Resuming the on-and-off Kingdom Hearts first ever playthrough… thing, we reach Birth by Sleep, a game originally on the PSP but in terms of this review it also got a few “HD” console ports, which is handy. Set ten years before Kingdom Hearts I, the game features three protagonists each with their own story mode that intersect with each other, which was fun (reminded me of the Resident Evil 2 A/B scenarios) and the combat was great as well. Let’s see how it fairs overall though…
Background:
“Erm, I’m afraid what I’m going towards is no ball, lady… … but yes, you can come along.”
Birth by Sleep was originally released on the PSP on January 9th 2010 in Japan and September 7th and 10th 2010 in the US and UK/Europe respectively. Changes were made for the English language version of the game so it was re-released in Japan on January 20th 2011 as “Birth by Sleep: Final Mix”. The console port with upgraded HD(ish) models was released for PS3 in 2014, then it was paired with the 2.5 Final Mix release on the PS4 along with earlier games as “Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix” and released in March 2017 worldwide. It has since come to XBOX One and PC via Steam, as well as a nasty and unnecessary Cloud version for the Switch.
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix was then bundled with “Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue” as “Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far”, which is how I own all these early titles in the series, and THAT was later added together with Kingdom Hearts III. Yes I just copied and pasted that last bit from an earlier review, but hey. It’s the last time, the next few games were re-released slightly differently!
Gameplay:
That’s a lot of meters for one screen, but it all works, I promise!
Birth by Sleep plays similarly to Kingdom Hearts II (thankfully, no switch to poorly implemented card combat for THIS handheld spin-off!) as it’s a 3D action RPG which sees you explore areas and talk to NPCs while also fighting off hordes of enemies that suddenly pop up from the ground. Alongside basic attack combos the main gimmick reminds me of a combination of KH II and 358/2 Days as you can pick specific strikes, magic and combinations but you have to do so by picking them in a menu and adding them to your limited “Command Deck”. Thankfully it’s not the grid-like system from Days but instead a pretty simple scrolling menu, and it works really well! You can create new, more powerful attacks by mixing and combining attacks and items in the same always-accessible menu, and although often you have to have levelled up an attack to its max that actually doesn’t take long to do, so it’s still frequent and fun. A lot of the time each attack has an attribute to it, simple stuff like “HP Boost”, “Magic Boost” and “Combo Boost” but also key things like the always handy “Leaf Bracer” (allowing you not be hit while healing) and once you’ve maxed the new Command out you get to keep the attribute even if you then combine the Command and therefore delete it, so not only do you want more powerful attacks but you want to keep getting new attributes as well, it makes the whole Command Meld and Commands in general extremely addictive and fun, both creating and using in-game.
If that wasn’t enough (because Lord knows Kingdom Hearts games can’t just have one combat gimmick) above your Command list is the “Surge” meter, which has a variety of types that charge up depending on what attacks you use, like a lightning Surge that goes up the more lightning magic you use, that kind of thing, and when it reaches max you transform into a new “Style” and get a new list of powerful attacks and a new attack string which sometimes (if you’ve levelled it up enough) can then lead to a SECOND Surge meter which leads to a second Style with even more powerful attacks, all with a time limit, obviously. It’s really fun again, especially some of the later Surges like one where you get two laser-like blades. There are other gimmicks as well, like a move where you go into first person and lock on to several targets like Panza Dragoon and then unleash a bunch of small magic blasts of different elements depending on which ones you unlock / pick. This uses a separate meter called Focus so you can’t just spam distant lock-on attacks all the time…
Ventus uppercuts a regular cat with his keyblade. What a dick.
Also (yeah, we’re not done yet…) is the D-Link mechanic, which also has its own meter. This stands for “Dimensional-Link” and basically whenever you meet a new character from a Disney or Square world (or in other words, 90% Disney, 7% Kingdom Hearts characters, 3% Final Fantasy…) they get added to your D-Link list, and once your Link Guage is full you can pick a character from the list and “Link” with them, giving you a brand new set of Commands and a different Surge-like gauge at the top that allows you to do a big “finishing move” which references the character you’ve linked with. Again, I’d complain about more meters and more gimmicks but given how fun the combat was being able to switch to a completely new set of commands and a new big finisher move to add yet more variety made it that much better. To top off the good news regarding combat the bosses aren’t QTE-athons and there is no on-rails shooter segments in between worlds either! It’s like it addressed all my criticisms at once. Your standard command, Surge Styles, D-Links, so much variety and all of it plays smoothly, I can’t praise the combat enough.
