Disgaea DS

"Break the cliché with this magnificent and unique game!"

Tired of playing the role of the good guy saving the world? Bored of the same stories all over again? Then complain no more and play this game! Disgaea DS breaks all the usual cliches in RPG games. Forget about the hero saving the world from the plans of the evil guy, as this time you'll be that evil guy. But don't worry; you won't be destroying the world. This time, evil has bigger concerns…

First appearing in PlayStation 2 under the name Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, this remake has its own things, adapting itself for the DS. Now, let's see what makes this game so great.

Story: 9/10
Ahhh, the story... One of the best I found in all the games I played. Hilarious and unique, yet simple, the plot will charm you since the very beginning of the game. The story starts with the king of the Netherworld, the place where demons dwell, dies. You take control of Laharl, son of the dead king, who has been sleeping for two years since the death of his father. Forgotten by the other demons that fight for the throne, Laharl now has to make his way to his rightful place as heir of the throne. He gets help from different types of creatures, from his vassal Etna to several demons and other not-so-evil beings.

The story may not seem that great to many, but when you start playing it and see the bizarre universe it develops in, you'll find yourself unable to stop. The humour is just great; you'll be laughing out loud more than once.

Gameplay: 10/10
Another aspect this game shines on. The gameplay, as the story, is unique. Disgaea has many features of common SRPG (Strategy RPG, like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, Yggdra Union, etc), and many others unique of the game. You move and control your characters in your turn; the enemy does the same in its turn. In your turn, you can command your units to move, attack, and do many other things. What make this game different are the things you can do with your character. You can perform team attacks, lift other characters (even enemies) and throw them, defend, cast spells, use items, etc. Also, actions aren't performed immediately. Rather, you choose the actions of your characters, and then execute them at the same time, allowing you to make great combos, and speeding up the game. However, you don't have to execute all actions at the same time. You can choose which characters will take their actions at the same time, execute those actions, and then select other characters to make other actions. And the best thing, if one of your characters couldn't make its action (because, for example, the target of its attack died), it doesn't lose it. That character can make its perform later, be it alone or with other characters. The characters can move before or after the action, also. In conclusion, the game really lets you customize your turn in the way you want to play it. The restrictions of what you can do are always limited to the range of your actions and the number of characters you have.

But that's not the only unique thing the gameplay has. Unlike many other SRPGs you can create and customize your own units (albeit at a cost), yet having its own crew of characters. When creating a unit, you can decide its class (it can even be a monster!), its name and how strong it will be. Items are unique in their own, each one of them having its own stats and even level and abilities (much like Diablo). Two swords may cost the same, but they surely have different stats and abilities. Talking about items, you can do side quests to increase a particular item's level, making it more powerful, and adding tons of hours to the game.

Terrain plays also a different role than in others SRPGs. Here, terrain is defined by cubes that add different attributes to some terrain of the map. As long as the cube is there, all characters on such tiles will get the bonus. However, you can lift the cube and throw it somewhere, or you can destroy it. If you destroy it, all characters that were standing in the special tiles. If you make a good strategy, you can defeat all enemies in some maps just by destroying a single cube!

This game has many more unique aspects, which I fear I can't list them all, as I would never finish. But I want to make my point clear: the gameplay is unique and very appealing, and once you start playing you'll wonder why all other SRPGs aren't like that.

Music & Sounds: 7.5/10
Though the music is no Castlevania's masterpiece, it is good. I really love the castle tune. It makes you feel like you are really on the bad guy's side this time. The game includes scenes with full voice, which is always a plus. You can also hear the voices of the character as they make special attacks in battle. The sounds of attacks are good, too. They fit the attack and go with the battle animation. Nothing more to say here.

Graphics: 9/10
I've always said that graphics don't define a game, but it's always good to have them. The graphics aren't especially great, but they're good. The characters are well done, and the sprites are really a good image of the character (they even change their expressions as the character does. I love Laharl's mad expression. It's just so great.) The battle animations are well done, and the maps are detailed as they need to be. The camera could have been better (especially when it comes to ignore walls and other blocking objects), but it's good to have full rotation of the map (yes, you can rotate the map 360 degrees to see different angles). When the characters make team attacks, their faces (usually with a dread and funny expression) are shown on the screen. I liked that. The menus are simple, but they make their job.

Replay: 10/10
My, this game has a great replay value! With 10 or so different endings, and a New Game+ feature, it will pass years before you grow tired of this game. As happens in many SRPGs, you can create your own challenges and play the game to its maximum before you have to store it away. Collect all items, complete the item side quests, get your characters to level 9999, beat your friends' characters with that monster (^_-), get all endings, and more, it is highly unlike you'll grow tired of this game with so many replay options it has.

Miscellaneous: 8/10
Hmm... Lack of online play, though it's not very important (and it has local multiplayer option), at least for me. When a game like this has so high replay value, multiplayer option is just a small add. Three slots to save is good, you can have your own data and let your little brother has its own. Nice. The difficult of the game is a bit more than average, so it will give a good challenge to veterans, but will give also a lot of problems to new gamers.

Overall: 9/10
An excellent game. If you like SRPGs you can't miss this game. And even if you don't like them, you sure will spend a good time laughing with the dialogues. The gameplay may seem a bit complicated at the beginning, especially if you are a casual gamer, but after the short tutorial and firsts battles you'll get the hang of it.

Here's a comparison list for faster check-up:

Good things:
-Great game that breaks the cliche: Play this time as an evil demon that wants his rightful place as heir of the Netherworld throne!
-Hilarious dialogues: Forget about those boring and serious dialogues, this time you'll have a good share of laughs every now and then.
-Great and flexible gameplay: Team attacking, manipulating terrain, lifting and throwing, you'll find tons of options to do with your characters.
-Can create your own characters: Create your own characters, from monsters of the underworld to angels!
-High replay value (and I mean very high): You'll never get bored of this game. It is more likely that a successor of the DS comes out first than you getting bored of this game.
-Great battle animations: From small details as the equipped weapon to high details as fire and other magic animations.
-Good difficult for those players that love a challenge: This is no easy game! If a challenge is what you want, you have asked for the right game!
-Local multiplayer option: Test the fruits of all of your hours training your perfect characters against your friends!

Bad things:
-Lack of online play (again, it's not that bad.)
-Gameplay can be a bit complicated for first players

Conclusion:
This game has taken the title as the best SRPGs for the DS. Of course, there's FFTA2 and many others, but this game is just too great. A must-buy for all SRPG lovers, and it is definitively a good acquisition to other players. Break the cliche! Play Disgaea DS!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/08

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