Re: Birth by Sleep 1up review!
damn i was 2 seconds too late again! o well here it is written out
Kingdom Hearts has gone nearly five years now without a console iteration. The portable titles, like Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days have attempted to change or imitate the main series, though both felt more like little siblings than true successors. But in Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts finally finds a portable home that builds on the series' existing framework, and even surpasses the console games with a few clever ideas.
This prequel revolves around the Keyblade Masters (Jedi Knights for the Kingdom Hearts universe). They're tasked with guarding the balance of light and darkness that keeps the worlds in check, but infighting among the leadership throws three up-and-coming apprentices -- Ventus, Aqua, and Terra -- in wildly different directions. Graciously, the context of a prequel keeps this story easier to follow than some previous games; rather than keeping track of different characters who share the same name (like Ansem and Ansem the Wise) or single characters who occupy two metaphysical identities (like Sora and Roxas), we get a new batch of characters who are mostly free of complications -- though Ventus' uncanny resemblance to Roxas is sure to raise eyebrows.
You can take on the role of the three apprentices in any order, and each follows a separate, but interconnected, storyline. This makes Birth by Sleep a long game, especially if you choose to play through all three stories. Any one character's tale presents a complete, six to eight hour Kingdom Hearts experience, but if you're interested in the lore you'll want to play through all three. Each story informs the others, so you'll get a fuller picture of events by seeing it from all three angles.
That story is delivered in part by beautiful, in-engine cut-scenes that show off just how impressive the PSP can look. And the voice actors, including legitimate Disney veterans, do a great job of recreating existing characters and lending personality to new ones. The one notable exception is Terra, who may have been aiming for stoic but comes off stilted.
While the controls for each of the apprentices are basically the same, the game differentiates their talents by borrowing from classic RPG archetypes. Terra is a slow warrior, Aqua a nimble mage, and Ventus' skills lie between the two. You can probably get away with using the same strategies for Terra and Ventus, but Aqua is significantly weaker. You can't rely on brute force with her, and magic is weak until it levels up and you find more spells, making her quest, initially, much harder than the other two, but rewarding in the long-run.
Unfortunately, the areas in the game aren't quite as diverse. All three characters visit the same Disney worlds in roughly the same order. Birth by Sleep restricts certain sections of each stage to one character to give a semblance of variety, but it's hard not to feel a little déjà vu when running through Neverland for a third time. It also strains believability when two (or even all three) of our protagonists just miss each other over and over again as they run through the exact same portions of the world.
But Birth by Sleep does liven up the series with new ideas; the ability to merge two Commands (spells and special attacks) into combination attacks, encourages experimentation. The right use of a Command can also completely change your combat style: a well-placed Fire spell will result in the FireStorm style, imbuing each hit with that element for a limited time. And meeting new Disney characters isn't just for story purposes: the Dimension Link system lets you borrow powers from them on a temporary basis. These work similar to Summons from previous games, but with focus less on flashy finishers and more on temporarily enhancing your character with new attacks and passive benefits.
However, some transitions to the PSP are a little more problematic. Anything less than a full (and sizable) game install leads to obnoxious load times. Another issue stems from a problem that hasn't even been solved in the console games: the Command selection is still assigned to the D-pad, making your thumb responsible for both running away from danger and casting the spell that could heal you. And Birth by Sleep, even more so than previous games, suffers from a difficulty curve shaped like a right angle.
Luckily, Birth by Sleep has plenty to distract you from the main quest if you ever get stuck. A Mario Party-like board game is available in each world, and the classically styled Disney Town offers several of its own minigames (like kart racing). These provide a nice breather in the action, and since they provide tangible rewards, playing them can serve as a more enjoyable substitute to standard level-grinding. Multiplayer modes also help upgrade all participating players, letting you and your friends earn upgrades for taking down swaths of enemies, fighting one another, kart racing, or just playing the board game. The multiplayer is ad hoc only and doesn't tie-in plot-wise into the main quest, but it works well enough despite its limited scope.
Fans have been clamoring for a new Kingdom Hearts game on the current generation of consoles, and we keep hearing vague promises that it's coming eventually. In the meantime, Birth by Sleep is the next best thing. It recaptures the fun of the console games, while adding features that make it a worthwhile entry in the game's canon. This isn't a little sibling; it's a true, if slight, evolutionary step for the series. Whenever we do finally see a Kingdom Hearts 3, it's bound to have taken lessons from this portable prequel.
it got a b+
