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Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep review

Game: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Platform: PSP
Genre: Action RPG (Fantasy)
Developer: Square Enix

Reader review by zippdementia

November 02, 2011

The Disney influence has been both a blessing and a curse on the Kingdom Hearts series. While it has attracted a massive audience of those who appreciate Disney licenses, it has also chased away its share of potential fans who dislike all things Mickey Mouse. The first Kingdom Hearts felt restricted by the Disney characters. Every time something with emotional impact was happening, Goofy or Donald were bound to make a joke and ruin it. The game was chock full of happy faces to the point of making me sick. Then, in Kingdom Hearts 2, most of the Disney worlds felt like mandatory side quests. Right in the middle of chasing down some elusive member of Organization XIII you’d be whisked off to Agrabah to watch Aladdin woo the princess... a story most of us already witnessed (with more fluid animation) on the big screen in 1992.

I don’t want to be misunderstood in this. I love the Kingdom Hearts series. But I’ve always felt like the Disney element kept it from achieving its true potential as a mature RPG. I’m happy to report that Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep seems to have finally gotten the balance right.

Birth by Sleep is a prequel to the Kingdom Hearts saga and, as such, most of the action takes place in the older Disney settings. These settings come from films that were firmly rooted in the traditional fairytale genre, a genre which comes packed with the proper ingredients for an adventure game. Good and evil are clearly defined, with a ready cast of villains and heroes. It feels completely natural to fight Captain Hook and be fired upon by his ship while searching for buried treasure in Neverland. The same is true of your rush into Malificent’s castle to fight the demonic sorceress. If you have seen Sleeping Beauty, you may recall this castle as a dilapidated, dark structure filled with piggish goblin guards and beaked vulture-like archers. It’s an environment that seems to have been built specifically for use in a video game.

The selection of such environments make Birth by Sleep the first Kingdom Hearts game where I can honestly call the Disney elements a beneficial addition to the design. However, the game also stands on its own merits beyond the confines of this gimmick. Or rather, it brings in a new and interesting gimmick on top of the familiar one.

That new gimmick comes in the form of three characters and three playthroughs. Three different playthroughs, which is the key. Choose to play as Terra and you’ll be put in the shoes of a man eager to prove to his master that he has what it takes to wield the Keyblade. His quest quickly becomes personal as he uncovers a dark part of himself that he seems to have no ability to control. To play as Terra is to play as a power fighter. His moves all hit hard and allow for slow but effective combos, as opposed to the blitzing fighting style employed by the more cheerful Ventus.

Ventus moves much more quickly and focuses his efforts on finishing moves that deal as many hits as possible. He's the youngest of the three characters and also the weakest, yet the masters seem terrified of him. When he flees from their care, he ends up on a quest that pits him against a mysterious villain who seems intent on unlocking his full potential.

Finally, there’s Aqua, the magic user of the group and thus one who possesses a wide range of spell-related attacks meant to take on entire groups of foes. Aqua is put in the difficult situation of having to cull her two friends under orders from the masters. She has to decide which allegiance she is going to stand by. While I was surprised by how compelling the motivations driving all of the characters were (especially Ventus, whom I had prepared to hate on sight), it was Aqua’s story that gripped me from the very beginning. She provides an interesting new take on the tragic figure. Rather than adhering to Hamlet’s classic indecision, Aqua pushes forward with an almost blind faith that somehow her actions will eventually make sense. Whether that turns out well for her is something you’ll have to play the game to discover.

Unlike past Kingdom Hearts titles, you won't have all three of the protagonists in your party at once. Beating the game three times, once as each adventurer, is the only way to get the full story. This isn't as much of a chore as you might expect, however. The characters experience unique things, fight their own bosses and control differently enough that it’s actually exciting to replay the game to see what will be new. The whole strategy changes each time around.

A big part of controlling the characters is setting up their command deck. Those who experienced Chain of Memories may be groaning at this point, but don’t be too concerned. The card system isn’t back in its entirety, just little bits of it. You have a limited number of abilities that you can use in a battle, which you assign as you build a deck with your selection of attacks, spells, and items. When you use an ability, whether it’s an attack or a spell, it has to recharge before it can be utilized again. Combining certain attacks unlocks combo modes, where you gain status perks and some really kick-ass graphical effects for a short time. The nice thing about the deck system is that you can set up all of these combos beforehand, mixing in a tactical element with the real-time action combat. While the commands are mostly the same for all three characters, changes in the combos will ensure that you build a different deck for each one.

So, in short: gone are the Chain of Memories days of shuffling decks and matching numbers against opponents. What's been salvaged is the strong feel of customization and pre-battle planning.

Gaining commands is also a big part of the game. There are three main ways to do this. If you’re a prat, you can follow the old-fashioned routine of killing enemies, gaining gold, and buying new abilities from a Moogle. Much more interesting is the meld system, where you can take two abilities and mix them together to create a more powerful third ability. There are enough combinations that you’ll probably not figure them all out until your third trip through the game.

A final way to gain commands comes through a new addition to the leveling system, called the command board. The command board is a game you play against NPCs from different worlds. You do so by rolling dice and purchasing commands from the spaces where you land, then collecting money when other characters land there, which also levels up the command. It’s a lot like Monopoly, but unfortunately it’s only interesting the first two or three times you play it. I can't stress enough, actually, how boring it becomes after that. Try to imagine playing Monopoly against yourself and you might get the idea. Thankfully, you’re never forced to play it. It’s just another alternative to the usual power grinding fare.

In all areas, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is a nice break from the traditional RPG experience. The story is engaging, the combat is fast-paced and the gimmicks work. The biggest indicator of its success, though, is the fact that I was captivated throughout three playthroughs. Never once did I feel like I’d “been there and done that.” That alone is worth a recommendation.

Rating: 9/10

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