Review by: James Fudge

Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten throws players headlong into another over-the-top adventure deep inside an all-new netherworld, where Prinnies (the guise taken on by sinners made to serve in the netherworlds for their transgressions), demons, and an occasional angel or two are playing politics. In Disgaea 4, players take on the role of a vampire demon named Valvatorez (with his faithful werewolf servant Fenrich in tow) who serves in the netherworld prison as a Prinny Instructor – his punishment for being a tyrant on Earth. Now Valvatorez relies on the power of sardines (a topic he espouses with great relish at all the most inappropriate moments) to give him the strength he needs.

When something goes wrong in the production of Prinnies, Valvatorez investigates and finds that the warden and a secret society with political ties to the president of the netherworld are the cause. Thus begins the offbeat adventures in Disgaea 4, a game about keeping promises, instructing Prinnies, becoming president, and the power of sardines!

As is the case with Disgaea storylines, Disgaea’s fourth outing is a bizarre mix of juvenile comedy, tender moments and a cast of characters that are often too cute for their own good. Still, it’s good, clean fun with an occasional swear word thrown in for effect. Valvatorez and Fenrich are certainly more interesting and likable than some of the other protagonists from previous games. Naturally the story is decent enough, but in a game where most of it is played in the post-game where you can grind to level 9,999, it is just frosting on a deliciously decadent and indulgent strategy RPG cake.

As you can probably guess, the theme of this year’s Disgaea game is politics, and Nippon Ichi Software (NIS) has done a great job of creating a cohesive theme throughout –from the all-new storyline and characters and the systems introduced in Disgaea 3 that were refined to be more useful, to the new online activities seamlessly woven into the fabric of the core game.

The classroom system introduced in Disgaea 3 becomes a “Cam-Pain” headquarters, where roughly 75 percent of your non-combat activities take place. This new area is represented by a map where all your active characters reside, and as you clear stages in the main storyline new spaces open up, in turn allowing you to create new characters or place new objects called Evil Symbols. Evil Symbols allow the player to do a number of interesting things – from sharing mana (which you’ll use to purchase and upgrade your skills and to propose bills to the Senate) and experience points with other characters, to giving characters exclusive skills on the battlefield. Where you place your characters on this map and how you arrange these Evil Symbols will determine what special bonuses you can take advantage of out on the battlefield.

The Evil Symbol placement and whoever is connected to it matters in places other than combat too; when going through Chara World you can learn profession skills and Evilities (“always active” special abilities that give players various bonuses) from anyone in the group. For example, if you have an Undead and a Red Skull Mage placed on the map within the same Evil Symbol area, when you go into character world you could choose to learn one of his skills (provided you have the right amount of Mana). This means that your Red Skull Mage could earn the ability to learn a skill to which he might not otherwise have access.