LEVEL Magazine review of Birth By Sleep!

[Multi_Skyscraper]

Hello all! A while ago there was news on the frontpage that the cover of LEVEL magazine, one of Swedens best videogame magazines if I may say so myself, had not only Kingdom Hearts fan-art on it's cover, but also a review of Birth By Sleep. The game received an 8/10, and all was well. However, being Swedish myself I thought if maybe I shouldn't do the community a service and translate it so that the English-speaking fanbase could see what exactly the reviewer thought of it?

Then school started and I got swamped with other things to do- but I figure that since the game hasn't been released yet, there would still be some people interested in seeing the review and getting more information and opinions on BbS. I'll post the entirety of the translation here, as I have no other place to really put it. Enjoy, and I hope this is okay to do and if not, well... just let me know and I'll erase it from existence.

When Square-Enix tries to lift PSP-sales worldwide they start their rescue-operation with the absolutely necessary Disney-adventure Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.


In all of Kingdom Hearts portable asides, Square-Enix has piece by piece delved deeper into the events surrounding the two main games. That the Tetsuya Nomura-clan, in two actionrpgs based on Disney-worlds, has managed to build up such a rich mythology that it’s spawned half a dozen games is definitely impressive for a company who for many years never even allowed new installments in their biggest series take part in the same universe, but Square has also justly been accused of milking their round-eared cashcow to it’s limit.


In Chain of Memories they went deeper into the events that transpired after the original, 358/2 Days was all about the immediate events in between first and second and in the cell-game Coded Mickey Mouse took center stage. Birth by Sleep however moves once again in the neighborhood of the first game, introducing the big bad villain Xenahort and examining his motives in deeper ways. It’s basically of course just an excuse for some more easily navigated Disney sight-seeing, but Birth by Sleep is still a solid piece of prequel and the series most well-done aside so far.


By telling a story from several perspectives Square Enix attack some of the basic questions in the mishmash of loose threads that make up the intrigue of Kingdom Hearts. What is the mysterious Kingdom Hearts, what greater significance do the Keyblades hold and how did the conflict between good and evil start? Unlike earlier asides Birth By Sleep offers more than just the tantalizing hint of an answer, even if Tetsuya Nomura like the JJ Abrams of RPGS still put open interpretations a few steps over absolute truths.


Birth By Sleep is seen through the eyes of the three friends Terra, Ventus and Aqua. Their fates will be intertwined as they train under the just Master Eraqus (anagram!) to one day become Keyblade masters themselves. Of course things go wrong and all three must head out into a star-filled universe full of Disney-heroes and spikey haired anime-people designed to be turned into cosplays. All three are driven by a common intention to do good, but each and everyone have their own motives and burdens. To call Terra, Ventus and Aqua the main characters is somewhat misleading however, as friends of the series might as well interpret the game as a character-study of the series villain Xehanort.


What impress me the most is how Square Enix makes no compromises when it comes to taking easy shortcuts in their storytelling. Even if you take turns as playing as all three heroes you seldom run through the exact same corridors or witness vaguely different cut-scenes. Instead the three perspectives are used to dig deeper into the events, explore new sides of the worlds.
One good example is the early visit to Snow Whites world, Dwarf Woodlands. Here the evil queen tries to fool Terra into killing Snow White on their first meeting. When Ventus arrives somewhat later to the same world he instead ends up in the seven dwarves cave and later on saves Snow White herself from the twisted forests threatening trees. Finally Aqua arrives shortly after Snow White tastes the poisoned apple and the dwarves mourn her by her seemingly lifeless body.


No matter how much it wants to give the illusion of being freer than its predecessors Birth By Sleep has a clearly marked chronology that starts with Terra and ends with Aqua. It’s also a shame that, as so often is the case with Kingdom Hearts, the game makes too high demands of the player to get access to all the pieces of the puzzle that is the fragmented storyline. In today’s stressful day and age it feels a bit heavy to have to collect and explore absolutely everything just to get another clue to the series mysteries. And if I can afford further complaints Kingdom Hearts chronically empty environments have never felt this hollow. Certainly the hectic battles demand a lot of space, but that excuse doesn’t hold up all the way when you visit the castle from Cinderella and mostly spend your time walking through tons of vast, empty hallways.


Yet it’s hard to resist. That’s easily the case when the worlds foremost dream factory puts their money where their mouth is and does something sensible and creative out of one latter years largest franchises. Because how else can one explain inspired features like the little boardgame you can also use to grind experience points? Or the visit in Disney Town, which with the almost psychotically hummable Mickey Mouse March playing in the background turns into a minigamepacked, funfilled break in an adventure that sometimes wades through the blackest of darkness?


As a game Birth By Sleep fills a couple of important functions. Partially it’s about a necessary explanation to one of Square Enix storytelling-wise most advanced series throughout the ages. Partially it’s an important lifesign from a format who during latter years has felt more and more shoved to the side. PSP truly needs more games like Birth By Sleep. And especially those that belong to that rare kind that makes you play a game to the final credits three times.


Thumbs Up: The ambitious storytelling works unexpectedly well.
Thumbs Down: The technical limitations shines through in the empty and desolate worlds.
Final Verdict: 8/10. Without a doubt the best Kingdom Hearts-expansion you didn’t know you needed.

And there we have it! The review makes only one mention of gameplay, and that is a small blurb underneath one of the caps that the most addictive part of the game is leveling up the different commands, and mixing and combining them to create your own style of gameplay. A bit of a shame, in my opinion.

