Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Successfully builds upon all the other Kingdom Hearts Games that came out before it!
The Gameplay is as smooth and fun as ever. The 3 different characters, Terra, Ven, and Aqua all are fun and easy to control.Terra is strong one, Ven is the fast and agile one, and Aqua is good with magic. I actually had doubts that I wouldn't enjoy Aqua's side of the story seeing as how I'm not really into using the magic spells in Kingdom Hearts. But if you do have doubts about not enjoying any of the characters don't worry, they're all enjoyable. The Commands are great and easy to use. They also keep you from button mashing senselessly. They are sort of like the Cards from Chain Of Memories in which you use them then they have to reload. Your deck can hold up to 8 commands and unlike the decks from COM, each card reloads individually instead of just one as a whole.
One of my favorite things about the battling is the Shotlock Command. Your Shotlock is your strongest attack in which you do a very damaging combo. You do it by holding the shoulder buttons, L and R, and depending on the shotlock you'll have to press an array of random buttons to keep the combo going. There are also D-Links which you form with the other characters you meet. The D-Link can help you during battle for many reasons, it restores your HP and gives you access to commands you might not have or just unobtainable.
The Command Board is fun and easy to play. Playing it also helps you level up your commands. With the Vast amount of boards to play on you'll find yourself playing the Command Board a lot. In Joint Struggle you face off against rounds of Unverse that eventually lead to a final Unverse boss battle. Joint Struggle is great for those trying to level or just simply love the battle system of the game. I found myself playing it a lot more than I expected, it really does help you hone your skills.
The Story is slightly confusing but not that much. With that said to those who want to make this game their first Kingdom Hearts game I recommend you don't. The story is very enjoyable from start to finish. Though I did find myself rushing through the Disney portions of the story so that I can get to the cut scenes that involved the three main characters and their main antagonist. Some cut scenes are repeated but not many and you can always skip them anyways. There is also a Theater Mode so that you can see them all again. Playing in Proud and Critical Mode will get you the Secret Movie. I suggest you do one of those 2 modes seeing as how the other 2 are really easy and more difficult to get the Secret Movie. All in all, at the end you should be very satisfied, especially with the secret movie.
The Graphics are very impressive. I've played about 10 other PSP games and this one has impressed me the most. The game is very colorful and it captures all the Disney Worlds nearly perfectly. One thing that I didn't like too much was how bland some parts of the worlds were, but its that big of a deal. The frame rate drops occasionally which is a bummer but through all that you'll still joy the game.
The Camera is mostly good but in some worlds, such as Deep Space, there are parts where your going to need to constantly shift the camera and so that causes it to mess up a lot. Other then Deep Space you should have no Problems with the Camera, don't let that keep you away from the game. I personally didn't find the loading times long, seeing as how I did the Data Install, therefore i recommend you do it. With the Data Install the longest the loading will probably be it about 10-15 seconds.
Some of the music in the game can be found in the older games. This Includes the main theme "Simple & Clean" which if you aren't tired of it by now should find it fitting for this game. None of the tunes were annoying but you might find some getting stuck in your head such as the one from Disney Town. I was personally glad that they included one of my favorite tunes from the older games, Deep Dive. All in all there shouldn't be any complaints from this department.
I'd Say this Game is worth every penny. Its flaws, though some may seem major, are forgotten once you've become addicted to it. The Story will last you a while and on top of that there are plenty of other modes to enjoy once your done. Collecting items may also take you a while. This Game also records stat, which I personally love. Seeing your stats might make you want to go back and top what you previously had.
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep is the game to have on the PSP. Though like I said you should avoid it if you haven't played any of the others, but for this game its worth getting into the series. The surprises at the ending build up the story for the next major Kingdom Hearts game so if your already into the series this is a must have. You'll love almost everything about it. The Combat, music, story, graphics, the characters, and just the overall experience. Birth by Sleep is truly amazing and for a series that had been leaving its roots recently, this definitely sets it on the right tracks.