Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - Sony PSP

The game was delivered much quicker than expected and is in wonderful condition! No scratches or smudges on the disc and the manual came with. Best thing I’ve ever ordered on Amazon.

I wouldnt consider myself a gamer. Sure, I have a PS2 at home with a dozen or so games acquired by my dad, but many of them have hardly been touched since weve bought them and are just collecting dust on one of our shelves. Most of these are sports games too, or car racing games for my brother, and - dont get me wrong, he loves them, but it gets kind of boring when you play the same thing over and over again. So none of us are avid gamers. That all changed when we got the first Kingdom Hearts game. For a person who had never heard of Final Fantasy or other RPG games before, it was mind-blowing. The graphics were amazing, the storyline was engaging and original, and overall, it was just plain fun. Its also the only game that my brother and I are willing to play over and over and over again, because the story never gets old. The sequels only get better from there, and Birth By Sleep is no exception. Technically, the game is regarded as Kingdom Hearts 0, since its story precedes the first game, but whatever. Its slightly different from the original in that it has better camera control and reaction commands (triggered by the triangle button), which carry over from the gameplay from Kingdom Hearts II, but in all honesty, that makes it much, much better (and a lot more fun). Reaction commands in particular change up the way your character fight, and it adds a lot more dimension to the battle so that you arent just doing a three-hit combo every time, which is what the original game offered. And the camera fix was a big plus, since its now near impossible to have your view obscured by some obstacle during battle (believe me, this can get really frustrating). Theres also the added bonus that one of the main characters (Ventus) looks like Roxas. If youve followed the series, youll know that Roxas shows up in Kingdom Hearts II as a playable character only in the beginning, and there were a ton of fans who wished he stayed that way. Although they arent the same people, playing as Ventus does alleviate this desire a bit. All in all, its a great buy, and Id recommend the game to anyone, even if they havent played anything else in the series before. The thing is, its fairly long, so just make sure youve got time for all of it.

I was late to the party with the Kingdom Hearts hype. All of my friends were recommending that I buy and play the game ... so I bought this one. I have to say, I played it through--with all three of the main characters and was pretty unimpressed. Movement and controls were perfect, but story-line was lacking. I didnt feel anything for the characters nor did I connect with any of their stories. Also, I felt that each journey to a different Disney adventure was forced and jumpy and had no purpose. The graphics are fantastic, the characters all look great ... but, again, the story was just ... ugh. Im glad I played the game, but its a one-time play--not a game Id pick up again.

Being a long-time fan of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, I was so excited to play the first and only PSP title of the series. After all, many of us have indubitably complained of the lack of game localization in much of the Japanese RPG genre, and Square Enix made the smart decision to localize this game. It is fantastic. First off, the graphics in the this game are wonderful. By utilizing more of the battery life, this games graphics can become higher quality with 32-bit that gives the appearance of a colorful 3D storybook. All the characters faces are focused, and not just a blurring blend of pixels. The cut-scene animations are beautiful and appealing to those who appreciate a dazzling game. Second, the music is very good. I have long loved the Kingdom Hearts music scores and this one does not disappoint. Aside from the classic soundtracks like Dearly Beloved, there is a hoard of new music that fits the scenery and environment very well. There is also a minigame in the story, Ice Cream Beat, that allows players to play a rhythm game with a few of the popular KH tracks from the previous games. The story is also very interesting, and having a 3-character story makes for hours of playing from each characters perspective as they travel through the worlds at different times and meet different in-game characters. As a prequel for Kingdom Hearts, players can also see young Sora, Riku, and Kairi, as well as a few of the Organization XIII members before they became Nobodies. Birth By Sleep might be confusing to some, especially in that the true ending involves a very hard boss and the ending ties straight to the ending of KHII, which leaves the resolution unclear for KHIII to resolve (KH: Dream Drop Distance mentions the protagonists of BBS somewhat). Regardless of whether the entire story of KH can be fully comprehended, the tales in this game are quite clear and will not leave any players in confusion. My final words verdict: If you have a PSP, this is one game you must have. Even if you dont have a PSP, I encourage buying one just to enjoy the delights of Birth By Sleep. Though be warned, Birth by Sleep will ensnare you, force you to forgo sleep and play for hours to try to unlock every achievement in the game, fuse and level-up moves, and beat the very challenging final bosses.

I really enjoyed the game and really looked forward to the story. I was disappointed it was on the PSP. The game was just as fun as the others, but the lasting impression wasnt there. Once I finished it never touched it again. Had it been on a portable system I actually used I would have given this 5 stars.

Like a lot of people I was skeptical when I bought my first Kingdom Hearts game. I mean come on!! An RPG set in Disney movie worlds? How can you pull that off? Well, Square did pull it off and Kingdom Hearts is now one of my favourite series. Birth By Sleep is a very good prequel. Is it the best of the series? I dont know, honestly all of the Playstation games are very good.... Either way this one does hold its own against its bigger brothers on the PS2, and that is saying a lot, especially for a portable. Yes, it does suffer from some of the flaws that come with being a portable game. The worlds, for the most part, dont seem as big and as detailed as the PS2 games, but you should expect that given the platform. Sometimes its hard to see what you are doing and you just end up mashing buttons to kill your enemies. Also, for whatever reason there is very little of Final Fantasy in this game. Only a few characters make a few quick appearances, which to me is a big loss. Part of the magic of these games is the merger between FF and Disney...... And you wont be fighting along side Goofy or Donald Duck in this game, but honestly, that wasnt a big loss for me as I found them to be a bit annoying....... Some people complain that Kingdom Hearts is too easy..... but guess what? This game is also meant for younger gamers so yes the normal setting is very easy. If you are an experienced gamer, crank up the difficulty level and enjoy. Each story line is a bit short (about 10 hours if you dont spend time levelling up) but they are fun and you do get three unique story lines, all of them pretty good. Some of the voice acting is weak, but it doesnt detract from the overall experience(specifically portions of Terras line, and a few of the Disney characters need some work).

I hope you are patient enough to sit through the load times. There are sections where you can watch a cut scene, move a step or two, then wait...and wait...and wait (sometimes as long as 35 seconds, Ive time it). I agree with other reviews that the graphics are beautiful, the story is good, the concept of playing through the game as three characters is intriguing. When I play a game, I want to play the game, not sit through grueling load times. I understand that with such well defined and detailed graphics that it is going to take time to load the next scene, but I really just want to get on with it and play.

I have been following the series since KH1, and this is a great addition to the series. Product came extremely fast. I had trouble originally because from the other seller I have trying to get this game from. Bought this game for a friend who is catching up on the series. So far she is loving it!

I have to admit, I am a die-hard KH fan, but to tell you the truth, I am getting tired of all of these side-story games. I have played every game released in the United States and so I know the whole story. Out of all of the side story games (Chain of Memories, RE:chain of Memories, Coded, 358/2 Days), I think it is second. 358/2 Days is still my favorite. But the storyline is pretty good. The graphics are superb, but personally, I expected better gameplay. It was mixing 358/2 days with the original games. It was good they were trying something different... but I wanted to have some more... KH1/KH2 parts since the game was for PSP, not for the DS or GBA. The controls were sometimes a little hard to handle, but thats coming from someone who rarely plays the PSP. I am more of a nintendo person. XP But yeah, I got it fast and for cheaper than in the stores (about 33% less) through Amazon. A great KH game, and I hope they finally get to making KH3! XD

Probably my favorite of the series. It can be considered easy even on critical until you get to the secret bosses. Then it becomes impossible and you will not win.