Joystiq

The thing about other party games like Wario Ware and Mario Party is that minigames can be fun, but after awhile you're just repetitively doing the same thing over and over. Which is probably true about any video game. But when you tie it together with an imaginative story and add in a competition and combat based system that let's you screw your friends over while you race for the prize, that's where things get fun.

The basic story is that the King of Dokapon has had monsters invade his kingdom, and that's choking his tax revenue. He offers to pay heroes to help him out, and to run random little quests for him. You might have to bring him something from a far away land (the other side of the game board) or surprise him with a gift, which he'll reward you for. So you run around freeing towns, attacking monsters, amassing a fortune, and exploring the board. Sounds simple enough, until you add in the backstabbing other players.

"The real fun in Dokapon comes from trying to gain access to items that will hurt and hinder your opponents."

The real fun in Dokapon comes from trying to gain access to items that will hurt and hinder your opponents, and it becomes so addictive that you'll start ignoring the endgame just so you can lay down some smack on whoever is in the lead. You'll encounter shadowy characters who will offer to rob your fellow players, for a price, or you can contract a wonky assassin robot and take a hit out on someone. Or you can also just challenge them in one on one combat, which isn't quite as satisfying as "Pranking" them. In our session, someone had their name changed to "Moron," which was funnier than you'd think everytime you'd see it on screen.

There are a ton of different items you'll come across in the game, and you can level up your player through experience points as you progress through the game. Initially when you create your character, there are only three "jobs" (classes) available: Warrior, Magician, and Thief. Each one has a different skill, the Warrior is tough in physical combat, the Magician uses a lot of spells, and the Thief can rob other players. Later, six other classes open up including Spellsword (warrior & magician), Acrobat (can feign death), and Ninjas (hey, they're ninjas).

The game area is fairly large, and you travel around by using a spinner that decides how many spaces you'll move, although you can use items and magic to increase the number of spinner you have so you can really travel far and wide on one turn. There are tons of random encounters, side quests, minigames (including a casino) and a lot of opportunity to stick it to anyone you happen to be playing with. They could have just as easily called this game Screw Your Opponent Kingdom.

Dokapon Kingdom is available starting today for both the Wii and the PlayStation 2. We played on a Wii with a couple of Wiimotes and Classic Controllers, although there aren't any "wiggle your remote as fast as possible" games that make use of the motion-sensing controller, which we didn't miss. Maybe developers are getting over the fad of the Wiimote and starting to just design fun games that don't rely on it. Just don't blame us when Dokapon Kingdom 2: Now Optimized For The Wii Motion Plus comes out.