It's really hard to knock (and you won't find me doing that in this review) NIS America's Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, a remake (or is that a rework?) of the hit PlayStation 2 tactical role-playing game that so many of us fell in love with many, many moons ago (2003 to be precise). Sure, it is virtually the same story, the same characters and the same countless hours of bumping and grinding to get all those favorite units up to ridiculously high levels.
But once you look past all that you'll realize a few things about the game; it's still one of the greatest tactical RPG's out there; the game works very well on the PSP and even offers some fixes for slowdown problems found in the original PS2 release; The voice acting and storyline are still as charming and emotionally charged as they ever were; and there's a lot of excellent extra content including a whole new storyline starring Etna and even multiplayer mode.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness isn't just some lame rehash of the PS2 hit, it's really an extension of it with great graphics, smoother gameplay and more of everything we loved about the original. As tactical RPG's go, this one's definitely top shelf, grade A gaming at its finest.
If you don't know the story behind Disgaea it's pretty simple: in the opening scene we see the less than trustworthy vassal Etna trying to wake spoiled brat prince Laharl from a two year nap. While Laharl was playing Rip Van Winkle, his father, the king of the overlords, has died. Chaos ensued and demons lords everywhere scrambled to get to the top of the food chain (even Etna wants a piece of that action but knows that Leharl needs to be taken out first.)
In the opener we finally see Laharl awaken and the hijinx ensue. Laharl, headstrong and full of pride, decides that he will assume the now vacant position of overlord and begins an adventure to do so with Etna in tow and plotting all the way. The adventure will lead them to a fallen angel, a robot, some Power Ranger knock offs and a Buck Rogers wannabe that is as amusing as he is stupid. It's a grand, funny and sometimes touching journey that fans can appreciate a second time.
The game's story is divided up into a series of chapters which are further divided up by battle map locations in and outside of the Laharl's netherworld. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is all about tactical battles and this game continues that tradition with plenty of plot driven maps, random encounters and maps that you can continually revisit to grow your characters to ridiculously high levels. Between these story driven maps and vigorous leveling, you'll return to town to buy items, heal, take on the Dark Assembly and maybe jump into an item or two to level up its occupants.
