Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
NIS has finally brought over their flagship PS3 title with the arrival of Disgaea 3. Hardcore followers of NIS and RPG fanatics have become well accustomed to the Disgaea series over the years, and, thankfully, the latest installment doesn't venture far from the previous incarnations. Allow me to introduce Mao -- the son of the Overlord -- who is hell-bent on defeating his father and gaining the title of Hero. Why does he want to kill his father you ask? Well, to be blunt, his father stepped on his SlayStation Portable and, in doing so, caused Mao to lose his precious save data of over 4 million gameplay hours. This, of course, sends Mao into a state of rage and he swears he'll destroy his father by becoming a hero. Unfortunately, demons aren't accustomed to becoming heroes and, thus, Mao begins researching what a true hero characteristics entail, which he finds out are justice and love -- two things demons don't understand. To help quicken the hero transformation process, Mao finds a Fake Hero journeying through the Netherworld named Almaz. Quickly, Almaz is taken as Mao's slave and must help him gain the title of Hero.

If this wasn't enough, Mao is the top candidate to be the number-one Honor Student at Evil Academy. Unlike schools people like you and I attend, Evil Academy shuns those who actually attend class and do good things. Remember, they are demons and the lazier they are the better students they are. Get ready to tackle a semester at Evil Academy and become the number 1 Honor Student, while you try to gain the title of Hero to defeat your old man.


What's Hot
You could probably garner from that introduction that this sounds like a quirky title. Well, you would be very right if you assumed that. NIS is back with a high-level degree of quirkiness and humor. The humor NIS incorporates into their titles is what makes them standout from other Japanese developers. Many of the jokes found within Disgaea 3 targets NIS' loyal fan base and, in general, die-hard gamers and anime fans. For example: Super Alloy Seed Destiny and Fist of the Nether Star. Anime fans will instantly get the joke to the name and the animes they are making an indirect reference to. Thankfully, NIS does come up with other clever anime puns as you move farther into the game -- and yes, the Prism Rangers are back.

Aside from mocking its Japanese roots, NIS is humble enough to make fun of gaming, gamers, and even Disgaea 3 itself. Many times you'll find the characters discussing other kinds of games and how gamers react to social situations. Mao could be seen as the anti-social gamer type. He believes he needs no friends and that gaming will teach him everything he needs in the world. You think you are hardcore? Please, you have nothing on Mao. Little bits of humor like that really make this an enjoyable experience, because it gives you a chance to play a game but laugh at your hobby at the same time. You could almost say that NIS is reminding us that gaming is meant to be fun and not something to be taken deathly seriously.

Now for the real appealing part of the title. Disgaea won't attract you with shiny next-generation graphics, the Unreal Engine, or motion control; instead, Disgaea attracts you with deep and satisfying gameplay. Every installment of Disgaea has gotten just a bit deeper with new features, but, Disgaea 3 has more features than any other title on the market. This can be attributed to the school setting. Like the real world's version of school, you have Homeroom, Student Council, etc. Unlike our boring school sessions, Homeroom and the Student Council actually have relevance in the title. Homeroom is where you'll be able to create new characters, bring up new ideas to the Student Council, arrange seating assignments -- which actually as an effect on your stats- -- and a wide-variety of other aspects.


That's only a small fragment of the things you can do within the Homeroom portion of the game. Aside from those, you have total control over your characters. With more character classes to choose from than college courses, you'll be able to create your ultimate little army of doom. Once you choose a character class to create and select their grade level, it's time to give them a weapon and get them some abilities. Just like the characters themselves, there is a vast ocean of abilities to equip to your characters. Each weapon has its own unique abilities and each character will also learn their own unique abilities as they level up. It's entirely up to you to create your characters in whatever strengths you feel you need while playing the game. This is true customization freedom.

The story of game is comical and very addicting. This is where you'll find yourself really level grinding and trying to move forward to unlock more school buildings within Evil Academy and, ultimately, get revenge on your Dad. However, the story mode will take second place to the Item World mode. Item World will engross you for hours. Much like the Story Mode, you'll move through several maps in the Item World were you battle stronger and stronger enemies until you clear 10 maps. Within various maps, you'll find secret warps that will bring you to hidden treasures, new stores, etc. Remember though, you can't revisit these locations at will. They are a onetime deal, only. Aside from discovering new items and doing battle with hoards of enemies, you'll also level up the said item you entered with. Again, it comes down to customizing your item levels pretty much. Even though the Story Mode is the only way to progress, Item World is the perfect option to level up quickly and get some extra Mana to learn to new abilities and Evilitie -- abilities you can buy, instead of waiting to learn them through leveling up.

To help push you further into the Netherworld and really feel attached to the characters, Disgaea 3 features wonderful voice work. Each character is wonderfully dubbed and this, of course, helps convey the comedic aspects all that much more. Since the main speaking segments don't feature any moving characters and, instead, has portraits of the characters showing their emotions, the voice work becomes all that much more necessary.


What's Not
Sadly, the game has one problem, and that lies in the visual department. There's no real reason this couldn't have appeared on the PS2. The graphics haven't seen a HD overhaul and don't push the processing power of the PS3 in any fashion. If you are expecting to see Street Fighter II Turbo HD type of sprites here, then you will be disappointed. Then again, no one is playing Disgaea because of its visual flare. The environments look sharp and the character sprites still have lively animation to them, they just don't have that next-generation coat of paint over them. Honestly, you may be disappointed at first, but the gameplay will take your mind away from the graphics instantly.

Final Word
Disgaea 3 is the best Disgaea installment. With deeper gameplay, abilities, options, customization, and a whole lot more, this title will please fans of the series. The PS3 has been deprived of a satisfying RPG for quite a while now, but the drought is over and it's time to feast on this bountiful beauty. It doesn't have the potential to be the PS3 RPG of 2008, because Disgaea 3 is the PS3 RPG of 2008.