Great game with great visuals, but the controls suffocate the otherwise excellent game.
The game revolves around a group of characters called Prinnies. They are from the world of Disgaea, and, like in those games, they explode when thrown! Oh boy exploding penguins! Anyways, your main quest is to get the ingredients for the Ultimate Dessert for the "slave-driver" Etna. The entire game is like this, wacky and quirky but not so much it seems childish. You also start the game with 999 lives and one current Prinny. Have no doubts, though, this is one tough game. Most of the difficulty results from the game's poor control scheme.
Control: This is the game's only real setback. Unlike classic 2D platformers such as Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, your Prinny absolutely NO acceleration or air control, handling much like a poorly made flash game from the internet. I admit, the lack of ability to change direction mid-jump is a bit more realistic, but the fact your Prinny doesn't accelerate really makes jumping great distances rather difficult. Basically, whether or not you're running full speed or standing in place, you go the same distance when you jump. This is more or less standing long jump competition makes it difficult for those familiar with 2D platformers who are used to jumping further while running. This is a competition with absolutely no winners. Once you jump, you have to pray you jumped far enough, and more importantly, hit solid ground. This means many, many deaths and possibly a PSP shaped hole in the wall. You could easily lose anywhere between 10-25 lives in any given level due to badly timed jumps.
Gameplay: The levels play out from left to right in typical side-scroller fashion. Each level is highly detailed and strewn with a number of different enemies that try to impede your progress. However diverse the cast of enemies, they all have somewhat predictable moves. This may be a blessing in disguise, however, due to circumventing the poor controls for predictable button pressing, but takes away from some of the other challenge of the game. The bosses of each level, although difficult, also fall into the same trap of predictability. After dying a couple 20 times, you'll soon figure out their attack patterns and hopefully be able to kill them. Be warned, however, as each Prinny has a "3 hits and you're dead" policy with no way to recover health (apart from dying). After you die you have to start the whole boss battle over or pick up from the last checkpoint. This means that all of the enemies are brought back to life and the boss now has full health again. After you trudge through the levels, though, the game does flow pretty well and you're never left with nothing to do, although you will be doing a bit of backtracking through the same levels. There is a night and day system to compensate for this, and different times of day mean different enemies among other things.
Visuals & Presentation: If the controls are the bad side of this game, the visuals and presentation are the saving grace. The in-game graphics for this game are, quite simply, amazing for a 2D platformer. Never a jagged line or serious clipping issues in this game, adding to it's overall presentation. The menus are easy to navigate, and the speech bubbles add a bit of charm to the already very charming game. The graphics are typical of any Nippon Ichi game, very anime-ish but not too cutesy. Every different enemy and boss have unique sprites, and this adds to the visual diversity of the game. You never feel like you're fighting a blue slime, then a red slime with more health, a green slime with even more health, etc. This feature keeps the game fresh from level to level.
Audio & Dialogue: The voice acting, unlike many Japanese games with English actors, is surprisingly well done. The girls don't sound squeaky and weak and the Prinnies have a vocal quality all their own. The bosses even have unique voices. All and all, the voice acting was done very well, as it has been with most Nippon Ichi titles. The audio score, while nothing to shake a stick at, isn't bad. You won't necessarily be humming the tunes all day at work, but they aren't dull enough to make you wish you were born deaf.
Other Thoughts: The game is sort of suited for a portable release, as you can take on an individual mission on your lunch break or on the bus. However, the steep difficulty may mean you spend upwards of 30 minutes on one level or boss, and you may actually run out of time before you finish the level, making it all for nothing. Also, the bad control scheme may discourage younger gamers due to their slower reaction times and lack of patience, but on the same note this means the dedicated gamers will have something to brag about when they finally do beat the game.
Conclusion: If you're a fan of platformers or the Disgaea series, I'd say pick this game up today. Despite challenges presented by a poorly implemented control system, it's still an all around enjoyable game.
The reason it's not a 10: Horrid control scheme makes advancing in the game nearly impossible to those who haven't sold their souls for unlimited patience. This really hampers the game's staying power or replayability.