Before we even get started, Dokapon Kingdom comes with a warning: Play this game with friends, or don't play it at all. We've had a chance to pour tons of time into Atlus's latest offering, both in the multiplayer and single-player capacity, and the difference is night and day. One situation leaves players with an experience that blows other party products out of the water in terms of strategic, fun, "anyone can play" goodness. The other will have you cursing your system to no end. Make no mistake about it though; if you've got friends that still dig on pS2, and also happen to love RPGs (or, in general, Atlus's quirky choice in English software), Dokapon is a blast, and an essential play.

Don't+let+the+spinners+fool+you.+This+is+one+of+the+most+strategic+

There's no easy way to go back into everything we've already said about the game, so if you're curious more as to what Dokapon Kingdom is all about, you'll absolutely need to check out our latest hands-on with the game, as it goes into great detail about how the game plays, and what exactly it's all about. For a brief recap though, Dokapon Kingdom is a hybrid RPG and party game, working like Nintendo's Mario Party franchise in the sense that you'll have four players, random "dice rolls" -- in this game, spins -- and enough random chance to ensure that newcomers stand at least a small, small chance against seasoned vets. With its RPG influence though, players that really dig into the game will find more customization, strategy, and depth than some RPG's, and when a game can boast that, mix in lots of humor, and be this downright fun to play in groups, we welcome it with open arms.And in fact, it's that multiplayer addition that validates Dokapon Kingdom, even when so many other aspects would scream at us to turn away. It's a simple package, with not too many options until you get into the game itself, but it's still an awesome experience. On PS2 the title supports only 4:3 and 480i, being a direct port from the Japanese version, but if you do happen to own a Wii, the game includes 480p and 16:9 support.The front-end presentation is also nothing special, and even in-game you'll be greeted by interface screens that are about as simple as possible on Wii. Brown background boxes with plain text as an example, and right now you're wondering why we love it so much, right?Dokapon Kingdom is a posterchild for the new casual gaming philosophy, which -- when you really boil it down -- is that if a game is fun, nothing else really matters. Graphics could be stronger, audio could use work, interface might be less than impressive, but if you're still sinking dozens upon dozens of hours into a game, it's obviously doing something right, and that's what Dokapon Kingdom has done.So what makes it work?In short, it's the customization. Dokapon Kingdom is more a board game than a traditional "party" title, as you won't be seeing dozens of mini-games or any of those classic "Mario Party" elements, but instead will find a game more along the lines of the awesome Munchkin party card game, or something like a humorous version of risk. The world map is made up of hundreds of spots, each offering new items, equipment for your character, secret locations, and towns. Instead of it being route-based like in Mario Party, Dokapon Kingdom is completely open, allowing you to go wherever your spin will take you. This means you can head to open space on the map and level up your character, run to towns and take them over to start gaining huge cashflow, head over to the King to get new missions that will reward you with awesome treasures, rob stores, hire hitmen for other players... the list goes on and on.