Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Early Review

Now, I'm only about three worlds into the game right now (with all three characters), and I won't be writing a review of this, because I know DarkKirby has been wanting to do that for like a year now, but here is a mini-review of what I think of the game so far.


Platform: PSP
Developer/Publisher: Square Enix
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E10+
Genre: Action RPG

Graphics
First, lets start with the graphics. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by sleep looks amazing. It's the first game in the series in years to look this good.

Gameplay
The controls are great. The only real problems I have with the controls are problems I have with the PSP console itself.
The battle system of BBS has to be the best Kingdom Hearts battle system to date. Here's how it works:

Quote :

Players can find, purchase or earn special commands that can be customized from the main menu. These commands can be selected with the d-pad during battle and executed with the triangle button. Once a command has been executed, the deck automatically cycles to the next command and the previous command enters a cool down period.

It may sound kind of confusing, but it's easy to get used to.

Story
Right now, the story is nothing special, but I am still at the beginning of the game. Because this is a Kingdom Hearts game, I know there is many twists and turns to come.
The way the story works is a fresh idea. When you start a new game, you choose from one of the three main characters: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. Each of these characters visits different worlds, and meets different characters. You can play through one characters story all the way, or keep switching in between them, which is what I'm doing.

Music
Unfortunately, a lot of the music is taken straight from other Kingdom Hearts games, just like all the other Kingdom Hearts side-games. However, unlike the other KH side games, BBS has plenty of original music as well. Naturally, the music is great, just as expected from Square Enix.

Mini-Games
..I haven't tried them yet.

Worlds
It's nice to see plenty of new worlds, from Disney movies that weren't really mentioned in the other games, to some bran new ones all together. I don't know if it's just me, but the Disney worlds seem very short this time around. This is probably because you end up visiting each world three times (once with each of the three stories), but it you are playing one character's story all the way through, the experience is diminished.

Final Notes
So far, this is the first Kingdom hearts game that actually feels.. well, like a Kingdom Hearts game. If I was actually reviewing it, it would get a high score from me! Also, if this mini-review seems rushed, well, that's because it was rushed. I don't have much time online nowadays. Anyway, you could probably look to DarkKirby for a full review sometime in the future!

EDIT: I forgot to mention the one huge flaw in this game. The load times are crazy! And I don't mean just before scenes. I mean moving to another area, starting up the game, even the pause menu takes forever! It's not a problem that will completely ruin the game, but it's pretty bad.

If I had a PSP, I'd actually probably get the game.

I forgot to mention something, so I edited my post at the end.

jefferlope wrote:

EDIT: I forgot to mention the one huge flaw in this game. The load times are crazy! And I don't mean just before scenes. I mean moving to another area, starting up the game, even the pause menu takes forever! It's not a problem that will completely ruin the game, but it's pretty bad.

You can install data on the start screen that reduces loading time by alot. I use the third Install which only takes a few seconds to load everything, but that's just MY psp.

DarkKirby702 wrote:

You can install data on the start screen that reduces loading time by alot. I use the third Install which only takes a few seconds to load everything, but that's just MY psp.

Actually, I installed data first thing. I'm afraid to find out how horrible the loading times would have been if I didn't.

Wow, that kinda turns off my "dang, I gotta get a PSP and KH BBS" senses.

jefferlope wrote:

DarkKirby702 wrote:

You can install data on the start screen that reduces loading time by alot. I use the third Install which only takes a few seconds to load everything, but that's just MY psp.

Actually, I installed data first thing. I'm afraid to find out how horrible the loading times would have been if I didn't.

Which Data? First Second Third? I REALLY recommend second or third. mostly third though

Now, watch as I create my own biased review of this game!

@DarkKirby: Yea Dark, it was the third one, and it's still slow.
@Jaco: ..at least you're being active on the forum..

jefferlope wrote:

@DarkKirby: Yea Dark, it was the third one, and it's still slow.
@Jaco: ..at least you're being active on the forum..

Still slow? Then I don't know... Mine goes as fast as KH1 loading times, and KH1 loading time is Osm.

So is this review all done no one is talking on it anymore?

Jaco's review was better.

That wasn't very nice to jeff.

He knows what I meant.