A very solid addition to the already amazing Kingdom Hearts series.
Genre: RPG-Action
Developer: Squareenix-Disney
System: Playstation Portable
Total Score: 97/100
Value Score: 9.7/10
• Story: 10/10
o You're given the choice to play as 1 of 3 main characters, pretty much the beginning is the same for each character, except for some minor differences depending on who you play as the view of the storyline is different. Players will than take their respected characters to whatever worlds each character will go in each character's unique order, along with that the interaction with the worlds' characters is different, for example, in one world, terra's storyline might be after ventus' storyline or vice versa, same with Aqua's storyline, the storyline pretty much is different for each character until the ending which similar for each character other than their respected boss battles. Once you finish all three storylines, you will be offered to complete the final episode which will thus end the game.
• Characters: 9/10
o The cast of disney characters are pretty much huge as the previous KH games, however when it comes down to the FF characters, BBS only offers one excluding the moogles who are shop owners. Other than that, the new characters which are included give forth majority of the storyline in the game, and gives the player a decent amount of interaction and character built up. New and old players of KH series will enjoy the colorful cast of characters in this addition to the series.
• GamePlay: 10/10
o Gameplay has improved, rather than it being a expansion of KH2 like KH2 was to KH1, KHBBS' gameplay is a expansion of KH358/2 days gameplay. Instead of having a junction like system, your given command slots which you can equip skills and magic spells. There's also a section for passive abilities such as jumping, blocking, etc. You also have the ability to use a special technique exclusive to each character, which enables you to use an attack by using the L+R buttons and holding it by charging it up for a special attack which can be used to damage the enemy or to become invincible from a deadly enemy attack. You can create magic spells, skills and abilities by "Melding" skills. You can get a decent of abilities to power up your hp, defense, attacks, etc. Also unlike 358/2 days, the leveling up system is back, so you will gain experience points from monsters and level up, you also receive points for skills/magic you have in the command slots, its how you level them up and make them more powerful.
• Graphics: 10/10
o For a PSP game, this game has incredible graphics, however your given the default 16 bit colors, you can improve this along with the CPU speed which is nifty for some scenes within the game that are heavy in graphics due to the amount of space some areas maybe, the bigger they are, the laggier the game becomes, but you can overclock it to 333 from 222, it'll drain your battery however. I played in 222 with 16 bit, so it didn't bother me that much either ways. The graphics are pretty good, you wouldn't know the difference between KH2 and BBS.
• Sound: 9/10
o The game contains pretty much the same sound output as KH2 did, clear and crisp. Voice acting is well done for each character, not sure why people hated Terra's voice, for me it fit him quite fine. However some of the enemy sounds and hitting sounds were a bit off.
• Music: 10/10
o Probably one of the best OSTs in the series, the remixes of old KH games battle themes are incredible, I suggest to anyone to go out and listen to Scherzo Di Note, Battle of Great Valor, Ventus' Theme, and Rage Awakened. The other theme songs are also incredible and worth to hear, hopefully SE releases a OST for this game.
• Length: 10/10
o In my opinion, Kingdom Hearts BBS has the longest storyline, more than likely, each character's storyline should take you about 10 hrs at the most, this is excluding all the traveling around for items and power ups, but includes training time in the Mirage Arena. In total, that would be about 30-35 hours depending on how long you play as each character, along with that the final episode should take you about at least a hour at the most to complete.
• Replay Value: 9/10
o Kingdom Hearts BBS has possibly the best Replay value out of the entire series, very similar to the KH 358/2 days, it contains a theatre mode which lets you see cut scenes from throughout the game's storylines, it contains a detailed timeline with explanations on storylines and along with that if you completed everything in either proud or critical mode, you will unlock the special "Blank Points" movie which is the secret ending. Along with that, each character can go to the Mirage Arena, here you can face some exclusive bosses, fight more challenging enemies or team up with another player on fighting those challenges in a 2 player co-op.
• Player Value: 10/10
o Possibly the best KH game in the series, but I love KH2, so its kind of a tie in between, a lot better than COM and 358/2 days, a step ahead of KH1, but tied up with KH2. This game is very enjoyable, will bring a lot of memories, also the nostalgic feeling from the disney movies is a plus. Also if you're a fan who started the series about 10 years ago or so when the first game came out, meeting the characters in a earlier time than the original storyline leaves you a bit nostalgic, at least for me it did, this game is worth it.