There’s an arena-type place where you can face a string of opponents like the Coliseum in previous games but this time round I wasn’t really bothered, and there are a few times where you do mini-games including riding bike-like things in space for a bit, doing an annoying rhythm-based ice cream making thing and play volley ball with giant fruits (…?) but they’re few and far between. Oh and each location has a “Command Board” attached to it, which I kid you not is a Mario Party (or more accurately Fortune Street) like mode where you roll a dice to move yourself across a board and get properties and bonuses for landing on specific squares etc. etc. Of all the side modes in RPGs you could think of, a board game one? Where you’re predominantly playing single player? (There was multi-player but this isn’t exactly modern day wifi on your PS5, this was the early 2010s PSP…) There are some items and cutscenes locked behind these boards as well, but nothing you need for the game, which is good because after trying one I had zero interest in playing any more, so didn’t! It’s even worse when you think about there being three campaigns, meaning you’d have to do each Command Board three times at least…
Quickly took this screenshot realising I was never going to see this board game menu again…
Speaking of, as I mentioned before, the game is split into three, with Terra (who excels in physical attacks but is slow), Ventus (who excels in speed but is weaker with physical attacks) and Aqua (who is somewhere in the middle with both physical attacks and speed but excels with magic) being who you control each time. Each scenario has the same opening scene but after that you may visit the same worlds and end in the same location (with the same cutscenes to start off) but you do so in tandem with the other campaigns, seeing what each of the three were doing at various points through their respective eyes. It’s good fun, and a good way to reuse assets without it seeming too cheap…
So overall the gameplay is excellent. Very responsive, very satisfying and its constantly changing either via your own swapping out of Command moves, getting a new Surge or swapping to another D-Link. The most fun I’ve had with the franchise so far, easily.
Graphics and Sound:
I’ll be honest here, I actually liked the fruit volley ball thing…
Graphics are fine once again. The models have that same upgraded PS3 look to them, which works well with the Disney cartoony look the series has, and the lighting effects are good.
Sound is excellent, well the OST and sound effects. Terra sounds a bit dry and good lordy-lord who hired Aqua’s actress? She sounded completely bored at all times, like she was being forced to read a book she had no interest in against her will. Stood out like a sore thumb, especially as the likes of Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy are among the cast list!
Story:
Hi Zack! … … *sigh* … bye forever Zack…
The story opens with an odd scene where Xehanort, the original one this time, has an unconscious Ventus in his hands on Destiny Island assuming the boy is going to die, only to see him saved through magical means. We then flash forward to a place called “The Land of Departure” where Ventus being all happy with his older friends Terra and Aqua, who are about to take their “Mark of Mastery” exams and become fully-fledged Keyblade Masters. They take the exam in front of their master Eraqus (Mark Hamill) and Xehanort (Leonard Nimoy, so yes the creator of this dub intentionally did a Star Wars vs. Star Trek thing) but it goes a bit tits up thanks to the most obviously evil looking and sounding man in existence sitting next to Eraqus and although Aqua passes Terra is failed as he showed darkness in his heart. As they leave Xehanort confronts Terra and tells him he knows how he can make good and to follow his advice, which he goes along with again despite Xehanort making Darth Sidious look like Snow White. Before all this Xehanort had created a being made up of the darkside of Ventus called Vanitas who was able to created “Unversed”, which are basically the Heartless but before the Heartless were a thing, and soon Aqua and Terra are sent to investigate other worlds and stop the Unversed, with Ventus going after them despite not being ready mostly thanks to Vanitas saying that his friends will die he doesn’t.
As the three of them explore Disney worlds based on classic properties Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella we find out that not only is Terra being manipulated by Xehanort to unleash his darkness but Aqua has been tasked with following him and keeping an eye on his actions on behalf of Eraqus, who is correctly worried about him. This leads to a halfway point at Radiant Garden (which was nice to see after only seeing its ruined form in previous games) where after taking down a large Unversed and meeting several Organisation XIII members before they were killed and turned into Nobodies the trio split up again after Terra finds out Aqua was spying on him and Ventus thinks what she did was “terrible” and also leaves in a huff. This leads to three more Disney worlds to explore from Lilo and Stich, Hercules (featuring a young and still-in-training Hercules and Zack from Final Fantasy VII, the only FF character beyond the Moogles to appear in the game…) and a second visit to Neverland, though this time actually Neverland rather than just Hook’s ship. Also a younger Mickey Mouse appears a few times, mostly with Aqua and Ventus, and at various points Terra meets a young Riku, Aqua a young Kairi and Ventus a young Sora, coincidentally. By the end of this trio of lands all three head to the “Keyblade Graveyard”, though some other things happened just beforehand…
*Spoilers from here until the next bolded sentence!*
Wouldn’t be Kingdom Hearts without cheesy villain dialogue. If you think this is bad, just wait until you see some of Xehanort’s monologues!
