In 2002, Square Enix and Disney came together to create an exciting blend of RPG-style gameplay and Disney magic known as Kingdom Hearts. Now, eight years and three more terrific games later, Kingdom Hearts has yet another title in its popular franchise, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. This story follows Terra, Ventus and Aqua, three young keyblade wielders with a common dream of becoming keyblade masters, as they venture across the Kingdom Hearts universe to locate their missing keyblade master, Xehanort, fight a new enemy known as the Unversed and uncover the mysteries of the keyblade and of their own hearts.
Birth by Sleep follows the formula set in place by previous Kingdom Hearts games in which your character travels from one world to another, fights enemies, gains experience, meets new characters and collects various items, weapons and abilities. This particular installment differs greatly from the previous handheld title, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and more resembles those found on the Playstation 2. Unlike Days’ mission-based system, Birth by Sleep grants players access to an entire world at once without being restricted to certain zones or needing to backtrack to a hub world, allowing for the completion of each world’s story in one visit. Players will encounter various Disney, and in one case Final Fantasy, characters on each world and, unlike Days, can fight alongside them.
Unlike Days, players gain experience by defeating enemies and can level up abilities and magic with experience as well, sometimes unlocking new abilities in the process. Abilities are equipped in the command deck alongside spells and items and can be cycled through at will without the need for equipping tiles before adventuring. Abilities can be customized before and after any fight, but not during combat, allowing for players to adjust for each encounter. Also unlike Days, very little scenery is recycled from previous games in the series. In fact, Birth by Sleep’s first four worlds are entirely new to the series and only a handful of characters have even been seen in the series before.
Birth by Sleep features three different characters each with their own playstyle, presenting players with three unique adventures and stories. Terra focuses on strength and physical attacks, allowing enemies to be quickly defeated with only a few strong attacks in a short fight, however he attacks slowly and is not very proficient with magic. Ventus offers a balance between strength and magic and attacks with quick combos and spellcasting, but excels at neither physical attacks nor spells. Aqua is a pure spellcaster, winning fights easily with powerful spells and few physical attacks, but suffers from a lack of strength and defense. Players need to adjust to each character’s style in order to succeed as one character will not necessarily succeed with the same attacks as another.
Each character also has their own unique perspective on the game’s story and requires completion of all three stories to see the big picture and unlock the final chapter. Though some story events occur at the same time, generally speaking Terra’s story comes first, Aqua’s comes last and Ventus’ falls in between, though each character can feel the impact of other characters’ actions in certain worlds and meet denizens of other worlds who have met the others before. There is no set order in which you must tackle each story, so feel free to jump in with your favorite or save the best for last.
There really isn’t much in Birth by Sleep that doesn’t work well. Combat flows as well as it ever did and physical attacks and magic alike can be unleashed at will. Customizable finishing attacks add more flavor to combat as do the style forms, which can be unlocked by combining commands of different types in combat. The fast-paced combat system offers plenty to look at and is one area in which the game truly shines and the different styles offered by each character means you’ll never get bored.
Another huge positive for Birth by Sleep is the engaging story. Square Enix has never been one to skimp on storytelling and Birth by Sleep is no exception; I was hooked the whole way through. The fact that the story expands with each character you play certainly helps to add to the experience and always leaves you wanting more. There are unfortunately one or two forgettable characters but they detract little from the overall cast. The fun thing about the story is that you can see all kinds of hints at how Birth by Sleep, as the first game in the series chronologically, influences events in every game that comes after it…and even the one that hasn’t been made yet. Yes, there’s a secret ending and no, I’m not spoiling it. Unlock it for yourself and see.
The voice acting and dialogue are slightly overdone at times, but this really isn’t anything new as voice actors in the Kingdom Hearts series have always been a little overenthusiastic. All sound aside from character voices is fantastic though. The musical scores for each world, in addition to how the tune and tempo change when in combat, are beautiful and live up to the series’ reputation for amazing music.
One major distraction however is the amount of time you’ll stare at a loading screen. I can’t recall a PSP game that had loading times as long as this one has and it came to be very irritating very quickly. Luckily there is a data install option which helps the problem a little, but even after installing the most data possible the load times are still longer than average. I recommend performing a data install as soon as possible before actually playing this one.
With very little to complain about, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is a complete package. Brilliant visuals and an amazing soundtrack, a gripping story and memorable characters, new locations and fun gameplay all come together to make Birth by Sleep one of the PSP’s best. A true gem, this one belongs in any PSP owner’s collection.
