Should have just released a full Command Board game.

Other than answering some franchise-wide questions, a generally uninteresting game. Enemies and bosses have zero thought put into them. Battle system is a nice change up, but they give you so many tools you'll never want to use.

Characters are at an all-time low in terms of personality. All 3 main characters basically blank slates upon which this franchise's rabid fanbase can project their own feelings onto.

After the peak of KH2, BBS unfortunately rolls back the quality a little bit, but it's decently understandable being a PSP game and being handled by another studio. Any game that requires you to beat multiple routes is bound to get repetitive and bland, but this game does a moderate job of making the characters feel different with slightly different accessible moves and different movement abilities. While I didn't care too much for the 3 protagonists, the game really expanded on KHs overall story with the introduction of the series main protagonist Xehanort and the larger focus on Keyblade Masters being a force and not just Sora/Riku/Mickey.

One day I'll sit down and write out everything I hate about this game. It'll be a really long review. This game is putrid.

So poorly designed and poorly written and poorly acted on so many levels that it is, at least, occasionally pretty funny. It's bizarre to think the opening sequence of Kingdom Hearts 2 is in the same series as this game. The combat is bland and uninspired, the story is bland is uninspired except for when it's hammy enough to be kind of funny... but there are some just outright baffling decisions here. Easily the worst boss design I've ever seen in a video game, period. They're not hard, really, but they have all kinds of weird invincibility and can barely be hitstunned so you end up feeling like you're cheesing your way through every fight even though you're not being challenged (or if you're on a high difficulty you are being challenged, but in a really stupid way). The Disney stuff is orders of magnitude more boring here than in other KH games and that was not a high bar to begin with. I played through all 3 characters' stories without ever once unlocking anything that makes their normal attacks anything other than a stiff 3-hit combo because the ways you actually unlock that are... painfully stupid time-wasters that pretty much require a guide. Who cares? It's still not gonna be fun.

Riding off of 358/2 Days, I expected something better as this game is on a handheld with higher fidelity than the DS, but this game took everything I liked and appreciated about Days and took a big ol' horse shit on it.

If I had to describe this game in one word, it'd be "useless."
This game fails at everything it attempts to do. The characters are terrible, by having another trio reflection of Sora, Riku, and Kairi, but with no personality or defining character traits to make them stand out. The first instance of downright terrible writing in the series, with characters being so oblivious to Xehanort's motives that it almost borders on being a satire of the plot of the Star Wars' prequels. And the worst gameplay in the series, with terrible mechanics such as Command Finishers, Command Styles, and Shotlocks, bundled together in an engine that is two steps away from shitting itself.

For a game that is meant to set up the next major story arc in the series, it's the most contrived, convoluted, and boring series of retcons I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

Believe it or not, I'm not exactly a Kingdom Hearts fan. Years ago, I wanted to know if there were any good action games on PSP, and I ended up here. This game technically serves as the first one in the series' timeline, even if it's somewhat revelatory to plot points in the already existing KH games. And hey, three characters to choose from! This will in no way backfire spectacularly. To expedite my writing process and keep myself sane, I've got a format going this time. For each character, it'll go: character's gameplay style, non-specific gameplay mechanic, character's story summary. Capisce?

-----VENTUS-----

Ventus is a perky kid. He holds his keyblade backhanded, and he can't seem to keep his feet on the ground. Grounded combos are difficult to pull off, if even possible to begin with. His floaty nature gives him a real tendency to whiff his attacks. A finishing attack like "air flair" does a ton of damage, if it even connects to begin with.

The command deck takes a page out of TWEWY's book, allowing for full freedom of what abilities you have on hand at any time. You can make decks filled with your ideal string of attacks, or you can keep swapping mastered abilities out for ones with low experience, constantly keeping your playstyle fresh. There's no MP, the only things stopping you from spamming the same commands repeatedly are your deck size and command reload speed. Using specific types of commands will also shift you into a command style, a more powerful form with unique normal attacks. When mastered, you can even fuse commands together to make stronger commands, along with attaching crystals to get passive abilities. I do wish there was a way to know which abilities you'll fuse (outside of a guide), because several of these are very necessary for basic survival. Do not try to engage bosses without skills like Second Chance, Once More, or Leaf Bracer. You're gonna have a bad time.

After witnessing his friends' Keyblade Master exams, a strange masked boy taunts Ventus with the idea that his friends are going to leave him behind someday. With no memories to his name aside from the time he's spent with Aqua and Terra, Ventus flies the coop, in search of what worlds await out there. Out there he meets the newest member of the public domain, gets tickets to Disneyland, and learns that Xehanort wants to make him into a weapon with a very stupid name (it's pronounced "keyblade", but spelled "X-blade", thanks Nomura)!

And then the game asks you to do it again.

-----TERRA-----

Terra focuses on brute force more than anything else. Big broad swings with pretty long animations, at least comparatively. I'd welcome the more grounded combat if Terra didn't have such stiff mobility. He has miserable end lag after landing, dodging, atacking, skills, pretty much anything, if I'm being honest. His moveset is fine for normal enemies, but most bosses tear him apart like a dog chomping on a chew toy. I found the best way to use Terra was to get into a command style as soon as possible. Anything's better than his standard moveset, but if all else fails, you could always just shoot your enemies instead.

The shotlock is such a busted mechanic. It's like bringing a firing squad to a sword duel. It's awkward to use in the moment, holding down L+R to bring up a reticle that roots you in place isn't ideal. If your shotlock command is a high enough level though, this is completely negligible! Max out your lock-on, fire, hit the QTEs (if there are any), and watch the enemy's health bar m e l t. Most normal bosses can be felled with two or three fully charged shotlocks. It's a genuine strategy you can fall back on if you're just sick of the game, something I felt strongly while playing as Terra.

