Many years ago, three giants came to the world under the control of the god Gig. They were sent to destroy the world. A heroic queen sacrificed her life to banish the evil god and the three giants (called the World Eaters) grew silent. Thus enter the hero of the tale. Raised in a hidden village of men and women training to defeat the World Eaters, the main character is given an onyx blade and resting inside this blade is Gig, the evil god who once commanded the World Eaters all those years ago. When the main character touches the blade, Gig enters his body in an attempt to take him over. It turns out that the person who gave the main character his sword is none other than the queen who was thought to have sacrificed herself to banish Gig. Thus begins the craziness that is Soul Nomad.

The game plays like a combination of Disgaea and Advance Wars. Players start with the main character’s unit on the field of battle, which is divided into a grid for unit movement. Each map can consist of many different types of terrain, and each type has a different effect. For example, units in town gain health back, units in forests get bonuses to defense because of cover, etc. Before the fight begins, players are given the objectives of the map, which could be anything from eliminating all or some enemy units, to run to the other side of the map. Other units can be summoned onto the field by use of the summon command. When this command is used, a player spends hard earned cash to bring other units into play.

When units attack each other in battle, a short scene is shown; the screen is split down the middle, much like it is in Advance Wars, showing both sets of units. Attack order is dependent on who attacked who, and what each unit’s speed stat is. Once this is all determined, the attack begins. Healers go first, then the rest of the squad. If a special attack command were given, it would be set off after the attacking side goes. After each attack, both units stamina goes down, reducing defense and attack power. This is not all bad since the stamina of a unit must be below a certain point in order to use a special attack, most of these are designed to destroy a unit in one attack.

Additional units are created outside of battle. The players are given rooms in which characters can be arranged in many different ways. When a room is created it randomly assigns bonuses and placement points for characters, for example, when a room is created, it could have the bonus of healing all units in the room or increasing the units strength the farther they move that turn. Players can change the rooms at no cost in order to try to maximize efficiency in their units. This is the biggest down side to the game. Since the room generation is completely random, I sat for almost a half hour once trying to get a room I liked. Players can then purchase character classes ranging from healers, fighters, monsters and the like. Each unit does something different depending on where it is placed in the room. A healer, for example, will attack in the front row, heal one character in the middle, and heal everyone in the party in the back. Once all of this is done, rooms can be ‘decorated’ with different abilities and powerups for the next encounter. Once used however, the decorations are gone for good. Purchasing items are a lot of fun as well, when enough items are purchased, the store owner will attack you and must be defeated in order to gain access to better items and decorations.

Overall the feel of Soul Nomad and the World Eaters is very solid. Great voice acting in both English and Japanese, sound effects and graphics are what you would expect of a Disgaea style game, being 2D and very well done. Most characters are fun to watch in the story sequences with only a couple of them down right annoying. Nippon Ichi really delivers again with old school graphics combined with 3D effects, and a great storyline with some great adult jokes. If you are a fan of tactical games and RPGs definitely pick this one up.