The tale told in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories revolves around Adell, the last human being on the world of Veldime, whose other inhabitants have been turned into demons. For some reason, Adell has escaped this curse of Overlord Zenon, the powerful God of all Overlords, a spell that has slowly been stripping the villagers of their memories and consciences. Not being the type to sit at home, Adell decides to destroy Zenon and lift the curse. However, summoning the Overlord goes wrong, and actually summons his daughter, Rozalin, ritually binding her to Adell; and so it begins.

With that explained the game yields control to the player in a colourful 3D isometric world. This viewpoint can be a little problematic, particularly where there is a large height difference between areas, however, an additional view is available that gives an almost 2D top-down perspective, and really helps. Whilst the look and feel won’t win any favours with the graphics whores, it suits this type of game ideally.

Wandering around the home grounds is highly recommended, especially for newbies to the series. The various characters on the map give access to - and explain the different aspects of - the game, such as the Dark Assembly, the Hospital, a number of shops, Item World, the Dimensional Gate, and (new to Disgaea 2) the Post Office.

Using the dimensional gate, Adell and his crew are able to travel to the different areas outside Veldime. The first few trips outside the village make up the tutorial; great for the beginner, tedious to the veteran. Fortunately these demonstrations can be passed by; nevertheless, the first half-hour of the game is a little boring for those who’ve seen it before. Whilst the story isn’t going to win the Booker prize, it’s well-structured, funny and has some suitably done voice acting; it picks up the pace quite quickly. The start and end sequences of each chapter still cannot be skipped (which can get annoying on a subsequent play-through), but the pre-ambles before each map can.

Basic combat is very simple and even the novice will pick it up easily. It is turn-based and driven via a menu system, allowing characters to move, use an item, attack an enemy or use a special power. The more these abilities are performed, the more powerful they become and thus greater damage to tougher foes is achieved, eventually leading to the learning of new skills. However, as with Hour of Darkness, there is a depth to this game that even the Titanic didn’t sink to; all sorts of team combos and stat modifiers can be used to pad out and beef up a seven-stone weakling of character. Once again the addictive factor takes hold and keeps the “must keep levelling” mentality going; seamlessly gnawing away at more time than the speaking clock.

Every tactical aspect from the first game makes a re-appearance, including the seemingly, at least at first, complex and inaccessible geo-blocks. One very minor difference: some of them have grown tiny legs and move, introducing another tweak on the concept. A few new status types have been thrown into the mix to keep things interesting, such as “dispersed damage” and “fusion” (which fuses enemies on map together combining their levels and power), being amongst them.

The items equipped by a character will customise their statistics. Not all items are equal; there are three classes, Normal, Rare and Legendary, and even if an item is of the same class, its stats and effects on a character can be very different. The random-map-generating Item World returns, enabling the levelling of anything stored in inventory. It does seem as if there is more elevation and variation to the maps than previously, making it much easier to get stuck, and there are some different features to watch out for, especially pirates.

These rogues appear indiscriminately, are harder than titanium girders, and do much damage to the party fighting on the map. Often the only course of action is to run for the level exit as fast as possible, and it can get annoying. To counter this, a respite is available every ten levels, giving access to the hospital and other amenities without having to leave the item. Sometimes special portals appear on a map giving access to unique facilities; watch out for mobile phone salesmen, making a call on one can reap some very interesting results.

A few changes have been made to the Dark Assembly; this is the place where senators decide whether a proposal by Adell or one of his cronies is passed or denied. There are some additions, but most of these motions will look familiar. In Cursed Memories, the concept of assembly rank has been scrapped; only mana now governs the availability of these motions (earned from killing critters). There does seem to be a little less randomness to the process this time, and the option to force the motion via combat is available. It can still be as tough as an overcooked steak to get things through, though.

The most noticible new aspect to Cursed Memories, the Post Office, is an extension to the item world. The clerk inside will issue a subpoena which must be taken to the item world and navigated through until the floor with the Dark Court on is reached. Here a character will be tried for a number of different crimes, and if found guilty, the convicted character is granted a number of felony points and a reward. The item and points given depend on how extravagant the crime was. More felony points give greater notoriety, and greater notoriety brings a higher chance of succeeding in the Dark Assembly.

None of these additional experiences are required in order to complete the main arc of the game, but they can be a great distraction; they're likely to be more of a draw on the plus mode replays. As intimidating as the game might appear at first, it easily caters for the first-timer. It’s clear that some thought has been given to the level progress as there are no huge difficulty spikes through the story. Some thought on tactics use is needed at certain points, but no power-levelling is required the first time through. The veterans will be happy as a number of new aspects are there to explore.

The complexities of the customisations and battle tactics available in this sequel are as huge as ever and although this is largely the same game with only a few tweaks; these tweaks work well. Disgaea fans will rejoice. Nippon Ichi has taken the much-loved original and given it a game+ makeover. It will take months of enjoyable and rewarding hard work to master and it will be a lot of fun doing so. Congratulations on a job well done.