First of all I want to thank NiS America for my very first review copy! This review will be in a “casual” point of view. Might add a Pro/Post-game review in the future.

Story
Of course, like any other Disgaea game, this one also takes place in the Netherworld. Now with a political twists (you will notice a Obama reference in one of the character creations screens). Disgaea 4′s “Main Character” this time is a Sardine-loving Vampire named Valvatorez who was once feared as a tyrant. But afterwards he promised a woman 400 years ago that he would not drink blood untill he could instill fear in her but of course she could not make it. Now he works in Hades creating prinnies in the prinny factory but when the goverment wants to exterminate all the prinnies Valvatorez wants to keep his promise to them and give them a sardine before they have to go! Of course there are a lot of twists, turns and friends to meet, just try the game if you want to find out, dood!

Gameplay
Gameplay-wise not much has changed since it’s predecesors It’s still the same Tactical JRPG with it’s own twists and turns, the Geo Blocks are back (I kind of hate them, but Disgaea wouldn’t be the same without them!) You still have to “buy” new skills using mana and if you make mistakes (especially early on) you will have to start over or if it was a important battle you might even have to repeat all the previous chapters! I do think this game is a lot harder, After I played Disgaea 3 on the Vita (which was easier for me). I already got two different endings and died several times in the main story. And like every other Disgaea game this one has it’s Post-Game adventures, I haven’t checked everything out yet, but one of the new features is the “discipline room” with this you can tie up members and “force” them to tell you stuff (for example: a certain item on a certain map). Another new feature is the fusing of monsters in to one giant monster with it’s own special attacks! of course Magichange is back too! This game has a bunch of new classes like the Professor, Onmyo Monk, Bouncer, Android and Battle Suit and a lot more if you count the DLC. There’s a lot more stuff after the main storyline but I don’t want to spoil too much!

Graphics
You can’t really talk graphics while playing a disgaea game but I did notice that everything looked a lot better this time around. All the pixelated sprites are replaced by high definition characters! They almost look like cartoon characters. It’s looking that good! Of course being a pixel-freak I loved that they still have the option to use the “old” pixelated sprits! Aahhh, pixels <3! The maps haven’t changed much so far, they too look a lot more vibrant and maybe a bit more sharp but who cares, it’s a disgaea game!

Music
Like most of the Disgaea games the music is very… Japanese! And I still love it, it has familiar disgaea tunes and a lot of new ones. The music suits the game very well even though some of the tunes annoy me a bit and one of them is stuck in my head for days. the Intro this time around is a little bit different than the other disgaea intro’s a has a much nicer and anime-ish feel to it. Even the intro’s ending looks like a dragon ball Z reference!

Overall
This game is jam packed with more disgaea fun! Even though I think Disgaea 3 for the vita is slightly better, Disgaea 4′s high resolution graphics, new features and classes make up for it. And of course if you are into Anime and Internet meme’s you will love this game. There was a random enemy named “umad?” and one of the moth monsters special attack is a reference to Pokemon’s “Goodbye Butterfree”. For now it’s a very good Playstation 3 game, it might not be for everyone, but you should give it a chance! once you try a Disgaea game you can’t stop!
Remember! I might re-review this game in the future once I tried most of the post-game stuff (and that’s a LOT so it might take a while) and give it a “Post-game” rating. Check out Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention’s Post game rating here!