La Pucelle: Tactics

Another year, another strategy- RPG from Nippon Ichi��or so American fans should hope. La Pucelle: Tactics shows that NI��s similar Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (2003, published by Atlus) was no fluke. Interestingly, La Pucelle was actually developed first, but the developer��s dedication to starting from scratch every time ensures this game is every bit as good as Disgaea, if in a different way.

Some differences might bother Disgaea fans: La Pucelle features no large, detailed character portraits like you��d find in Disgaea, although there are still plenty of differing window expressions for each character. Also, since NI tends not to reuse gameplay systems, you won��t find any systems outside the main game as complex as Disgaea��s Dark Congress or Item World.

La Pucelle makes up for this with a greater wealth of in-battle systems that offer more moment-to-moment strategy in battles, compared with Disgaea��s focus on setting up the right party and conditions. Your key characters do much more during battle than just attack the enemy. For instance, you can take a stab at converting them to your side or try to set up a good Dark Energy combo. Both of these options offer a big payoff but take a lot of careful setup while the enemy is free to attack, so you��ll need to proceed with caution.

As far as presentation, La Pucelle is mainly what Disgaea fans should expect: lots of wholesome, old-fashioned 2D mixed with some rather plain 3D battlegrounds. The story, too, is full of the same inspired wackiness as Laharl��s adventures (if you liked Disgaea��s Prinny Squad, you��ll love the pirate kittens here), and Mastiff��s localization job rises to the occasion��there��s some really top-tier voice acting here.

The fact that we keep getting these very Japanese games is a minor miracle, so give thanks to Mastiff for La Pucelle. Don��t let it pass you by.

Rating

PROS

Deep strategy, good localization with a well-experienced voice cast, nice art

CONS

Outdated graphics, a little cutesy, kind of a stupid name (kind of like Disgaea), which will keep people from buying it

Pub. Mastiff

Dev. Nippon Ichi

ESRB Teen

MSRP $49.99

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.