In late August, NIS America dropped the latest in it's popular strategy RPG series on North American shores, marking their first foray onto the PS3. How does Disgaea 3 hold up now that it's in High Definition? What will the new characters bring to the table? Can Disgaea's trademark comedy and storyline continue to amuse? I was excited to find out. Aren't you?

Disgaea 3 follows the exploits of young demon Mao(above), on a quest to defeat his father the evil Demon Overlord for messing with his collection of anime, manga and video games. Mao is an otaku, through and through, and though he is a demon, he has aspirations of becoming a hero, because from his "research" of anime and manga, becoming a hero is the only way to defeat the evil bad guy. And so it begins.

Speaking of beginnings, upon firing up the game, I was presented with one of the funniest and most entertaining intros ever. The cast of characters sing a tune called "Evil Academy". Brilliant. Here's the youtube video of it, but it doesn't do the HD video justice:

Great huh? I was pumped to play the game after that. Well, lets dig in.

Graphics
Talking of graphics and Disgaea 3 is a double-edged sword. On one hand, Disgaea's strongest asset is it's art. The character design is absolutely beautiful and it shows in the big character portraits used for conversations. I love the illustrations, expecially this ninja here:

On the other hand, the in-game graphics of Disgaea 3 were a big disappointment. The sprites for the characters are all low-res pixel art... very last-gen. A suggestion for Disgaea 4: Use vector art for the characters. See Street Fighter HD remix for the right way to do it.

Sound
Much like the character design, the soundtrack is equally inspired. Great tunes accompany you on your quest, changing for the mood - be it comic, ominous or celebratory. In-game sound effects are ok. There could have been a bit more variety in the battle cries, but that's just nitpicking. I am very thankful for the Japanese Language track as well. The voice acting is excellent.

Gameplay
If you've ever played Disgaea, you should be right at home here. If you haven't, don't worry. Disgaea 3 makes sure you know what you're doing before sending you out against the hordes of goblins, slimes and loli-demons. There's no shortage of gameplay either... this one's gonna take you a long long time to get through. The problem is, the formula hasn't evolved enough. The game is brand new but it feels stale.

Overall
Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice should please fans of the series as well as SRPG fans of all kinds. It's got great characters, a fun, absurd storyline, excellent voice over, tons of gameplay, and an enjoyable soundtrack. It's got a lot going for it, but I was really hoping for something fresh and innovative for it's PS3 debut. What I got was a solid PS2 game, but that doesn't quite cut it. Nippon Ichi must evolve the gameplay and graphics systems to meet the demands of today's consoles as well as today's gamers.