The action in Disgaea unfolds in an isometric view on each battle map and you can deploy up to 10 of your characters into combat per battle from your base panel. Battles are turn-based, with each character using their special class specific or weapon based attacks, skills and magic to take out the bad guys.

There's a lot to do in Disgaea like before and you'll spend plenty of time doing these things to get the best game experience you can. From leveling up characters and unlocking classes to taking bills to the Dark Assembly to unlock better goods, services and special status.

Character creation is as robust as ever in Afternoon of Darkness. There is a lot of variety in the classes you can choose from, and even more open up to you as you progress through the game. But if you want something a little more exotic you can also purchase any monster you have already encountered in the world. There are so many classes and such a large selection of monsters that it is easy to lose hours just trying to figure out the best way to grow a given character.

The ability to petition the netherworld's dark assembly (demonic lawmakers who control many important things in the world) remains unchanged. Players can spend mana they have gained in battle to petition senators to pass a specific bill -- or if you are tough enough -- force them to pass a bill by force in good old fashioned combat. Passing these bills affords you new classes, better equipment, access to new areas, etc. It's a central part of the game and NIS America has left the experience in tact for this PSP title.

Finally, Item World is still there for you to take on if you need a random challenge that scales itself based on your level. Item World is where some of the best weapons and loot can be found in the game and it's another great way to gain some muscle, but the journey can often be fraught with peril if you go too far in.

Some of the best features in this PSP game are new. One new feature is Etna Mode, a brand spanking new campaign told from Etna's point of view. The scenario answers the hypothetical question "what would have happened if Etna had actually killed Laharl in the opening scene?" This is a pretty fun extra that fans of the series will absolutely love from beginning to end.

Another new feature is ad-hoc multiplayer mode. Afternoon of Darkness lets players trade items and battle each other using their vast armies on a random map. As you would expect, these epic fights are highly customizable, allowing you to tweak a myriad of features like victory conditions, which items will appear on the map , the new fog of war feature (which obscures portions of the map), and geocubes. Yes each player gets access to geocubes that they can use to alter the battlefield in wonderful ways (just like geoprisms, but you get to pick them!). Multiplayer is good and the battles can be fun but expect some serious challenges above and beyond anything you'll find in the game - Disgaea players are dedicated and hardcore, which means that they will have the most powerful units imaginable.