Ever since Utada Hikaru's Simple and Clean embedded itself into the hearts of gamers everywhere, Kingdom Hearts became one of gaming's most popular series. I still remember reading a preview of the game in an old issue of GamePro and thinking to myself, "Final Fantasy and Disney characters together? It might just be crazy enough to work!" Multiple games and millions of copies sold later, my initial thought has been redeemed.Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, for the PSP, is the latest entry that takes place before the first KH game. The story revolves around three characters, apprentices, that are trying to become keyblade masters. Despite being a prequel, the story sets up a tantalizing preview to a possible Kingdom Hearts 3 (if it ever gets announced).
Birth by Sleep is the best Kingdom Hearts game yet. If you like the series, you have absolutely no excuse for not having played the best entry in the franchise. Go play it now.
The KH series has one of the most confusing, nonsensical, and convoluted storylines in any medium. Every character is a subvariant of some other character. Trying to make sense of it is futile. For the most part, you just kick back, watch the fireworks, enjoy the voice-acting and fantastically crafted cutscenes, and beat up on monsters with a giant key.
The campaign can be played with three different characters. Terra, the bruiser; Ventus, the speed demon; and Aqua, the magical caster. Their different play styles makes each campaign slightly unique, even though you go through the same locales and meet up at the same end. As most multi-character campaigns go, you have to beat the game with all three to unlock the true ending.
If you've played a KH game, you've played a KH game. The game follows in the steps of its console brethren, where light platforming is mixed in with combat. You visit a world, solve the problem by bashing on monsters, and move on to the next place. Through your adventure, you pick up new moves that you can equip and level up. Techniques can be improved with good ol' fashioned beatings or through a mini-game that relies on dice rolls. Techniques are divided into three categories: movement, combat, and magic.
What makes Birth by Sleep so great is the difficulty balance. It's actually challenging and requires the player to employ their techniques in order to succeed, as opposed to just mashing buttons. This goes a long way in making battles fun, varied, and exciting. The level progression is natural, and the technique system is open to experimentation.
Each campaign will last about 8 hours, leading to a total play run of 25+ hours. There is an arena where you can take on waves of enemies similar to the coliseum in past games. There's also a co-op multiplayer component where you can take on the inversed (the name of Birth by Sleep's enemies) with a buddy.
If you enjoy action-RPG's, Disney, or convoluted storylines, get Birth by Sleep. You won't be disappointed.
