Think of a strategy game, and the first image that pops into your mind is probably one of armchair generals, shuffling tanks around cautiously in low light as they try to predict their enemy's move. It's all very tense, all very complex, and all very stiff and serious. Hailing from Japan, Disgaea is a strategy series that shares at least one of those qualities - but tears the rule book up for everything else. With giant pink dragons, talking explosive blue penguins, and a focus squarely on nonsensical fun with more than a touch of insanity - it's a series that's about as far away from serious as you can get. An "alternative universe" sequel and PS3 exclusive, Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness is bright, colourful and dangerously addictive, stuffed with more humour and craziness than you shake a particularly wacky stick at, from Etna's anime parody interludes, to a Godzilla-inspired special attack complete with laser eyes - and much, much more.
Flonnezilla will crush you... WITH LOVE!
Picking the story up where the original Disgaea game left off almost a decade ago, things are mercifully easy to pick up, even if you've never played the series before. The game opens as main man (or rather, demon) Laharl starts to settle in to his role as overlord of the Netherworld, following the death of his father King Krichevskoy, although it doesn't take long for him to start getting a bit tetchy. With so few of the hell's inhabitants aware of the change of leadership at all, no-one really seems to care that Laharl is the new man in charge - and so he sets off with his vassals Etna, the sadistic demon and the love-obsessed fallen angel Flonne to inform the public the only way demons know how - by beating it into them. During their travels they come across a resistance group loyal to the former overlord, meet up with Laharl's long-lost angel sister and get to the bottom of the mysterious Celestial flower invasion that's causing all sorts of weird things to happen to the demons of the Netherworld. And although it may all sound very serious so far, there's plenty of laughs to be had along the way, including an entire chapter that sees Laharl transformed into a woman, with the banter between the characters being the star of the show.
As with many strategy games, the series' bread and butter are it's battles - an addictive blend of fighting, looting and levelling, all wrapped up in a fairly straightforward turn-based system. Each level plays out kind of like a game of chess - you and your opponent take it in turns to move your characters around a grid-like battlefield, as you try to outmanoeuvre, out think, or simply out gun your foe. During your turn, you can summon characters, move them around the level, and set the actions actions you want them to perform, whether it be a standard sword slash, healing an ally or raining exploding-penguin-flavoured death down on your enemy. By placing characters next to each other on the map, you can trigger a team attack, where a number of nearby team mates join in to pummel the baddie, making it much more powerful (and ridiculous) - which is where the strategy starts to come in to play, as your enemies can also team up against you. With moves that range from slamming into an enemy from atop a flaming meteor, to trapping an enemy in the centre of a hamster wheel of doom, made up of you and your team-mates, or simply punching them into the far-reaches of space with the power of love, you'll want to experiment with all the different combinations available, and see how ridiculous things can get.
Poor Flonne's garden is no more...
Alongside the main trio of Laharl, Etna and Flonne (and later Laharl's sister Sicily), you can create all sorts of characters to join you in battle, from role-playing game staples like warriors, healers and mages to the more unusual ninjas, angelic soldiers and samurais - and that's just the human/demon characters. You also have the option to create a huge number of monster characters to aid you in battle, such as the fearsome-looking Shark Dragon, brain-devouring zombies and the obligatory woman-dressed-as-a-cat - not forgetting the Prinnies, Disgaea's volatile demonic penguin mascots. Monsters wield different weapons and have access to different attacks compared to your human units, and can now be ridden around the battlefield by one of your humanoid characters, in order to create powerful combos - for example, pairing a flimsy magic-user with a HP-loaded dragon means her ride acts as a damage sponge, whilst the pair have access to some new special attacks. With the ability to take only a few characters into battle, you'll have to experiment to find the best combos.
If you want to really go crazy with your mounting, though, you can even stack all your units up into one giant tower, with everyone up above the base character adding to the damage dealt during an attack - and, as you'd likely expect, there's even a number of tower-specific attacks to go with it, with one letting you hurl your enemy up to the top of the tower, before slam dunking them through a basket ball hoop into the ground. Ouch. You can also chuck your high-up characters around, perhaps in order to get to the other side of the map faster, or simply to dish out some damage with your exploding Prinny of death, who'll detonate on impact and deal damage to nearby enemies.
And if that didn't lend you enough possibilities, Disgaea has yet more ways to mix things up on the battlefield. One of the series staples are the 'Geo Panels', which cover each level's grid with pretty colours - each one having a different effect on the units that stand on them, perhaps increasing their defence, upping their levels or increasing the chances of defeated enemies dropping treasure. By destroying the Geo Symbol that the effects emanate from, you can switch the colours of the floor, damaging anyone and everyone who stands in the area - chaining colour swaps together or changing them all to the standard clear colour deals mega damage to all the enemies on screen too, so it's well worth trying to figure out the puzzles.
Towers are also an awesome way to level up all your characters at once!
As you've probably guessed, there's an almost dizzying depth to Disgaea - we could probably talk all day and barely cover half of it. But the good thing about the series is that a lot of that depth is optional, only really becoming a necessity if you choose to play on beyond the end of the story, as you take on the incredibly difficult post-game stages, with their infamous social-life-destroying level 9999 cap. Pretty much anything and everything can level up too, from characters to attacks to the weapons you use, and you can also use the 'Cheat Shop' to tweak the relative amounts of XP or money you earn in each level. Then there's the Demon Dojo, where you can set your characters to train specific attributes up such as attack, hit rate or intelligence; a master/apprentice system that lets your characters learn skills they otherwise wouldn't know; and the levelling system that lets you change class, and reincarnate from level 1 while keeping your stats in the process, letting you go from level 9999 to level 1 several times over, getting stronger and stronger every time you do it.
And we're probably going to stop there. Needless to say, if you're a fan of crazy light-hearted games that don't take themselves too seriously - you need Disgaea in your life. With it's quirky sense of humour and zany over-the-top attacks, Disgaea D2 is one of the most approachable strategy role-playing games out there - while the slow, thoughtful nature of the game's battles may not be everybody's cup of tea, those that it clicks with will likely sink hours into the brightly coloured world of D2.
Format Reviewed: Playstation 3
