(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. Note: The clips that are all shown are from Doug's Twitch streams of himself playing the game)
Doug (vo): Just when I think I'm out, Kingdom Hearts pulls me back in. Birth by Sleep is a prequel to the first two Kingdom Hearts games, which, yes, I know means I'm playing this out of order, but what? Kingdom Hearts has never told their story out of order before? I honestly played it because a lot of the fans say that the gameplay was really great and the story was really great and the character introductions were great, and...yeah, they're pretty much right. This was a pretty enjoyable good time.
Story[]
Doug (vo): The story, or stories, there's kind of three of them in this, but it's also kind of one--I'll get to that in a minute--focuses on three Keyblade apprentices, Terra, Aqua and Ventus. Terra and Aqua are going through a test to see who can get the Mark of Mastery, and while Aqua passes, Terra fails. Terra leaves, having been told there's just too much darkness in his heart, but Ventus wants to make him feel better. Aqua is sent to look after them both, and while that's going on, Xehanort, played in this one by Leonard Nimoy, is hatching a diabolical plan of manipulation.
Review[]
Doug (vo): So, okay, that's the initial setup and it doesn't sound too complicated, but one of the fun aspects of the game is that you can play as any of the three characters, and each one does lead to a different game. Yes, you go to the same levels and sometimes fight the same bosses and obstacles, but more often than not, they change it up. Like, if you go to the Cinderella level with one of the characters, a lot of focus might be on the palace. But if you go with another, it might be more at the house, and you're shrunk down, and you have to do stuff with the mice. And on top of that, you do get different elements of the story, there are different points of view, and they give you different perceptions of what's going on with a certain character. In fact, it might even change your outlook on them. So it's pretty cool that if you pick a different character, it isn't just different moves, it really is a different game. But make no mistake, you do still go to the same levels and, yeah, sometimes do the same thing, but more often than not, it is a different game with each character. While I do know this is an updated version of the game, so the graphics are going to look a little better, I was still really surprised to find this was a portable game. This looks, moves, and plays just as good as any of the console games. If I have one tiny nitpick, maybe the movement of the camera is a little off, but if you didn't tell me this was for a handheld console, I never would have put that together.
(Footage focusing on the game's gameplay is shown)
Doug (vo): The gameplay for the most part is really, really good. It's very good early on, holding your hand and showing what each button does in the combos and how to use magic in special moves. Honestly, out of all the games, this one, I think, I got the fastest in terms of how it operates...mostly, again, we'll get to that in a second. Unlike something like Kingdom Hearts III where you can really use a variety of ways to get through the levels...you don't have to use a little bit of everything. If you just want to chop something up, you can, if you just want to use magic, you can...this one does require you to mix things up a little bit, and for the most part, it works organically.
(Clips focusing on a task in Olympus Coliseum that Doug is shown struggling to complete are shown)
Doug (vo): I found an area I really had trouble with was in this Coliseum, where there was a time limit just to take out these little henchmen, and I couldn't do it. I couldn't get it in the amount of time that was in the time limit. Luckily, there was a store outside, and I went to see what made the most sense to buy to get rid of these characters in the time limit. Chat definitely helped out a lot with that, too. So there is a little bit of deduction not only about what moves you have to make, but what special powers you have to purchase, too. With that said, as I discovered, you have to build up your HP and you have to meld stuff. Now, melding is something I didn't fully understand, but thankfully, my moderator Heather had a better understanding of it and went online and found all the things to meld in order to really help me out to get stronger, strength, healing, a lot of other cool add-ons. But she was on vacation for a few weeks, and when I started Aqua's level, I didn't do any of that. So when I got to the same point in the Coliseum, even if I bought the thing that's supposed to help, I couldn't get in the time limit. I asked chat, "What do I do?", and all of them said, "You just gotta go back to other worlds and build up your experience". I...hate this! I know it's a common thing in these games to go grind away at henchmen and minions and just build up everything, but I just don't have the patience for it, and it took something like an hour to finally build it all up. So, again, I guess it just depends on your style. If you're cool just going to other places and taking out henchmen and building up gems and HP and stuff like that, there's plenty of that here. But if you're like me and impatient as hell, definitely look up melding in this game. It will save you a lot of time.
