Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Review

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Review Review

By Gaetano Prestia

The latest entry in the Kingdom Hearts series in Birth By Sleep is an alluring and challenging tale that leads up to the events of the very first game in the series. It elucidates many of the more important plot points that fans of the series will appreciate, while being fused together with an enchanting narrative, driven by a marvelous battle system that may very well be the best in the series to date. While Birth By Sleep has its problems, it’s an adventure that both fans of the series and RPG fanatics will enjoy.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is an action role-playing game that incorporates Final Fantasy elements into charming and memorable Disney-inspired worlds. It’s set before the first Kingdom Hearts, and while having played other games in the series will help generate a better appreciation for the characters and overall experience, this is definitely a title accessible to newcomers, which is encouraging.

The story puts you into the shoes of one of three characters through three separate storylines. You’ll be able to choose between Terra, Ventus and Aqua, three different characters with three different main objectives. The overall task is to defeat the Unversed, a group of creatures currently in the midst of an aggressive uprising. Each of the three quests are totally separated and are saved on separate save files, meaning you can save one and move onto another at any time.

There are a number of fantastic hidden secrets to unlock throughout the adventure, and completing all three storylines will unlock a number of unique rewards. Each world plays out essentially the same way – guide your character through the world in search of treasure and clues on the way to the ultimate main objective. The core experience lies within completing small tasks within each world, with the occasional battle with enemies that attack throughout.

Thankfully, the battle system in Birth By Sleep is fantastic and very accessible. You can customize special commands that have been found or purchased in the main menu, and execute them in-game by selecting with the d-pad and unleashing by pressing the triangle button. Once you use a particular command, it is essentially put down to the bottom of the list, as the game automatically cycles through each command to ensure you mix it up a bit and distance the battles from repetitiveness. Commands can be leveled up and made into all-new commands, which is great. The level of customization and the automatic cycling help keep things fresh, making each battle feel unique in its own right.

Furthermore, you can boost up each power by taking advantage of the “command style” meter, which fuels a near-indestructible attack. Once the meter is filled after using a particular command a number of times, your character enters a special state that gives extra power to each of your commands. For example, using the thunder spells with Ventus would lead to Thunderbolt, a style that adds electricity to every future command.

There’s also the Shotlocks attack, which each character has access to. This attack allows your character to take on a number of enemies at once, and is particularly useful when your commands aren’t causing much damage. While this attack is hard to pull off and takes quite a bit of practice, the outcome is more than worth it. The sheer depth of the battle system is on display here, as the game goes beyond the already fantastic core commands to expand into a number of separate attacks that can be used sparingly but with extreme aggression.

And it doesn’t end there. You’ve also got access to the D-Link, which is the ability to access and use the powers of characters you meet throughout the adventure. No matter the strength of your character or the number of enemies they’re battling, the D-Link mixes things up quite considerably, throwing in a near-infinite number of new attacks if (in the rare occurrence) you get bored with what your character has on offer.

The battle system is deep and jam packed full of variety, which is what one could only hope for in a turn-based RPG. Furthermore, Birth By Sleep can be incredibly challenging, not only because of the variety in the attacks by the enemies, but also because of the precision needed to unleash particular commands. This is a game that absolutely must be played on the higher difficulties, as the experience is far more rewarding. Playing on the Proud difficulty dictates extreme dedication and practice, as the enemy AI moves with much more aggression and variety, especially the deeper into the experience you get with all three characters.

If you ever feel the need to take a break and relax from the at-times intimidating world of Kingdom Hearts, you can engage yourself in the mini-games, which thankfully are fun and great opportunities to level up your character. Commands are used as pieces to progress through each mini-game, leveling up as you play. This means you can still develop your character while take a break from the perils of the universe. The mini-games are also a lot more fun than the ones in the earlier console Kingdom Hearts games, which is great, as those games lacked the depth and challenge to dictate your time away from the core experience.

Playing through each of the three different plots can be a challenge, especially considering you’ll be moving through the same worlds all three times. However, Square Enix has done a wonderful job of incorporating a number of different challenges, so while each experience might look identical, they feel undeniably different from one another.

However, where Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep falls down is in its story. While the main story involving the Unversed is interesting and inviting, the plots within each of the worlds fall flat. That may have something to do with the fact your character is in each world for such a short amount of time, which limits character development. However, the narrative does a good job of building up to the epic climax, thanks to a number of memorable and charming scenes that fall in-line with both the Final Fantasy and Disney universes. The story as a whole is intriguing, fueled by a number of small tales that lack any emotional drive.

The environments lack detail, which is a common issue in Kingdom Hearts games. While characters have an incredibly amount of detail and look fantastic, the world around them is bare and at-times ugly. Nowhere near as much effort is put into the environments as there is into the characters, which is disappointing. Also, the camera and lock-on systems are terribly problematic, sometimes locking onto near-by objects instead of the enemy attacking you. The camera also goes a little crazy when in tight spots, which can be frustrating to say the least.

The Final Verdict

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is a fantastic RPG experience, incorporating the best battle system in the series by far. The sheer amount of depth and variety available at your fingertips is highly impressive, inviting you into a world that is fun to engage with. While there are a number of problems with presentation and the story, Birth By Sleep is an intriguing tale and a very worthy addition to this fantastic series.

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