Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep – Disney meets Final Fantasy

…along came PSP to the list of gaming gadgets spotting Kingdom hearts, after successfully implanting itself into the hearts of many gamers through handhelds like Gameboy and Nintendo DS, “Birth By Sleep”, the latest in the series of Kingdom Hearts made it’s way to PlayStation Portable System, the PSP. Just like in the older series, the Disney Warriors come to meet their counterparts from the Japanese anime world. Kingdom Hearts is now a franchise that has enthralled gamers since its introduction way back in 2002. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep becomes the sixth title in the series and this is the first time the franchise has made an appearance on a PSP.

Keyblade Masters

The game “Birth By Sleep” is a prequel to the original Kingdom Hearts and focuses on the journeys of Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, characters briefly featured in Kingdom Hearts II, in their quest to locate the missing Master Xehanort, the game’s antagonist. The 3 friends, Terra, Ventus and Aqua are to become Keyblade Masters – the keepers of the balance between Light and Darkness in the Land known to us as “Other World”. They were apprentice “Keyblade-wielders” under Master Eraqus, one of “The Keyblade Masters” – the master of Light. During the course of the game we have to take a role as one of the 3 gifted Heroes in and take the fight against the “unexperienced”.

Besides, you do jobs like the rescue of Snow White from the shadow creatures, try a ball gown for Cinderella, or stand beside Sleeping Beauty against the evil witch, who stole her heart.

Battlesystem & Skills

Fighting in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is awesome. Players can find, purchase and earn special commands that can be customized, and 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.

The main weapon is the so called key sword that is so easy and let you intuitively swing it during the real-time combat,the fights in the game get more and more extensive, because the heroes learn new commands and attack spells while on their adventure.

This system keeps the action fast and user-friendly, but also lets players customize their abilities at will. Commands can also be leveled up and melded to form new ones, so there’s a mind-numbing amount of tweaking players have at their fingertips.

Usually you are a lone soldier during the whole campaign. This fortunately did not keep the makers of “Kingdom Hearts” from allowing you to use the skills of your other colleagues , you later even get to use the tricks of Mickey, Donald and and other Disney Heroes.

If you are but planning to complete the game, and in the process see all what Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep has to offer, I’ll recommend you start the game in 3 Campaigns, each one for each of the character, that’s just 15 hours of fun on each playthrough. As you might’ve expect, completing the 3 campaigns unlock some nice secrets.

Each hero opens in fact only a fraction of the story. In addition, you will find in “Disney Town” numerous mini games: Pro world, you can remotely by means of a board game, from the fights….bring your skills up top notch.

Who in addition wants to take the game to a new level with friends, can jump on some of the multi-player modes available. Also, interestingly, incase you couldn’t get a friend to fight against, you are offered AI as replacement.