TGS07: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep impressions

by Andrew Yoon { Sep 20th 2007 at 3:45PM }

Remember this? This is the original Birth by Sleep trailer that was hidden at the end of the Japanese release of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix. But this is not Kingdom Hearts III for PS3. No, it's not what you were expecting at all.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, revealed at Tokyo Game Show today, is a brand new PSP game that expands the story of the franchise not by looking forward, but by looking back. This prequel stars a character that strongly resembles (but is not) Zack from Final Fantasy VII (and most recently, Crisis Core). In addition, we see a character that appears to be a clone of Roxas -- but that's impossible, considering the massive time difference between Birth by Sleep and the original console games. Certainly, there's a lot of mysteries surrounding this upcoming title.

As this preview video shows, the game features a much darker and sinister feel than the console predecessors. The character designs feature a rougher look, especially the main villains, featured above. The new hero, being of a much older age than the previous heroes, also adds a much more mature feel to the overall presentation. The new keyblade also feels much more menacing, being able to shoot projectiles rather quickly. From the little we got to see at Tokyo Game Show, it seems as though the gameplay of Birth by Sleep will most closely follow the PS2 originals of the new Kingdom Hearts games announced today.

This is easily the most technologically impressive Kingdom Hearts game announced today, and although it's not a next-gen sequel, this PSP iteration looks to satiate the needs of the Kingdom Hearts gamers everywhere.

Tags: birth-by-sleep, kingdom-hearts, tgs07

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

GoBob @ Sep 20th 2007 3:57PM

Moar liek Kingdom Farts, amirite?

This is something I am hardly looking forward to. However, I do recognize that this will DEFINITELY help the PSP gain popularity, so I welcome it. But I will counting down the days until the NA release of Crisis Core.

Liqwid @ Sep 20th 2007 4:00PM

Holy shit, this looks epic! I'm much happier that I bought a PSP last year.

woroxon @ Sep 20th 2007 4:02PM

the psp games for the following year are great in general.

Sora57 @ Sep 20th 2007 4:44PM

Looking forward to this!

Tim Parsons @ Sep 20th 2007 4:45PM

Damn Crisis Core now Kingdom Hearts PSP is getting some awesome RPG's

And it looks like thi was the game the Secret Ending in KH2 was pointing to considering that's the keyblade field and the same 3 warriors shown in it,. awesome cna't wait to see this,. I guess they didnt mention a date havent seen one yet

1337stra @ Sep 20th 2007 5:41PM

Finally! KH on the go!

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Sep 20th 2007 9:12PM

The cell phone game looks...weird. The DS game looks OK at best. Let's hope we're the winners because this one sounds the most promising of all three.

cafecito @ Sep 20th 2007 9:21PM

Pretty misterious, and promising as well. I wonder who that enemy is? Seems pretty powerful, huh. And who are the three knights? Looks like the youngest gets killed... or almost killed at least.

LoyalistRevolt @ Sep 20th 2007 10:58PM

Well first I would like to thank gameinformer for telling us about this 2 years ago. Second no gameplay all we know right now is that is has nice cutscenes.

2245 @ Sep 21st 2007 2:24AM

Finally a good game for the PSP and the DS, to bad i can't complete my collection with the mobile because it only releasing in Japan

txa1265 @ Sep 21st 2007 6:15AM

Too bad the PSP is a doomed failure with no games or I'd be looking forward to this one quite a bit :D

(yes I'm joking)

Alien @ Sep 21st 2007 8:05AM

My god that was amazing :o Thanks a lot Andrew for that CG :D

Bryan @ Sep 21st 2007 11:29AM

holy crap. thank goodness my girlfriend bought me a psp and not a ps3.

Edge @ Sep 21st 2007 3:37PM

Anyone else think that Disney should be concerned that they are getting increasingly less and less out of this deal?

And it STILL makes me wonder what the hell the gameplay will be like. Just like always, a bunch of drooling fanboys whipped into a frenzy by a pre-rendered trailer. I'm not impressed.

cafecito @ Sep 21st 2007 4:04PM

Edge: STFU

amir @ Sep 21st 2007 5:44PM

looking forward to it but i hope all the disney characters dies.They ruin a very great game for me >:(

Yoy @ Sep 21st 2007 7:06PM

This game looked awesome until Mickey Mouse showed up (WTF?!)... than it just got confusing...

Daniel @ Sep 21st 2007 7:43PM

Great!

But now I fear the pattern has been disrupted and Kingdom Hearts is now becoming nothing but a multi-console rushed franchise. I love it too bits but I can't bear playing a game where 3 different teams are rushing to make 3 different version, it downgrades quality and dedication

Pattern

KH1: PS2
KH:COM: GBA
KH2: PS2
KH:BBS, KH:358/2 and KH:CODED: PSP, DS and Mobile
KH3: (I fear this won't be a PS3 Exclusive)

I just hope it won't become like a over-used FF