Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - The Best Kingdom Hearts Since the Original

This review is truncated to avoid spoilers.

Gameplay: 10     The new Command system works absolutely beautifully with Kingdom Hearts' style of play. MP simply does not work in an action RPG and recharging abilities, both physical and magical, makes complete sense. Gameplay-wise, this is the best game in the series.
Story: 8.5     Clearing up several plot holes, loose ends, and partially setting up the events of Kingdom Hearts 3, Birth by Sleep also remembers it is the beginning of the story and makes sure (almost) everyone gets a proper introduction. Some problems arise by introducing new loose ends, most notably never giving any context behind the Keyblade War and an incredibly vague explanation as to why the Keyblades even exist. Despite that, knowing how KH has handled previous loose ends, Kingdom Hearts 3 will answer them just finely.
Presentation: 9.5     Put simply, other than Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is the best looking and sounding game on the PSP. The only thing stopping it from getting a higher rating is having to listen to Aqua's voice actor for 40 hours. Willa Holland, a voice actor you ain't. Jason Dohring does a stellar job as Terra while Jesse McCartney continues to be excellent as Roxas Ventus. Nothing negative can be said about Mark Hamill as Master Eraqus and Leonard Nimoy as Master Xehanort. Haley Joel Osment does a surprisingly great job as the sinister Sora Vanitas.
Replay Value: 7.0     To see the ending of Birth by Sleep, you need to beat Terra's, Ventus', and Aqua's storylines, all taking anywhere from 20-40 hours each. A 60-120 hour game? You better believe it. Birth by Sleep is incredibly lengthy for a handheld game, utilizing recycled enemies and recycled environments with each character visiting one or two unique areas within each world. The next time I play through the entirety of Birth by Sleep is the next time I decide to play through Final Fantasy XIII in its entirety.

Overall Score: 8.8     Despite a few flaws in length and storytelling, Birth by Sleep proves to be more than just a cash-in and a wise decision by Square Enix to stop making games for mobile phones and develop them on more mainstream handheld devices. Easily the best game since the original, Birth by Sleep fixes problems in the gameplay that should have been fixed with the 2nd installment, but it isn't something that was fixed too late. Hopefully, Kingdom Hearts 3 will also use the Command system while fixing Birth by Sleep's story pacing issues. If you have a PSP and enjoy slashing the shit out of bad guys, Birth by Sleep is a must-buy.