Review Surfing: Disgaea DS (DS)

Some of us may be familiar with the addiction that Disgaea has inflicted, but so far, the effects have only been felt on the PlayStation 2, PSP, and PS3. Well, Disgaea DS could change all that. As the name suggests, this new Disgaea game is for the Nintendo DS, but is it as good as its PlayStation cousins?

Since the game is barely out the proverbial door, there’s only one way to find out—see the first reviews online.

Hardcore Gamer (75%): [Disgaea DS] is as solid as the original, with all the grid-based, strategy combat you could ask for. If you liked the original, you’re not going to be missing out on a thing—and if this is your first time experiencing the game, you couldn’t have done much better. Disgaea DS does lack some sound, having cut out many of the voices from dialogue scenes, but when you compress a DVD down to a flashcard you have to make a few sacrifices; it does hurt the overall presentation, but it’s the only thing with which I have any complaints.

IGN (90%): Disgaea might be the deepest experience available for your DS. If I were stranded on an island with my DS and just one game, this would be it. There are enough game mechanics and features here to make your head spin–more than I could get into in this review. The bottom line is this is one of the greatest strategy games ever made. You can get lost in here. The story is overflowing with humor and personality, and the artwork is beautiful. Disgaea is a little too hardcore for some, but if you’re a fan of the genre you should check it out.

RPGamer (70%): Since it is a tactical RPG, most of Disgaea DS’s playtime is spent moving around a battle grid. The environments are functional, but nothing to blog about. It’s the other fiddly bits that go into each turn that make the core battles so much fun. From positioning efficient combo attacks to tossing enemies and allies across the screen, the core game contains enough variables to consistently stave off auto-pilot mode. Not all of the maps make the most creative use of statistic-modifying geo panels, but their presence is never an aspect that can be ruled out of careful battle planning. The post-game bonus material isn’t nearly as balanced in this respect, but contains unique challenges nonetheless.

As mentioned in the reviews, Disgaea DS is pretty much the same game as Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and its PSP port. This cuts both ways because Hour of Darkness was just plain terrific and owning it in portable form is a temptation too difficult to resist. On the other hand, gamers that invested hundreds of hours into the original and PSP port won’t have anything new to look forward to.

So which gamer are you? The one that somehow managed to finish Disgaea in its earlier versions, or are you a salivating DS owner who’s never tried any of the game’s precursors? And if you have finished Disgaea, would you be trying out the DS version?

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