With Nippon Ichi, you know what you're getting. Fans of the developer count on NIS to develop quality RPGs and many of them probably already own Soul Nomad & The World Eaters. Opting to do one genre exceptionally well rather than to do multiple genres with mixed success, Nippon Ichi have stuck to their guns for half a decade, and Soul Nomad is clearly designed with old-school RPG players in mind; story, visuals and sound come second to the battle system and its customizability. Fans of Nippon Ichi will surely be pleased, while the rest of the gaming world can continue their love affair with Halo 3 unabated.

The most striking aspect of Soul Nomad is the game's visuals, as much of it looks like it could have been put together on the original PlayStation. However, what makes this particular game a little more than simply an old-school style title are the details. For example, there are times when you're speaking to a character that appears on-screen as nothing more than an anime-styled image set over a gradient two-tone background. Battles take place on a 2D map, with topographical elements drawn in, as opposed to being represented literally with a third dimension. The game's font is strikingly dull and you're given the option to skip every cut scene, if you feel so inclined. All of this demonstrates the developer's intent not only to make an old-school strategy RPG, but also to create a game where actual gameplay takes precedence over everything else. The visuals are downright ugly in many areas, but fittingly so; Soul Nomad is a game for the mind, not for the eyes. This is a logical extension of the developer's style, which already appeals almost solely to devoted RPG players.

Battles take place on a 2D grid, where you maneuver a central character around to attack enemies. Your character, the leader, represents what's called a room containing multiple characters, each of which you either create or are part of your squad by way of association (main characters). You can also summon other rooms, which you must also create, with more available as you progress through the game. Combat is relatively simple; you can attack, defend, use a Tactic, or use a Gig Edict. Attacks are just that; each of your characters attacks the enemy (except non-violent classes, such as clerics, who heal your party, boost stats, and so on). If your stamina drops below 80% then you can perform special moves in addition to your basic attack. Tactics serve different purposes for different characters and are dependent upon the class of the room leader. For example, a room with a knight at the helm will use Intimidate, which makes it impossible for an opponent to move. Other tactics include mine placement, remote attacks, stat boosting, healing and so on. Gig Edicts are essentially items, serving as you would expect (healing, stat boosting, stat reduction, and more).

The real meat of the system is not in the actual battles, but in designing your rooms for use in battle. Each room is equipped with four to nine squares and an always-on room décor, a feature that gives the room certain stat boosts (double EXP earned, decreased stamina use, increased ATK, etc.). In addition, you're allowed to equip your own décor earned in battles or purchased for use in a single battle. Where you place certain characters dictates the attack they perform and has certain repercussions in the way of décor. For example, you can set a middle row with three archers and use the décor SNIPER and MIDDLE BOOST; these increase the ATK of the archer and the overall stats of the middle row, respectively. Regarding placement, a room has three rows with up to three slots in each row. Units toward the front will, obviously, be targeted in combat by melee units, while those in the rear are protected from such things but at risk from ranged attacks. Additionally, placing certain characters or classes together gives you additional combo attacks (mentioned earlier). If you're looking to grind then, you may do so at your leisure by using the Inspection function, which pits you against one randomly generated dungeon after another. Completion of each dungeon gives you Room Power, which you can use to boost your room's stats.

As deep and involving as this combat system is, Soul Nomad does have a few issues. First and foremost is the enemy AI, an issue that the genre has suffered with for years and that no developer has really attempted to tackle. Enemies tend to stay put until you get near to them, which allows you to pick off each opponent one by one, as opposed to having to deal with multiple enemies at once. Not all battles proceed in this fashion, but there are enough of them to decrease the game's difficulty quite considerably, bringing us to the second problem, which is that Soul Nomad is too easy. I very rarely lost a battle and didn't need to do any grinding to reach this position of prominence. With that said, neither of these problems severely detracted from enjoying the gameplay experience.

The sound and presentation in Soul Nomad are standard RPG fare with a healthy dose of trademark animé quirkiness. The voice acting, while not something I enjoyed, fits the theme well; the characters speak with the overwrought enthusiasm of a South Park character, which coincidentally is about the same style that 90% of all anime shows employ. Considering the Nippon Ichi fan base, this is acceptable - nay, ideal. The story, while not quite Vonnegut, is enjoyable for what it is. And what is it? In short, the God of Death once reigned terror on the continent of Prodesto using three giant demons called World Eaters. The God of Death was defeated and his soul was trapped in a sword; which is given to you, the hero of the story, and you consequently share a body with the sword's inhabitant (the God of Death, or Gig, as he's called). The ultimate goal of the game is to defeat the World Eaters of yonder, who have remained in Prodesto but lain dormant and now arisen once again.

The dialogue in Soul Nomad is not particularly interesting, but I did a double take more than a few times after hearing certain lines. One, by a singing minstrel, reads, "The entrance is noisy, pay no mind/Find what you want, take it from behind"; this, an ode to his city of residence. A small boy also encourages his surrogate mother to increase her breast size because he prefers big, jiggly boobs. These lines, strange in and of themselves, are made doubly strange by their sly placement amongst run-of-the-mill RPG dialogue spoken by run-of-the-mill RPG characters!

Soul Nomad & The World Eaters isn't perfect, but it's an endlessly enjoyable game for fans of the strategy RPG. The main game allows you to skip the story if you simply can't be bothered, while also providing endless grinding for those so inclined and, upon completion, a large chunk of side quests to embark on. Additionally, the game features upwards of a dozen unique endings to discover. In short, you can play Soul Nomad until the cows come home or until you finally tire of it, whichever comes first - and thanks to its addictive gameplay, it might be quite some time before either event happens.

Reviewed by Casey Cantero for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).