(Several clips focusing on the different stories of the main characters are shown)
Doug (vo): There's some debate on what order to play these. I played as Terra, Ventus and Aqua, and that did make sense, but I'd be lying if I said playing Ventus and Aqua wouldn't have been more interesting if I didn't know Terra's story yet. And, yes, I played Kingdom Hearts III, I know how it's all gonna turn out, but I'm imagining if I didn't know Terra's story, would I be looking at him differently? Would I be like, "Well, is he good or bad? What's the character I'm dealing with exactly?" But if I did play it in a different order, I'd get different information at different times, too, that would definitely alter the way I see the story. And, again, this is coming from a guy who knows what happens, but I don't know the details of it. On top of that, Aqua is probably the toughest one to play, so it does make sense to save her for last. I don't know. The order I played in was fine, but whenever they're talking about if Terra's good or bad, there is something underwhelming just going in already knowing the answer if you already played him.
(Footage focusing on the characters is shown, primarily focusing on Terra)
Doug (vo): On that note, the acting in this is pretty good...for most of them. Leonard Nimoy sounds really great, and it's great hearing Haley Joel Osment as Vanitas, he's just having a great time. But Terra and Aqua are rough. Okay, Aqua, about 50% of the time, is working fine, you kind of get she'd have a little bit of an underreaction to some of these things, that's just kind of her character. But, yes, there's definitely moments that are too flat. Terra, most of the time, just isn't working. He is so disinterested in what's going on, and a part of me gets what they're trying to go for. He's trying to be brooding and quiet and, like, keeps to himself, I understand that. But there's still a way you can do that convincingly, and it doesn't work in this.
(We are shown several moments of Doug's reactions to Terra's voice performance)
Maleficent: I do remember someone leaving the castle.
Terra: Thanks. (Runs off, as Doug bursts into laughter. We cut to another moment) You're apparently not a very good liar.
Doug: Well, you're not a very good actor.
(We cut to another moment)
Snow White: Who are you?
Terra: Aren't you startled?
Doug: (snickers and laughs) What kind of question is that?
(Various clips resume showing)
Doug (vo): Now with that said, everybody does get better as the games go on. I remember him sounding great in some of the other games and Aqua and everyone else, it balances out. But, yeah, I'm waiting for him to talk about how he doesn't like sand at any minute. Like the other games, there's a pretty good variety of what you have to do in this, sometimes, you're big, sometimes, you're small, sometimes, you're flying a little spaceship around. And the difficulty always felt right. On this one, I played it on standard, and people were like, "Are you sure, man? It can be tricky", and, again, the parts where I struggle the most was just trying to figure out what moves to buy or magic to utilize, little things like that that you can figure out. And, yeah, it goes faster with melding, but you can also just build it up, taking out enemies, too.
(Footage focusing on the secret levels and the secret ending is shown)
Doug (vo): I should also say, a lot of people said even if you play the three games, there is more. There's one more secret level, actually, there is a couple secret levels, but everyone said there's one you really should play in order to get kind of the secret ending. And they were right. The secret ending has probably the most emotional stuff in the game, and it's the kind of emotion I really like where, yeah, it's a hint complicated, but they keep it really simple. Without giving away too much, there's a really great moment where a really young Sora just starts crying, and he doesn't know why. That really taps into something of just the extreme emotion of children. Like, sometimes, you would do something unexpected and not exactly know why, and I think by sort of having this backstory to it, it's weirdly identifiable. Hell, even sometimes as adults, you do stuff and you don't know why. I thought that was both a very deep and clever moment.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): So on the whole, yeah, I recommend it. I think it goes without saying you should probably play at least the first two Kingdom Hearts games before playing this, and, yeah, probably do some research on the games that came before it if you don't want to play them all. But even if you got all the way to III, this is still an interesting one to go back and experience. It's fun, it's imaginative, you have to utilize a lot in order to beat it, and it never gets too frustrating, it works out pretty good. Unlock this adventure and check it out for yourself.
(A scene showing Aqua looking at a pendent in her hand is shown)