"[3] Disgaea 3 is a tactical RPG; most of the game involves battles on isometric maps upon which the player controls a group of characters.

With the newly introduced "magichange" feature, monsters are able to transform into specific weapons in which a partner can use to execute a strong technical attack.

The player may choose to continue to the extra maps, or to replay the entire game with stronger characters as in previous titles.

From within the epilogue, many extreme challenges await hardcore players under various circumstances, from maxing out characters to the millions, to defeating the final secret boss and then the land of carnage.

Almaz, a meek hero fanboy from Earth on a mission to protect princess Sapphire by defeating the overlord who he believes is targeting her, misunderstands the situation and tries to save the day.

At one point, Mao comes across his sealed memory of him contributing to his father's demise by telling the Super Hero Aurum his weak spot.

Actually the Super Hero Aurum in disguise, Geoffrey attempted to raise Mao to be the ultimate overlord so he could eventually destroy him.

Available characters include Captain Gordon, Jennifer, Thursday, Kurtis in his human and prinny forms, and Mid-Boss from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Adell, Rozalin, Taro, Hanako, Yukimaru, and Tink from Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, Zetta and Pram from Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome, Gig and Revya from Soul Nomad & the World Eaters, Priere from La Pucelle: Tactics, Marjoly from Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, Hero Prinny from Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?, and Kogure Souichirou from Hayarigami.

[10][11] Andrew Fitch of 1Up.com said of Absence of Justice, "This is possibly the most accessible incarnation to date, and if you've overlooked Disgaea until now, give this one a shot.

"[19] Edge gave it a score of eight out of ten, saying, "That Disgaea 3 is perhaps the finest of its self-referential and casually wicked yarns, [sic] is almost an irrelevance.

"[32] Louis Bedigian of GameZone gave it a score of 7.7 out of 10, saying that it was "Best suited for the Disgaea fan who loves the series solely (or at least primarily) for its gameplay, and for newcomers who will skip the story regardless of its quality.

His review had particularly great things to say about the story and characters, and made it clear that the graphics look better on Vita's small screen than they did on a TV.

"[35] David Jenkins of Teletext GameCentral gave Absence of Justice a score of eight out of ten, saying, "You'd never believe this was actually a PS3 game, but apart from the graphics this is the best Disgaea yet.

"[30] Later, when GameCentral was switched over to Metro, Roger Hargreaves gave Absence of Detention a score of seven out of ten, saying, "It's not the best the series has to offer, and it's clearly just a PlayStation 3 port, but Disgaea was made for portables and has never worked better than on the PS Vita.

"[29] Armando Rodriguez, however, gave the same PS Vita version a score of 8.8 out of 10, saying, "The fun story and the deep and complicated combat mechanics are worth seeing.