Each class in the game - made up of classics like warriors, mages and thieves - has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. You begin the game by making a character, who you can customize in terms of gender, color, hair style, eyes, and, of course, class. The King of Dokapon has offered a hefty sum of money and the hand of his daughter in marriage to any hero who can complete the various tasks he sets forth, and you and up to three other heroes have taken up the call. The "plot" of Dokapon Kingdom is rather simple, and it mostly exists to provide a basis for the amusing humor and a reason for you and three friends to beat the crap out of each other. It's quite fun, but expect to get more than a few nasty glares from your pals when you suddenly take the lead through a masterful bit of underhanded backstabbery. You're even graded at the end of every week, which can have actual benefits and further encourages you to do everything in your power to humiliate the other guy. Dokapon Kingdom is as ruthlessly cutthroat as any game of Monopoly, particularly because you can actually take a sword or magic spell to the other guy. It is technically possible to form alliances or work together on goals, but that isn't really going to happen. You can frame other players for robbing from stores, use items to hinder their progress, hunt them down for bounties, or even become a rampaging engine of evil destruction and wreck everyone else on the board. This can happen in all sorts of ways: You can beat them in battle and humiliate them, altering their character model in embarrassing ways and stealing their quest objects for your own. Most, if not all, of your time in Dokapon Kingdom will be spent screwing over the other players. If you can gather a group, however, you'll find that Dokapon Kingdom is arguably one of the best party games available on the PS2.ĭokapon Kingdom may be a game that you play with friends, but it is not a game you play to make friends. If you're not the kind of gamer who can get three pals over to play the game with regular ease, Dokapon Kingdom is probably going to be a bit lacking for you. Even a short game can take a few hours, and you'll probably have to make use of the save function and continue another day, especially when you're just starting out and learning the rules. Dokapon Kingdom is also a bit of a long game, though, and sadly lacks any sort of Internet play, so keep in mind that it is going to take you a bit longer to play than a game of Mario Party. The true way to play Dokapon Kingdom is with four people in the same room, chatting, having fun and each doing his best to ruin the other guy's chances at success.
Dokapon Kingdom may be an RPG, but it's also a party game, and the party game aspects are much stronger than the RPG ones. Yes, it technically offers a single-player mode, but if you buy it for that, you're wasting your time. Let's get this out there right off the bat: Dokapon Kingdom is not a single-player game.