Dungeons and Dragons Tactics for the PSP is one of the smartest things Wizards of the Coast has done with the D&D license since commissioning Neverwinter Nights on the PC … and yes, I mean the original. Adapting the original game concept into a Final Fantasy Tactics-style RPG is a bit of a new twist to the action-packed turn-based affair that Neverwinter Nights offers up on PC, but the marriage of license to format is pulled off remarkably well.

Of course, there are differences. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics are balanced to depend heavily on side-quests and random battles. That’s not the case here as each mission in Dungeons and Dragons Tactics plays out like a well-balanced mission pack for the tabletop version of the game. Each adventure is scaled to a party of a particular size and level, and works best when tackled as recommended.

Of course, this reduces the amount of combat in the game, but the combat sessions that do occur are full-scale and meaningful. While the story sequences involve an interesting-enough plot, they are unfortunately poorly implemented in the game, evolving in still-art shots and narration rather than as fully-realized and animated sequences found in other modern RPGs.

That’s kind of the point, though. Dungeons & Dragons Tactics isn’t trying hard to be other RPGs; it’s trying to translate its own take on the genre into a fun and playable videogame format. While that doesn’t necessarily work well in the storytelling respect in this outing, in terms of in-game play, such as battles, the grid-map-based approach will call to mind all those hex-maps the nerdy DM would take hours to draw out to that by the time actual gaming got started, the night was almost over.

Graphically, the character models on D&D Tactics are serviceable if a bit lacking in variety, but nicely animated. Spell effects are sometimes a bit of a surprise in the level of detail on display in the PSP format, especially since they take place without a switch to a “battle stage” or a video segment. Sure, they’re not gonna show up the PS3 anytime ever, but the effects are nicer than one might suppose.

The game does a nice job of offering access to as much statistical information and “character sheet detail” as one might desire, without bogging the game down; it’s nice to see a D&D game that doesn’t assume that a non-PC videogame format has to stay insultingly simple. We’re mostly the same audience.

I think whether you’re in front of a PC keyboard and a full stereo cabinet or a videogame controller or a PSP interface, the expectation is – and ought to be – that the D&D name carries a bit of weight and offers a certain style of gaming experience, and mindless Gauntlet-style hack-n-slash is NOT it. That’s something they never got right with the Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance series, and thank the L-rd THOSE days are finally behind us!

Now, Dungeons and Dragons Tactics is highly entertaining, especially for D&D fans, but the game is not going to dazzle anyone. Top-notch PSP RPG releases like Jeanne d’Arc, which still has some juice left in it from its late-summer release; Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions; and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness are all either on shelves or soon will be, competing for the attention of PSP owners.

Among such a dazzling array of solid choices, it might be easy to overlook D&D Tactics. Easy as it might be, even so, it belongs on the shelf of any self-respecting PSP RPG fan.