Terra is so fucking funny to me, dude. I'm sure they wanted him to come off as naive, but the way he immediately meets and puts trust into the villain of nearly every world he visits is just hilarious. The way Xehanort encourages Terra to embrace the darkness is cool and all, love watching that asshole being a charismatic manipulator, especially to such a lost puppy searching for validation. Poor guy just wanted the power to protect his friends, no matter the cost.

And then the game asks you to do it AGAIN.

-----AQUA-----

Aqua earned her Mark of Mastery in the game's opening for good reason: she's the best character in the whole damn game! Magic is her strong suit, but her melee attacks are quick and connect very easily. Throw in an easily spammble cartwheel dodge roll, and this girl's actually got a full kit going. The devs had to have done this on purpose, considering you also play as Aqua in the final/secret episodes.

Oh yea, d-links are a thing, I forgor. I didn't use a single one during Aqua's portion of the game, that's how forgettable and worthless they are as a mechanic. Each one replaces your current deck with a predetermined one, and automatically shifts you into a command style based on that character, complete with a unique finisher. The most lucrative thing you can use the D-Links as is a single free Megalixr per fight, and even then I constantly forgot to use them.

For most of her plot's runtime, Aqua's on cleanup crew. She usually arrives in a world in time to finish the story arc, sometimes even after the fact. It serves as a nice bit of finality as you head into the real meat of Aqua's story, the final/secret episodes. That aside, playing Aqua first would probably be really weird and kinda boring, not gonna lie. Not too much happens on her end until the story is reaching its climax. Pete gets sent to the shadow realm.

AND THEN THE GAME ASKS YOU TO- oh wait no, we're actually pretty much done here.

I think viewing a story from multiple characters' perspectives and seeing how events overlap is cool as hell, and Birth By Sleep's story succeeds on that front. The problem arises when the actual game comes into play. Each character gets their own unique bosses to contend with, but you spend each character's story running through the exact same rooms, fighting the exact same enemies in the exact same worlds, and there's no real getting around that. It has pretty good presentation for a PSP game, but ends up being one of those unfortunate cases where the longer you're exposed to something, the more flaws you end up noticing.

On a positive note, I like the world choices in this game. Deep Space feels like a particularly inspired choice (Lilo and Stitch is so good dude), and Neverland always made for a fun finale at the end of each playthrough. Yoko Shimomura hasn't let me down yet, and her distinct composition style continues to entrance me. Personal favorites include:

-Neverland's Scherzo
-Future Masters
-The Tumbling

Anyways, Birth By Sleep? More like birth my sleep. I need a nap. Wake me when Kingdom Hearts gets good.

Bom, esse jogo é definitivamente uma experiência.

Em KHBBS nós experienciamos a jornada do ponto de vista dos 3 principais personagens: Ventus, Terra e Aqua. Terra é um personagem que se baseia em golpes físicos, Aqua é uma espécie de Maga e Ventus flutua bem entre os dois estilos, servindo como um Híbrido.

KHBBS conta a história de antes do primeiro jogo, servindo como um prólogo de luxo. A gameplay em si, por ter sido desenvolvida primeiramente para o console PSP, acaba sendo simples porém muito recompensadora, passando a sensação de ser uma versão melhorada do sistema de batalha do KH1. Com o sistema de Command Deck e command melding, esse jogo nos proporciona a chance de customizar o moveset dos personagens da maneira que mais nos apetecer. Além disso, os mundos (mesmo que simples) deste jogo são extremamente caprichados e bem cuidados, mudando de personagem pra personagem e levando em consideração eventos que aconteceram de maneira primorosa

Quanto a história, não vou me estender muito. Terra é definitivamente a engrenagem que faz a história funcionar, além de que Ventus e Aqua provavelmente são dois dos personagens mais bem escritos de toda a série. A história é bem escrita e deixa tudo prontinho para os jogos que vem depois.


A única coisa que não me agrada é que, as vezes, a sensação de que o jogo é muito pequeno acaba prevalecendo e o looping de gameplay acaba ficando um pouquinho repetitiva. De resto, esse é um jogo muito divertido e que eu super recomendo

Pros:
The command deck and the skill level up system was soo much fun, barely noticed i leveled up the characters.
Leonard Nimoy and Mark Hamill in the same game? that's a crossover i didn't know i wanted.

Cons:
The whole of Disney town, why would the devs make 3 shitty minigames and force players to complete them to continue the story, truly awful game design
The music for Castle of dreams was making me go insane after a few hours in there

Did Terra on Standard, Ventus and Aqua on Proud and i unlocked the secret movie and episode

Jogo meio repetitivo mas daora, agora vou ser controverso e dizer que gostei mais do combate desse do que do 1 (mas não chega nem perto do 2). A divisão entre os personagens traz uma vibe bem Sonic Adventure, algo que eu gosto, mas também vem com seus problemas, como por exemplo a ordem correta de Terra - Ventus - Aqua:
Em um jogo onde todo mundo é burro, Terra não é somente o mais retardado mas também tem um gameplay horrível que causa uma péssima primeira impressão do jogo, mas infelizmente deve ser utilizado primeiro para a história fazer mais sentido. Tudo melhora com os outros 2, mas o começo é bem merda.
Deveria ter sido um jogo de console de mesa ao invés de portátil.

Gameplay doesn't feel as fluid as KH2, but I mostly enjoyed what it tries to do on its own. I thought D-Links were cool on paper but never really all too helpful in practice, and I thought the command deck + command style system was really fun to experiment with. Could be a bit clunky,but once things got going I found it fairly satisfying.

Absolutely loved the story and characters in this entry. Some of the context it provides for plot elements in previous games was much appreciated and the tragic endings for each protagonist left me wanting to see where their stories go.