You see in a panic when he discovered that Xehanort wished to bring about an apocalypse using the x-Blade (that’s the Greek letter that looks like an ‘X’ but is pronounced “Key”, meaning it’s a special Keyblade called… the Keyblade, so whenever anyone mentions it without the subtitles you’d be lost as to what the hell they’re talking about, a keyblade or THE x-Blade? How do the other characters know what Xehanort is going on about when he says it out loud? So many questions that could’ve been avoided by calling it the “Cross Blade” or even the “Kai Blade”, as the symbol is sometimes pronounced like that as well…) Anyway, so worried about this blade being forged by Ventus fighting Vanitas that Eraqus tries to kill Ventus but instead he’s cut down by Terra in a fit of rage. Aqua finds out about this from Yen Sid at the Mysterious Tower. This leads to an awkward reunion where Aqua confronts Terra about killing their master and Ventus, knowing the full extent of the x-Blade’s power, requests his friends kill him to save the world.
This is where Xehanort arrives and we find out that long ago a load of Keyblade warriors fought each other in a Keyblade War that ended up with them all dead, hence all the Keyblades around in this, um, graveyard, and that by forging the x-Blade he will bring about another catastrophe and change the world, just to see what this new world is like. Terra fights Xehanort while Aqua and Ventus fight Vanitas, with the help of Mickey. Ventus is possessed by Vanitas but while Aqua and Mickey defeat Vanitas and destroy the x-Blade Ventus defeats Vanitas within his own mind, though seemingly at the “cost of his heart”. Meanwhile Terra gives into the darkness allowing Xehanort to transfer himself into Terra’s younger body, allowing himself extended time to redo his now failed plan, but he soon finds Terra’s will fighting back against him. Aqua and Mickey take Ventus to Yen Sid, who says that Ventus won’t wake up until his heart is return to him so Aqua takes his body to a hidden chamber deep within the now ruined Land of Departure and watches as it reforms itself into Castle Oblivion (dun-dun-dun! That was a fun twist actually…)
Aqua then faces off with Terra-nort and beats him, but in a last minute gamble Xehanort stabs himself with his own Keyblade and vanishes into the Realm of Shadows with Terra’s body, causes Aqua to jump in after. She manages to push Terra’s body back into the regular realm but falls into the Darkness. Terra-nort’s unconscious and amnesiac body then appears in Radiant Garden where Ansem finds him, soon to turn him into his apprentice to kick start the series proper. We find out that Ventus’ heart is safely kept within Sora’s (explaining why Sora’s nobody looked like Ventus and how he was saved at the start of the game, I guess…?) and Aqua soon finds Ansem in the realm of Darkness, where she finds out about the goings on in the real world. Oh and Sora, Riku and Kairi find out about Aqua, Terra and Ventus from a letter at the same time, getting them all caught up at the same time as the player, I guess!
*Spoilers End Here!*
The story is good fun. I mean, yeah, there is a lot of lore that just gets dumped on you, but by this time I’m used to how these games tend to work, very heavy good/light vs. evil/dark and lots of crazy names thrown in, but thanks to being a prequel with its own cast that have beginnings, middles and an end it a lot more satisfying than a lot of Kingdom Hearts games I’ve played so far (KH II notwithstanding, that had a sort-of proper ending…) and it was fun to see each character’s journey through the same incident.
Thoughts Now:
Aqua does battle with the evil mirror-on-the-wall face… thing.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was a pleasant surprise. I hadn’t heard a lot about it, people always mention Kingdom Hearts II as the “best one” and Chain of Memories as the “worst”, so I didn’t know much about this one going in, but honestly? It’s easily my favourite so far. The gameplay is so crisp and varied, the story is pretty complete and has that “here’s the origin of this!” fun that prequels can have without making the classic mistake of relying on it to get by, and generally it was a really fun time, all three playthroughs. Now, were there mini-games I did once and never touched again? Yeah. Was the board game part a bit crap? Yep! But guess what? I wasn’t going for 100% here, so as a casual play through Birth by Sleep was a great time, and has renewed my interest in pushing further on into the weirder, less focused (by all accounts) titles…
Hogan Reviews 