"Strategy RPGs are about to get a kick in the ass!"

At least, that's the claim printed on the rear cover of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Most strategy RPGs follow the same basic formula of complex battles and detailed character customization, and which one you play usually boils down to a matter of personal preference. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has scratched my recent SRPG itch quite nicely, but Disgaea: Hour of Darkness had been getting such positive buzz that I decided to check it out as well. After spending some significant time with Nippon Ichi's charming little game, I'm not quite convinced that it actually does much ass-kicking to the genre, but it does offer a few interesting wrinkles that add up to some light-hearted fun.

Disgaea offers a comical anime-style tale that explores every day life in a demonic underworld (called the Netherworld) and the eternal feud the inhabitants have with the residents of Celestia (Heaven, basically). The game places you in the role of Laharl, a demon prince who stands to inherit his father's position as king of the Netherworld. Problem is, the prince has been sleeping for the past two years, and by the time he is finally awoken (by his humble vassal Etna) the king is dead and the entire Netherworld is vying for the throne. So what's an ambitious young prince to do? Why, kill every last demon bastard who gets in his way, of course! With the aid of Etna and some crazy explosive penguins, you'll help Laharl do just that.

Hour of Darkness draws much of its inspiration from contemporary anime shows. Story sequences unfold with a combination of character portraits and text boxes, and many scenes include full voice-over. The main characters in particular are a lot of fun to listen to, so Atlus deserves major props for doing such a bang-up job with the voice recording. But the overall presentation is pretty basic though, even for an SRPG. There is no animation to speak of, so watching static images while listening to voice over gets dull very fast. And it goes without saying that the entire game could be a huge turn-off if you're not a fan of the anime medium, and even if you are, the super-cute style might be too saccharin sweet for your particular tastes.

Disgaea is divided into a series of chapters, each of which contains a number of battles that must be cleared in order to progress. Chapters end with a "preview" of the next, parodying the "next episode" teasers found at the end of most anime programs. Though it is often difficult to infuse comedy into a game, Nippon Ichi (and the US localization staff) have done a remarkable job in making a game that is light-hearted and genuinely funny. The last battle in the chapter usually reveals more of the story and often involves a massive conflict against tough boss characters. Disgaea allows you to replay previous battles to level up your characters, as well as do standard SRPG stuff like learning new abilities, buying weapons and hiring new warriors.

What sets Disgaea apart from the throng of similar games is its approach to battles and its quirky non-battle game mechanics. Battles unfold on the usual isometric grid that features varying terrain features and heights. Your squad starts from a "base panel" where you deploy characters on the map. Actions can be assigned and executed immediately or deferred to the end of your turn. Anyone adjacent to the currently attacking character can join in on the fun; up to four combatants can gang up on a foe for extra damage. What is especially cool is that you can move members of your squad to support a combo attack, then retract their movements once the attack is over to regain their full turn. Awesome!

Instead of alternating turns based on a preset order or a character statistic like agility, Disgaea prompts you to input all player actions in one fell swoop. Your commands are then acted out, and if there are any enemies left, then they get to do the same. As a result, battles have a brisk pace, though you'll often feel like the battlefield is tipped in your favor. The game isn't designed to challenge your strategic planning skills like Final Fantasy Tactics, though. Rather, Nippon Ichi seemed content to make a game that will appeal to your sadistic side by letting you mercilessly wail on your foes before they can even act. If you rejoiced upon recruiting T.G. Cid in Final Fantasy Tactics, then you'll understand the appeal of relentlessly slaughtering your enemies like this.

Battles are further enhanced through the use of "Geo Panels", colored squares that grant bonuses to characters standing on them. These panels can be destroyed to set off a chain reaction that will eliminate all the panels of that particular color from the battlefield. This can take out distant enemies in one satisfying swoop. But wait, it gets better! If another Geo Panel is destroyed in this process, then another chain reaction for the new color is started. It is conceivable to wipe out an entire army of baddies by destroying a single Geo Panel, and many stages in the game take on a puzzle element as you ponder how to best make use of them.

Disgaea employs a unique "mentor" system that allows experienced characters to train newbies. One immediate benefit of this is that the mentor can use the abilities of his or her pupils when they are adjacent on the battlefield. The system is deep and should find favor with players looking for something novel. There are a metric ton of character classes available to you, with more advanced classes are unlocked by mastering beginner ones. Abilities in any class are learned by leveling up in that particular class, but you can migrate to another class and still retain your old abilities (for a price). There is a lot of character customization you can get into, and with some enemy levels creeping into the thousands, there's plenty of incentive to continue improving your squad.

There is plenty to do outside of battle as well. The Netherworld is governed by a "Dark Council", whom you can petition them to raise the level of enemies you fight or unlock higher level items in the weapon shop. The Council must vote on each measure you wish to pass. You can bribe individual senators who might currently be siding against you, or you can fight them to change their opinion. There's a lot of extra gameplay available here for those who wish to delve deep into the game. Weapons and armor can be enhanced beyond their normal states by entering them and fighting through what is called the "item world". This feature is great for leveling up both your characters and the items they wield, but it is necessarily time-consuming.

Visually, Disgaea is a mixed bag of cute sprites and ugly polygons. The pixel-based characters are extremely charming and sport some nifty old-school animations, especially when using special techniques or team-up attacks. The character portraits are nicely drawn and, although they're static, feature a nice range of poses and styles. On the other hand, the game's 3D battlefields are absolutely horrible. Low-poly modeling, weak texturing and some very sloppy seams make the game a real eyesore most of the time, especially when the camera zooms out for some of the crazier attack animations. In fact, I dare say the backgrounds aren't much better than those in Final Fantasy Tactics, a PlayStation game released in 1997. Yeah, they really are that bad.

The game doesn't fare much better in the audio department, with lo-fi background tracks that you might mistake for SNES era music. The compositions suit the mood I suppose, but I found myself reaching for the Mute button during extended battles. Sound effects are also a bit of an earsore; muddy weapon and spell noises and poorly-sampled battle voice clips put this game squarely in the realm of GameBoy Advance sound design. A shame, really. But to its credit, Disgaea features a host of wonderful performances from the English voice cast that go a long way toward making you forget the other audio shortcomings. Atlus has smartly included the original Japanese language track for those who want it, but the English dub retains most of the original flavor.

Hour of Darkness will only appeal to a very small percentage of the gaming population, but those who enjoy SRPG titles will likely fall in love with Disgaea's humor, charm and game design. Audiovisual shortcomings aside, there is plenty of meat here to satisfy players for weeks on end. The unique take on battles, coupled with a number of interesting gameplay conventions like the Dark Council, make Disgaea a standout in a market that is saturated with similar titles. Its cutesy themes, wacky characters and excellent acting are all quite endearing and lend the game a fresh feel that is lacking in many run-of-the-mill role playing titles. For those who enjoy these types of games, Disgaea is definitely one of the best.