Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

Our hands-on time with Birth by Sleep at TGS was very limited, but what we saw was enough to get us excited.

Immediately upon starting the demo we were introduced to a new enemy type, which appeared to be a combination of the Heartless and Nobodies from Kingdom Hearts I & II. We took on the new creatures with an unfamiliar male protagonist named Terra. Ventus (who looks nearly identical to Roxas from KHII) and a female protagonist named Aqua join Terra and top off the playable characters at three. As far as story continuity, Birth by Sleep is the earliest chapter in the Kingdom Hearts saga, which should also explain the familiar looking antagonist. The three youths are keyblade apprentices in search of the missing keyblade master, Master Xehanort.

The antagonist is the same menacing figure found in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix. If unfamiliar with the ending, you can watch it here. As a refresher, the teaser features three fully armored youths approaching the antagonist, who splits into a second equally armored character. From there, the heroes battle it out against the highly powerful pair amongst a field of ancient keyblades. The situation seems desperate, as the foes are able to command earth and magic at their will.

But back to Birth by Sleep. Combat, although not entirely aware of what we were selecting in the Japanese build, felt much more fluid and diverse. We pulled off a slew of unique attacks on the ground, in the air and while dashing across the screen, all of which worked gracefully on the PSP. All and all, we left the brief demo feeling that Birth by Sleep is on par with the numbered installments in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, as opposed to the spin-offs on the GBA and DS that feel a bit disconnected. Similar to Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, Birth by Sleep will let players customize a “deck” of techniques and abilities, and a dice mini-game is somehow incorporated in the mix—although not a part of the basic battle system.

After putting the PSP down we watched a short trailer that revealed several other details, including appearances by Snow White and Stitch. The later appears to have his own unique space-themed level. Cinderella and the other Princesses of Heart also popped in.

Multiplayer mode was introduced at TGS, but no meaty details were given. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is set to release January 2010 in Japan, but isn’t yet confirmed for the states. We don’t expect that to last too long.