I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a huge Kingdom Hearts fan. I’ve played them all and while I’d like to say that I’ve finished them all I can’t. Although the GBA and the DS titles captured the feel of the series, I didn’t like the gameplay, especially the combat, and as such I just couldn’t bring myself to finish them. The controls and camera were clunky and although Square Enix did an admirable job graphically, the games fell short of what I came to expect from Kingdom Hearts visually.
That being said I’ve been waiting for quite some time for some new KH news and Square Enix has finally announced release information for Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep outside of Japan. I’ve always felt that the PSP was the perfect platform for Kingdom Hearts and coming this September it will finally get an installment.
Birth by Sleep is a prequel to the original game that takes players back to the start and give them a chance to see the Kingdom Hearts universe through the eyes of three new heroes: Terra, Ventus, and Aqua. This new chapter in the Kingdom Hearts saga will borrow from previous handheld titles by utilizing a Deck System that allows players to customize their techniques and abilities, but also introduces a few new twists such as the Dimension Link which will let players summon allies (all of which appear to be Disney characters) to aid them in combat.
A second new feature is the Command Board, which appears after a world has been completed and can be accessed via save points. The Command Board is a board game, complete with dice rolls, where players will unlock Special Events that happen in game. This installment of KH also loses MP, instead using Focus to power spells which will be castable in first-person perspective.
The final new features are four new multiplayer modes which allow for up to 6 players – Versus, Arena, Command Board, and Rumble Racing – and will add some replay value to this title.
And as is true with every major PSP release, Sony is releasing a a new PSP Entertainment Pack.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep PSP Entertainment Pack ($199.99)
- “Mystic-Silver” PSP-3000 system
- KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep on UMD
- Movie (to be announced)
- 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and the Entertainment Pack will both be available on September 7th in North America and September 10th in Europe.
