Punk and Lizard Issue One | Page 46

REVIEW - ps4

BY SJ hollis

What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a sardine and an adorable demon in a penguin suit? Yes, Disgaea is back for round five and this time it has exploded like a bucket of flammable fish onto PS4. Bursting with its own unfathomable trademark humour and more colourful than ever, Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance is looking awfully good, dood.

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The demon emperor Void Dark has been running about knocking seven shades of shite out of the Netherworlds, that scallyway. Obviously, a few people object, including Seraphina, the spoiled daughter of the demon king of the Gorgeous Underworld. Set to marry Void Dark himself, Seraphina runs away and creates her own Pocket Netherworld where she rules with an iron but glamorous fist. But there’s no way she can defeat the demon emperor and his army of The Lost by herself. Enter Sir Killia, a handsome and scantily dressed young demon with incredible powers and complete disinterest in Seraphina’s amorous and devious advances. It seems Sir Killia is not all that he seems...

Disgaea 5 is a turn-based strategy RPG. The main gameplay is split into separate battles, each of which use a grid system. You’ll be able to move each character a set number of squares towards the enemy. Once placed you can choose to attack and then choose to execute the attack. But that would be silly. Like its predecessor, Disgaea 5 relies on combos and chains. You will be able to line up your characters next to each other to link attacks. You can lift characters, throw them or build a tower out of them. Once you feel that everyone is in an optimum spot, you can execute and wipe the gameboard clean of the emperor’s scum, earning yourself a crap load of bonuses along the way. Also like the previous game you can throw exploding Prinnies (they don’t mind as long as they get their sardine paycheck, dood).

The tutorial will take you through everything you need to know at a nice gradual and easy pace. If all this old hat to you, you’ll be pleased to know the tutorials can be skipped. Personally, I thought it would be spiffing to have a little refresher as it’s been over a year since I’ve thrown an exploding penguin across a crowded battlefield. It’s hard to find the time, isn’t it?

Of course it’s all fun and games until someone loses a sardine. While the game does ease you in very nicely and is very kind to the newbie, that difficulty level will rise. Good old fashioned levelling up will be required, but Disgaea is so much fun you’ll barely register that you’ve spend the last two hours turning your weakling mage who can barely light up a birthday cake into a flame-throwing force of destruction. It’s not really grinding. It’s strategic repetition of excellent tactical scuffles to secure powerful attacks and level-smashing annihilation, with fish. Enjoy it.