​By Ryan Winslett

Fans of the Kingdom Hearts series all want to know one thing about the PSP entry in the franchise, Birth by Sleep: Are they in for a complete installment in the franchise or another experimental retread of the same locations a la Chain of Memories?

While Birth by Sleep does change the formula from previous titles, some working to the game's benefit while others feel like a step back, it's still hard to call this Kingdom Hearts 3. That's not to say Birth by Sleep isn't a success, however, just that some of the magic that makes these unique blends of Square Enix and Disney worlds so special is sadly missing in this outing.

Birth by Sleep, like every Kingdom Hearts game, begins with several cutscenes full of wtf moments with answers and connecting details filled in as you complete the story. BBS features the easiest story to follow in the series, but you basically have to play the game three times to get the full picture. More on that later.

When you first fire up the game, I recommend you have a memory card handy with lots of extra space. There are two sizes of installs to help load times move more quickly and loads are pretty frequent and often annoyingly long.

You should also go into the video options and turn everything up to full. You have to play with the PSP plugged in, as this proves quite the battery drain, but it makes an already top-notch looking game shine even brighter. BBS is one of the best looking games for the system and these options allow it to look even better and perform without a single hitch, no matter how many characters are on screen or how many spells and effects are going off at the same time.

Anyone familiar with Star Wars will feel right at home in BBS. Two Keyblade Masters, Eraques and Xehanort (perfectly voiced by Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy respectively), harbor different views about how anger should be dealt with, creating a sort of Light and Dark side to the Keyblade version of the Force. When Xehanort goes missing, Eraqus' pupils, Terra, Ventus and Aqua, depart on a quest to find the missing Master.

This setup allows BBS to be told from three points of view, proving one of the game's greatest strengths as well as one of its greatest weaknesses. The story is spread over about a dozen worlds from the Disney universe and each character must visit these worlds. You begin the game as either Terra, Ventus or Aqua and, about 10 hours later, you finish the game. You've only received a third of the story, however, as each character experiences different parts of these worlds and uncovers different secrets that eventually add up to a single, overarching tale. I assure you it's far less complicated than I just made it sound.

​What this boils down to is you basically have to play the game three times to get the whole story. Each of the main characters starts at square one, which can be a jarring reboot after you've more or less maxed out the last character you were playing as. Their fighting styles and abilities are varied enough to keep things interesting, and their stories are completely different, but breaking the adventure up takes some of the power away from the whole package as the process of building your character up is forced upon you three separate times.

Also, while the worlds you visit feature big, nicely detailed maps, they're basically unpopulated. You'll meet a few characters from each of the worlds, along with a couple cameos (only one from the Final Fantasy series, sadly), but that's it. Since each world's "story" is broken between three characters, you never feel like you're having much of an impact on how things unfold, one of my favorite aspects of previous Kingdom Hearts games. You show up, fight through a few screen's worth of bad guys, get a cutscene or two filling you in on a fraction of the world's story, battle a boss, leave, repeat.

Now that I've got my complaints about the game's storytelling out of the way, I can at last get to the good stuff: The combat. Birth by Sleep features the best gameplay mechanics of the series, boiling things down to the essentials in order to make a more streamlined experience that's fast, fun and varied. You can still get through much of the game just mashing away at the attack button, but players willing to explore the vast array of options provided will be rewarded with satisfying fisticuffs and loads of over-the-top moves.

​While jumping, attacking and blocking your way to victory, players now also have access to a "Battle Deck," a customizable array of special moves, items and spells. Rather than fiddling with various menus, the Battle Deck simply stacks your allotted options and gives you the ability to cycle through your choices with the D-pad and execute with the press of a single button. Each move has its own refresh rate, forcing you to be strategic about when you want to zap all the bad guys with lightning or throw in a helpful cure potion.

Players can also enter into "Command Styles," which is simply a fancy way of saying utilizing certain moves or spells will temporarily upgrade your character. If you use a lot of ice spells, for instance, your character will now wield a keyblade cloaked in ice, deal extra ice damage and have access to a special finishing move.

Speaking of finishing moves, these bad boys are upgradable, over-the-top finales granted after chaining enough normal attacks together. Make several attacks quickly and, bam, the next opponent you hit is receiving massive damage via a special, flashy maneuver.

The fighting engine is further fleshed out by ShotLocks and D-Links. ShotLocks throw you into firstperson view and allow you select multiple targets for a volley of attacks while D-Links allow you to temporarily adopt the play style of characters you form a special bond with in the story, like Peter Pan or Experiment 626. D-Links also fill your health gauge when activated, making them a perfect way to turn the tide in a particularly tough battle.

​Outside of the normal gameplay, you can also access a Command Board from any save point. This is a strange sort of board game (Think Mario Party without the mini-games thrown in) that allows you to upgrade abilities and spells without grinding. Though there's little more to it than rolling dice, buying squares and trying to wrack up a predetermined amount of points before the A.I. opponents, I found it oddly addictive and a decent way to take a break from bashing bad guys with an oversized key.

The Command Board's ability to make quick upgrades also helps with "melding," another non-required option that sees you combining two abilities and collectable boosters to make a new, stronger combat option. Mix a certain move with blizzara and a booster, for instance, and you might be rewarded with a new icy attack that also causes more experience points to pop up. The options melding provides are practically endless and, while completely skipable, will keep the gotta-catch-em-all players occupied for a ridiculous number of hours.

There are even some online multiplayer options that allow three players to compete or work together in battles, on the Command Board or in a serviceable kart racing mode, but the lack of infrastructure means you either need local friends with their own copy of the game or a PS3 with Ad-hoc Party. Not necessary to take part in, but another fun diversion if you have the right setup.

While I have my gripes with the storytelling, I can't say enough about how entertaining the game's combat is. And despite the questionable construction, the story itself if full of moments that will make any fan of the series happy they came along for the ride. It's not put together perfectly, but the pieces are strong and, at the end of each character's journey, absolutely epic. With a bit more cohesiveness, this could have been a near-perfect portable action RPG.

As it stands, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is still a fantastic experience and a showcase title for the the system. Even without going for 100 percent, you're going to be busy for a solid 30-40 hours with just the main stories. To experience the game to the fullest, this is one UMD that could stay spinning in your PSP for months to come.

The Official Verdict: 4 out of 5