Though Knights in the Nightmare, a port of last year's DS game, comes with a number of graphical tweaks and a revamped tutorial, the changes end there. Anyone hoping for a massive revamp of the game's mechanics will be sorely disappointed. Don't take the comment as a knock on quality - just know you're in for a rocky time as you let the game completely absorb you in its charm and challenge.

The first, and probably most obvious, upgrade is the visuals. Knights in the Nightmare looked great, but the screen felt incredibly crowded. The PSP's larger screen really helps here. It still feels a little cluttered, though nowhere near as claustrophobic as it did on the DS.

No matter how detailed 3D models become, I will always appreciate nice sprite work. This is some of Sting's best stuff and it really stands out on the PSP's screen. There's a lot going on in each field, but not so much that you'll become lost in the details. Although you'll want to focus on gameplay, make sure you take in all the details -- they may help you when recruiting new knights.

The soundtrack is marvelous. I loved every tune on the soundtrack and am a little jealous the PSP version doesn't ship with the same soundtrack CD that came with the DS version.

Knights in the Nightmare is a tough game to accurately describe. Cyn did a great job last year with her DS coverage, but as I delved into my thoughts on the PSP version, the game's multiple intricacies began to sprout up all over the place. I'll do my best to sum things up, but make sure you check out both Cyn's review and my preview (both below) for a more complete picture.

In an extremely succinct version of description, Knights in the Nightmare is a combination of top-down SRPGs and "bullet hell" shooters. Rather than playing as the various soldiers in your army, you control a wisp, a floating orb of light with the ability to imbue long-dead soldiers with life. As the wisp works its way through the game's twisting narrative, it begins to regain a sense of its former life and uncover other mysteries surrounding the game's story.

Gameplay is both simple and dense at the same time. Play revolves primarily around your wisp's limited "lifetime" on the battlefield. It can only power fallen soldiers for so long before it needs a short recharge. At the beginning of each turn, you're given a short bit of time to power up your knights (placed on the field before the battle begins). As you dart around the battlefield, enemies shoot projectiles you must dodge - thus the "bullet hell" gameplay aspect. Each hit takes away a bit of the wisp's time, giving you less time to charge soldiers.

Storytelling is a bit confusing and a bit hard to follow at times. Like an episode of Lost, story sequences tend to speak more in questions than answers. I'm not sure if I'd call it an atypical approach; just know that the story may not be the element that holds you over the course of the game - at least initially. The real hook is the gameplay.

Knights in the Nightmare's learning curve hasn't been leveled out with the PSP port. Just getting into the game is a daunting task, and that's after going through a few minutes of tutorials. It's entirely possible you won't get everything at once, but that's to be expected in a game with this many systems going at once. The happy thought in all this gloom is all you really need to understand is the basics; the rest will come with time and a lot of patience.

One of the few major changes between the DS and PSP games is the layout of tutorials. Rather than subjecting players to nearly an hour of tutorials up front, they are scattered throughout the game. Breaking tutorials up doesn't make things much easier, though it does make things easier to digest. Of course, with so many things going on it will feel like you're making zero progress, but there's nothing better than that in battle where everything "clicks."

Though I like not having to sit through an hour of tutorials, I wish the tutorials offered more "real world" situations. Even though they are integrated into the flow of play better, they still seem removed from the entire experience. Tutorials push out a lot of information, but it takes actual hands-on time to figure things out.

It doesn't magically get easier from this point in, and your knowledge will continue to grow and refine itself with each additional battle, but without the feeling that you're spinning your wheels.

Knights in the Nightmare should come with a big sticker on the box reading, "This is for the Hardcore Player." It's just that complex a game when it comes to the number of systems at play. There's so much going on here I could probably generate nearly a week's worth of articles and still not hit everything.

The gameplay described in the "Gameplay" section above is only a sliver of everything going on in Knights in the Nightmare. In addition to the time-based battle mechanics, there's a Chaos/ Order system dictating when certain items can be used. Then there's the weapons system. Before each battle, you'll need to select which weapons to bring into battle based on what soldiers are on the field. After getting a hang of the movement, this should be the very first thing you tackle. It will open a lot of doors and really helps push your understanding of how things work.

Another change from the DS version is the reworked control scheme. Rather than guiding the wisp around with the stylus, movement is mapped to the PSP's control nub. I rarely have something nice to say about the nub, but have to give credit where credit is due. I had an easier time zooming around the screen with the nub than the stylus. It feels a little smoother and immediate, which is exactly what you want when projectiles dominate most of the screen.

You'll know fairly early on if Knights in the Nightmare is your type of game. If the notion of discovering some new system every time you play sounds appealing, this is for you. This is probably one of the deepest gameplay experiences I've ever experienced. Though I liked the daunting feeling, I can't help but wonder if gameplay is more complex than it really needs to be. That, however, is a discussion for another time and with people much smarter than me.

As much as I'd like to proclaim this a "hidden, overlooked gem," it's not something for everyone. Knights in the Nightmare is aimed directly at SRPG players who don't mind quirky mechanics or having their patience tested. I enjoyed my time with the game, but I'm also in the aforementioned category. If you count as a member of this same group, you're in for a truly original and deep game.