Nothing more sinful than double dipping.
It was only last year I believe that I finally played Dante's Inferno, and I quite liked it, so it was only a matter of time before I'd decide to double dip with the PSP port. Since both games are basically the same, I'll only expand on a few key areas about what's different or what wasn't so enjoyable a second time around.
As for key differences, it's marvelous how Artificial Mind & Movement managed to fit the game into the PSP, a console that's almost as powerful as the PS2, which was the weakest of its generation. The graphics were scaled down significantly as it was to be expected, and it doesn't look as good as a game made specifically for the PSP would, but it gets the job done and the framerate is relatively smooth, most hiccups being a result of the game loading something or a few specific levels that are a bit too intense for the PSP. That said, a few segments, mostly the ones in which you ride a monster, were turned into awkward cutscenes, but I'm guessing if you didn't play the original you wouldn't know you were actually watching pre-recorded gameplay.
Gameplay is basically the same, weak and strong scythe attacks, ranged(and overpowered!) cross attacks, saving and damning baddies, etc, however, a few moves were cut completely, including the overpowered magical armor power. They were probably removed so that you'd only have four spells and no need to remap those buttons, probably. The Holy/Unholy trees were, as a consequence, shortened, so it's much easier to max those levels... and thank god, because having to constantly mash the circle button to 'Save' or 'Damn' enemies was already a bit annoying, but mashing buttons doesn't feel as good on the PSP, not that it was ever a fun mechanic, I'd much rather kill enemies with my normal combos, but having to perform the mashing mini-game so that I could strengthen my weaponry and gain access to more moves isn't so much fun. Artifacts got removed too, but to be honest, there were barely a few of those I actually cared about using in the original, so no big loss if you ask me.
Some areas feel a bit shortened, but I'm not a 100% sure of how many, the final boss is one phase short, and the eight circle was simplified. In the original it was a series of rather challenging challenges, at least a few of them, now they were turned into simple fights against wave of enemies. The final wave is incredibly brutal, I died on that battle more times than I did throughout the entire game. Sadly, this means that the latter levels feel just as bland as they did in the original, Dante's Inferno shines when you are battling, exploring and platforming, when it's wave after wave after wave of enemies the game loses its edge.
The game itself plays well for the most part, but I feel like the hit boxes on the L+X attack are a bit off, like only the last few stabs actually count as attacks? I'm not sure, but that move sure as hell was suspect! Dodging is done by pressing L+R alongside a push of the analog stick which works relatively well I thought.
Now then, I don't know if Dante's Inferno is a good fit for a handheld game, since as I mentioned before I don't really enjoy mashing buttons on a handheld, but I feel like it's a decent conversion. I don't think the cuts hurt the overall game too much, and the gameplay felt pretty good even if a few elements don't flow as well as they did on the home console original.
7.0
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