Disgaea DS

"Possibly the last game you'll ever buy, dood!"

Disgaea is definitely a unique series. It has a cheap price tag, great humor, interesting characters, an almost infinite replay value, and even exploding penguins! This game a definitely worth buying, and here's why:


Graphics: 9/10

This may not be your standard Final Fantasy, but as far as graphics go this game has great presentation. Especially for a game remade from its Playstation 2 predecessor. The character sprites are well done: From movement to facial expressions, nothing seems out of place. The landscapes are really nice for a DS game. From the architecture of Vyer's Castle to the snow of the Frozen Lands, every area has its own unique feel to it. The anime styled character art is also really nice in this game.



Sound: 7/10

This game has wonderful music, but the only problem is that you would probably need headphones to even hear it. Even with my DS volume turned to the max in a quiet room, this game still fails to deliver vibrant sounds from my speakers. As for the voice acting, there is minimal. This isn't much of a problem at all, but it would definitely be nice to hear Laharl's laugh or Vyer's voice more than once in a while. The option to have Japanese voice overs is also left out. All of this could be due to memory constrictions. At least headphones will solve the music problem though...


Gameplay: 10/10

Disgaea is an SRPG (Strategic role-playing game) with an amazing amount of depth. In battle, there are many ways to battle your opponent aside from moving in-range and attacking. Disgaea has an element in battle called “Geo Panels”. These panels are affected by geo symbols which can influence the battle, such as decreasing a unit's attack, warping a unit somewhere, or even making an enemy 3 times stronger. You can also destroy a geo symbol in order to change the panels, damaging everything on the panels in the process. This gives battles a bit of a puzzle element where even a weak unit can defeat an enemy that is literally 100 times stronger than it. The level cap of this game is also 9999. The game also gives you the option to start characters over with bonus points to their stats, which makes it very possible to create an invincible character in this game. Disgaea also has a way to level up items through a place called “item world”. Item World is a series of randomized dungeons, which gives an infinite number of battles you can go through. Outside of battling, you can buy BGMs, link to friends, get tutorials, or even go to the Dark Court in order to try and pass bills that affect gameplay. With so much that can be done, Disgaea easily gets a 10 for gameplay.

Replay Value: 10/10

There is a low chance that anyone can ever truly finish this game. With the possibility of finishing the story, creating uber-characters, going through the seemingly endless item worlds, or just looking for the goodies that this game has to offer, you can easily be playing this for hundreds of hours and still not be finished way after you take down the final boss. In fact, this may be the last game you'll ever buy.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/30/08

Game Release: Disgaea DS (US, 09/23/08)