It may not appeal for everyone, but it's not a bad game, but no one should play this game alone.
- Colorful graphics
- Large and beautiful game world
- Party is up to 4 players
- Doesn't lack enemy variety
Negative
- A lot of luck involved
- Barely a story
- Playing aloneis not fun at all
- Can be painful to arrive at a desired spot
- Plays itself
While Dokapon Kingdom might look like a young kid's game, well actually it is. It's only supported by its interesting game mechanism and multiplayer. It may look dull or boring; by somehow this party can be assumingly fun, depending your age.
The story of the game is nonsense. A group of monsters invade Dokapon kingdom and so the king is forced to call in for heroes. That doesn't make any sense, does it? At the beginning you get to create your character from the few choices you have. You can create a male or females, choose either to be a warrior, thief or magician and choose the color of your character. But before you get to choose how to play or with whom. You can play up to 4 human players or the computer. It's a party game so it's boring to play against the computer. Anyway, the game is divided into chapters is which you and your 'friends' will join 'forces' to save the kingdom. You have to defeat the red monsters and the king will give you a special mission. That should be all.
It's the first time I've seen an RPG this type. You can't go free roaming around. Dokapon Kingdom is placed as …. a board game. You use the spinning wheel to move from 0 to 6 spaces. There are special icons on which you can land. There you can get items or field magic. If you end up on a plain one you get a battle. There are shops all over the world, but to get there can be a total boredom. You can use special crystals or more than one spinner by using special items to move faster.
The battle system is very simple and if you're an unlucky person this can prove to be annoying since battles are mostly based on luck rather than skills. ALL battles are one on one. You fight enemies if you end up or plain one, and you can also fight you 'friends' if you stand on a plain one with him. Note that you have to be one a plain one or no battle is triggered.
Ok, I'll give a description of the battle system. When the battle is about to start, 2 cards will appear at the bottom which if you press X will show what's behind. It's either first or second, who will start the battle. If you get first you have to attack either by using the attack or strike. Caution, both have there side effects. The enemy will have his as well, mainly defense and counter. If you use strike and the enemy uses counter, the enemy dodges the attack and you're let open and he gives you an attack. If you do an attack and the enemy use counter you will inflict more damage rather than when he defends. And that's not all. The enemy and you can miss attacks, resulting in a wasted opportunity. When you defend the X button is generally to escape or give up. If you give up something will be taken. When you are defeated by a so called 'friend' he can rob, prank or forgive you. Pranks are all about changing your hair, paint your face or steal something. But you call always change you hair at Dokapon Kingdom. You can also change jobs.
If you save towns from common purple monsters, the king automatically gives you the town. The town, every time you go in it, or when you go on the G thing in the map, you will collect taxes, but very low value. If you go yourself, the major will give you the money, but will ask you to invest and they are very irritating with it because they ask you every single time. Investing money means collecting more taxes. When defeating a red monster, the king will give you a lot of money for defeating him.
You might ask why i said that it plays itself. This always happens, i get 4, turned it off and next time i played it, 4 came out again, and the same person came instead of a battle. This is pretty stupid since the fun is seriously going down with this, since you can't avoid battles or people on the way.
The best part that sounds good is that you can rob the towns you don't own and shops. This doesn't look good than since you play a sort of rock, paper and scissors in which you win the other person either gives you money or items but if you lose you will become criminal. The bounty lasts a week and other characters can kill you to get the bounty.
If one player is killed in battle, he appears at a temple he visited or either at Dokapon Kingdom. And if you appear at the beginning it means a lot of turns to catch up. Sometimes when you go one plain ones, an ! Icon appears. That means that you have encountered a character. These can tell you to give them money to do you favors, one gives you trouble, one gives you a new weapon if you pay him, one plays rock, paper and scissors and if you lose you give away half of your money etc.
When the last character plays his turn, a weekly ranking happening before Sunday appears. This can completely make you lose a lot of money. The more towns you save the more money you will have.
Graphics are colorful and certainly good. Music doesn't stand out by its decent enough. I don't know if this happens to me only. When people talk, apart from the king, the dialogue bar shows to sentences, the character reads only one. Though the voice acting is fairly good.
When you press the view button before using the spinner one can see how big the world is. Apart from that there are special areas such as the Lava Cave, normal cave, Casino Cave, areas which are found almost everywhere and entering, though nothing special you find other enemies which normally aren't out.
I think I'm writing too much on gameplay. Don't you think? I'm starting to get bored myself but since Gamespot hasn't reviewed it yet and probably never will. Well the PS2 era is almost over, so I can't complain with that.
Dokapon Kingdom is a surprisingly decent family party RPG, tied in with a large number of activities such as monster fighting, colorful world and others. But the game depends too much on luck that will put off many hardcore RPG players. While this game is more aimed at children, it's an interesting party game which will please you a lot, as long as you're not alone and if you're not looking for an amazingly awesome turn-based RPG because you will go disappointed since Dokapon is just a basic RPG game.
Graphics = 8.4
Cute, colorful characters and world. Character and enemy design is superb and everywhere looks surprisingly good.
Sound = 7.2
Sounds good, even though the music gets old for some time. When in caves the music changes. Voice acting is decent but if it's my game only that normal characters don't read all that part; the sound deserves an 8.
Presentation = 7.7
Good cutscenes. Rather short load times. Production values are high.
Gameplay = 7.4
Difficult to rate. One on one is not for everyone. And both of the fighters get one turn and the game moves to the other players, so a battle can last even a week in the game. It's a party game, playing alone is boring and a waste of time. There are lots of weapons and especially items. A LOT OF LUCK IS INVOLVED. If you're an adult, play this game with a younger sister or brother or children, but not alone, this game isn't for adults. Younger than 10 should enjoy this.
Camera = 7.7
Nothing to complain about. Always gives you a good view of the fight.
Story = 5.5
Barely anything. Defeat all the red monsters and the king will give you a boring mission to complete the chapter.
Difficulty = Easy.
Depends on what level. Some bosses are tough if you're under leveled but overall the game is aimed at kids, so way too easy for some people, but luck in games isn't not on my side. Rarely demands any skill.
OVERALL SCORE = 72 / 100
A decent party game, which should be played with other people. You'll get bored playing alone.
NOTE: I'll try to write shorter next time but since it's not a reviewed game I had to write deeper than usual. I will avoid writing so much next time.