Joystiq

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

System: PSP

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep takes us to a very different kind of KH game as it doesn't contain any Final Fantasy characters nor does it feature any of the original KH cast. The game focuses on three new characters (Ventus, Tera and Aqua) and is a prequel to KH set in Disney-only worlds. Out of the four KH games shown, this one was the most beautiful looking, and at the same time resembles the original games the most in terms of gameplay and overall design.

The trailer showed off the purple-haired girl, Aqua, in battle for the first time. She uses a spinning attack as her special ability -- she sort of mimics a tornado as she spins around the battlefield. There is in-game battle footage on Tera and Ventus (Roxas' look-a-like pictured above); both of which come from the playable build available at TGS 08. Tera is seen fighting hordes of enemies similar to the numbers found on screen in the regular console versions. There doesn't seem to be a downsizing in that respect. Tera also goes off to fight a large Spindle creature which is based-off the Sleeping Beauty world he's currently in. Ventus is seen fighting the cat from Cinderella in a boss fight -- he'll have to take him out using several timed input events by tapping the triangle button (same system as first introduced in KH2).

Also read: Birth by Sleep Hands-on

11/10/08