, that is if you level them. Mechanics and Professors deal with vehicle issues. All these new classes give the game an added life in gameplay, and are very interesting. However, perhaps this gave gives the player too many things to do. They are interesting things to do, but for those who aren't hardcore Strategy Role Players, they may overwhelm the player.
Nippon Ichi has prided itself with its SRPG titles over the years, and they show no sign of letting up. This is a very solid title, with a very good story, and hours of gameplay to enjoy. It does really only cater for those who have experience with SRPG's, especially Nippon Ichi ones. But if you like their games, this one will be a rewarding experience, and well worth the money.