Furthermore, there is a LARGE multi-page article that talks about the history of Kingdom Hearts and also features Tetsuya Nomura talking a bit about the game series as whole, what his feelings regarding it's future are and so on. Some of it is old hat but there are some pieces here and there that provide interesting insight to Nomuras thought-processes. Would you like me to translate that one as well?

 

[LordPhantomhive]

The guy should have talk more about the gameplay. Good score through.

 

[4dapollos]

thanks :}

 

[Sign]

Wow, that was a interesting review. Thanks for translating

Furthermore, there is a LARGE multi-page article that talks about the history of Kingdom Hearts and also features Tetsuya Nomura talking a bit about the game series as whole, what his feelings regarding it's future are and so on. Some of it is old hat but there are some pieces here and there that provide interesting insight to Nomuras thought-processes. Would you like me to translate that one as well?

If you have time, please and thank you.

 

[marcoreo]

i like the review and agree with him but i dont get y he gave an 8/10...
the only thing he says is bad is the empty worlds and thats not even that important imo
and saying " the empty envirnoment has never felt so hollow is technically a lie( 358/2 coded chain of memory on gba) were much emptier!
but well forgive him cus every1 makes mistakes ;p

 

[chasespicer056]

i like the review and agree with him but i dont get y he gave an 8/10...
the only thing he says is bad is the empty worlds and thats not even that important imo
and saying " the empty envirnoment has never felt so hollow is technically a lie( 358/2 coded chain of memory on gba) were much emptier!
but well forgive him cus every1 makes mistakes ;p

Alright, who cares if there are empty worlds? I mean, you're not gonna find people walking around in the Keyblade Graveyard. XD

I give this game a 10/10. I just like it too much. =)

 

[Roxas_1113]

Sverigeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


Dålig recension, snackar inget gameplay ju, men skitsamma, bra betyg.[SWEDISH]


Nice find petebeams

 

[Gexus]

Furthermore, there is a LARGE multi-page article that talks about the history of Kingdom Hearts and also features Tetsuya Nomura talking a bit about the game series as whole, what his feelings regarding it's future are and so on. Some of it is old hat but there are some pieces here and there that provide interesting insight to Nomuras thought-processes. Would you like me to translate that one as well?

Tack så mycket! Det skulle vara mycket uppskattat av er!

Oh Scandinavian languages, so easy

 

[kupo1121]

Good review, but before I got the end they almost came off like they didn't like the game at all...so it was bit weird for me to read, but it was good all in all...

 

[Multi_Skyscraper]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, will definitely try to get the article translated by at the very least tomorrow. It seems almost as if the reviewer was too busy being grateful that we got some answers to the storyline to bother talking about the gameplay: from the "easily navigated" remark at the start and the small blurb talking about how much they liked the minigames and the command deck, I presume that the reviewer simply felt that the games controls were easy enough to handle without needing to comment on it any further.

As for him scoring it 'low' and griping about the empty worlds, writing as if he didn't like it etc, Swedens game-magazines (or at least this one and Super Play) has a LONG history of trying their very best to be neutral in their reviews tone. They seldom splurge and gush about things they liked, but try to remain very... distant, I guess. They're not given to hyperbole.

As for the empty worlds, I think that this is something that is never really going to leave... Kingdom Hearts worlds often have been rather empty and desolate, which is kind of a shame since Disney movies often feel so vibrant and full of life. I think that's why I like End of the World the most out of all the worlds- it's empty, but it's an empty that works, it's supposed to be that way. That all we see out of Atlantica is a big underwater crevasse without tons of fishlife, or that all we get out of Agrabah are empty streets just feels... wrong, to me.

Finally, as an interesting note... this is actually the Kingdom Hearts game that has scored the HIGHEST out of all the KH games in this magazine. The old Super PLAY in which many of the people working on LEVEL used to work on gave KH 1 a 7, KH 2 a 6, and when they moved on to do LEVEL they gave Days a 7 (can't remember that they gave Chains). So this is really a positive review for them!

Och på tal om ingenting- tjena andra svenskar och skandinaver !

 

[marcoreo]

it is a bit wierd he doesnt talk about the gameplay because bbs being a game the main fun factor is not the story but the gamplay i think.
maybb he thought it is good and didnt feel the need to bring it up much

As for the empty worlds, I think that this is something that is never really going to leave... Kingdom Hearts worlds often have been rather empty and desolate, which is kind of a shame since Disney movies often feel so vibrant and full of life. I think that's why I like End of the World the most out of all the worlds- it's empty, but it's an empty that works, it's supposed to be that way. That all we see out of Atlantica is a big underwater crevasse without tons of fishlife, or that all we get out of Agrabah are empty streets just feels... wrong, to me.

i think he was actually refering to this specific kingdom hearts game compared to kh2 or kh1
the psp has often been criticed on having games with empty worlds (Daxter, ff7 crisis core)
its because the limits the psp has and the developers prefer using the data to fil the space with monsters rather than useless npcs
i mean if you think back to kh2 twilight town was quit well populated with alot of npcs whereas bbs disney town and other places will be less populated

 

[ROXAS_32]

A good review and at least they got their cons right for a change Best Buy's review was just off...

 

[deep_but_stupid]

The guy who wrote that mainly wrote good things but the tone sounded kinda negative to me. Maybe it sounded different in swedish.

Oh and please translate that other stuff. It sounds interesting.

 

[kupo1121]

In a future game, I would enjoy if the streets were always populated, except when Heartless were going to appear there they wouldn't be there anymore...like they ran scared or something.