Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep - Reception

Reception

The game sold very well during its first two days of release with over 500,000 copies of the game sold in Japan. As of February 14, 2010 the game has sold a total of 800,551 copies of the game solely in Japan. Sales in North America and Europe have also been good, with the game taking high places in various categories. In October 2010, it was listed as the sixth bestselling video game in the United States by the NPD Group. As of November 2010, the game has sold 1.27 million units worldwide with 0.31 and 0.19 million copies coming from North America and Europe, respectively, and the rest from Japan.

Prior to the game's release, IGN expressed their excitement at the release of the game in 2010 having played the demo. 1UP.com echoed similar statements, praising the visuals and stating it "plays better" than the previous Kingdom Hearts games. They had some complaints regarding to Ven's demo due to constant jumping. They further stated that Ven's demo gave them an idea of "how the game is going to feel", and predicted the game would improve the series. 1UP also put it on their article "Top 10 PSP Games of 2010", while Gamasutra put it in their "The Most Anticipated Games Of 2010" and "The Most-Awaited Games Of 2009: PlayStation Portable" articles. IGN featured it as nominated of 2010's "Best of E3 Award" in the category Best PSP Games. GameTrailers also had praise for the new title and gave it a nomination for Best PSP Game of E3 2010.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep has received positive reviews from gaming publishers. The game's average score is of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic and GameRankings, becoming the third highest ranking Kingdom Hearts game behind Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. The game has been highly praised by Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu, which gave a score of 10/9/9/9 for a total of 37/40, the third-highest rated game in the Kingdom Hearts series behind Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts II. It praised the game's graphics and music, calling them "superb", as well as praising the wide variety of customization available to the players due to the three unique playable characters. It also praised the design of boss battles, calling them "lively and exciting". English websites have also given praise to the game with GameZone calling it "amazing title that every KH fan must play", finding it the best portable game from the series. RPGamer praised the "evolution" from the gameplay ever since the series' start. PlayStation: The Official Magazine (PSM) agreed calling the fighting system "one of the deepest, most rewarding" ones from the PSP. IGN called its battle system "unique", labelling it as the best one from all the series and having a campaign story. 1UP praised the differences between the protagonists' fighting styles with PSN comparing them with different classes of RPG characters. A common complaint has been the game's loading times, which tended to be very long depending on the PlayStation Portable's memory. Reviewers also called the game's worlds "hollow due to the lack of interaction, and also criticized the game's camera which sometimes made fights confusing. Visuals were also well received for being similar to the ones from PlayStation 2's games with praise on the design of the worlds, although a lack of details was also noted.

Sites have also praised the game's story, for its accessibility as a result of being a prequel, or that it did not bear elements from previous games that tended to confuse gamers such as the characters' identities. Critics also appreciated how the story is told from three different perspectives, which helped to give different point of views as well as expand the time the game can be played. Nevertheless, some character traits were criticized such as the similarities between the protagonists to previous ones. While Eurogamer cited that the three characters had little impact to the Disney worlds' storyline, Terra's role was praised by 1UP.com for distancing itself from previous scenarios. Although the lack of Final Fantasy characters got mixed opinions, PSM thought that it helped to expand the exploration of Disney worlds, while Zack's role was found suitable by GameZone. The English casting for Birth by Sleep also received positive comments with GameTrailers stating that it "features one of the few good English dubs in recent memory", particularly Leonard Nimoy's performance. GameSpot stated that Ventus' and Aqua's voice actor to have done a good job voicing them, but criticized Terra's as one of the worst ones from the game, most notably, when compared with other well-received actors.

IGN featured it in their "Game of the Month" from September 2010 in the PSP category. The game has been listed as one of the best PlayStation Portable titles with GamesRadar placing it sixth and IGN eighteenth. In an ASCII Media Works poll, it was listed as the tenth best game of 2010. In France's Japan Expo from 2011, it won in the category of "Best Portable Console Videogame." In November 2011, Sony announced Birth by Sleep would receive the "Gold Prize" for selling over 500,000 units in Japan.