Parent's Guide: Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

Despite it's bright, colourful and crazy exterior, Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness is a lot more complex than you might expect if you aren't familiar with the series. Playing as the self-appointed overlord Laharl and his assistants Etna and Flonne, you travel stages of the Netherworld, making sure that all the rebellious inhabitants know who's boss - by getting into battles with them. Before long, strange things start happening, with Laharl turning into a woman and celestial flowers blooming all over the land - and it's up to the troublesome trio to get to the bottom of the problem.

A strategic role-playing game, Disgaea D2 sees you doing battle with a team of computer controlled opponents on a level that's divided into a giant grid. Kind of like a game of chess, you'll take it in turns to move your characters around, and giving them a move to perform, with the aim of each level being to defeat all the enemy units on the screen. Different characters have different strengths and weaknesses, with warriors being able to both deal and take damage, archers preferring to pick off enemies from a distance and gifted healers that are better suited to support rather than combat. The position of your units is important, too, as characters placed next to each other can team up and do more damage - including your enemies. With a solid tutorial in place, this is actually one of the most approachable games in the genre, making it a great place for those who're looking for something a bit more strategic from their games to start.

There's a lot of thinking involved here, as you'll have to constantly be thinking two or three turns ahead, and a lot of extra asides you can delve into, many of which are responsible for Disgaea's life-gobbling reputation. Pretty much anything and everything can level up and be made stronger, from characters to attacks to the weapons you use - with the latter having an almost limitless game to itself, with floor upon floor of randomly-generated levels that let you compete inside your favourite sword to make it stronger and stronger.

With so much to think about in each of the battles, this a world away from the contests in things like, say, Pokemon, making the game most definitely one for the older crowd - particularly those who enjoy similar strategy games like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. A solid reading ability is also a must, as while cutscenes etc may be voiced, much of the game - including the tutorials - is not.

Given that Disgaea D2 sees you playing as a couple of demons as they make their way through a version of Hell, there are a few things parents may want to bear in mind here.

Although the game features a lot of combat, the attacks aren't so much violent as they are ludicrous - punching enemies into outer space with a love-infused punch, dunking them through a basketball hoop from a massive height or burning them with your purple Godzilla's laser eyes. None of them are bloody or gory, with the enemies simply pulling a few faces before disappearing in a purple wisp of smoke.

In terms of sexual content, there are a few moments that may be uncomfortable for younger players, although the strongest things seem to get are some innuendos, suggestions and jokey references. For example, both Etna and Flonne frequently lament their flat-chested-ness, and when the male lead Laharl gets transformed into a woman in the forth chapter, there's big boob jokes everywhere. Laharl also seems to have a long-running fear of voluptuous bodies, threatening to "engrave into that sexy body of yours just how terrifying I am!". That said, there's nothing especially overt, and besides the occasional skimpy outfit on a female, nothing particularly visual - it's kind of your typical teen drama levels of references, so if they're comfortable with those, then Disgaea shouldn't be an issue.

Disgaea D2 does also feature some bad language from time to time - during the first few chapters, there's several utterances of the F word, alone with some tamer expletives, as well as some slightly suspect name suggestions for your created characters (Turd Burglar, for example).

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Playstation 3