"Another average RPG for the PSP"

I bought Kingdom of Paradise during my RPG kick for my PSP. I recently ran into some issues with my PS2 not having a working controller and me being broke so I figured it was time to tap into my PSP back log. I guess I never paid attention to this game because it was nothing like I thought it was going to be.

A young man saves a girl from some warriors. She says her clan has been wiped out and she's looking for you. You pretend to know this person she seeks and take her to your village where you reveal it's is you who she is looking for. You receive your father's sword and set out to help this girl rebuild the clan. The plot is simple, has a few interesting twists but it really doesn't do a whole lot with what it has.

Graphic wise this game looks stunning. Character models are highly detailed during the cut scenes. In game animations are smooth and interesting. Enemies all kind of look the same and act the same but they come at you in different ways. It's one of the more pleasing games to look at on the PSP.

The sound in the game is really mixed. Voice work is either decent or wooden. Our hero has one of the stiffest voices I've heard in a long time. The music is fitting for the theme but I didn't find it to be overly good.

Control is simple to get the hang of. Move with either the d-pad or analog nub. X tosses your sword, circle is your attack. Triangle allows you to quickly use your item and square is used for magic. Alter your styles with the R button. That's all and it's simple and responsive.

My original thought of this being a RPG was really wrong. It's more along the lines of Kingdom Hearts. You go from town to town via a world map that has the depth of a 3d world but you pretty much have a 2d view so it does feel a bit awkward.

As you walk around random enemies pop out and fight you. Walk up to them and just hit the attack button and then they are dead. No skill is required for the common enemies, the bosses on the other hand really can cause a problem because they require you to think about what elemental skill to use and when to block. It almost seems unfair how hard the bosses are compared to rest of the game.

You get new weapons as you go along but they don't mean anything since you'll need them all for their elemental powers. You get items and you'll really need those for the boss fights since I never really had a problem with the normal enemies.

I did find traveling the world and figuring out where to go to be a little difficult. The game just fails to give you enough information to know exactly where to go so I did end up wasting a lot of time going to the wrong areas only to not be able to advance in them and having to back track. The view of the world while traveling didn't help matters much either.

The game is kind of short. Not a whole lot of reasons to replay it but you do get a new game plus which carries items over. It's more than most games lately I guess.

Kingdom of Paradise isn't as bad as the reviews made it out to be. It's not perfect either. It is an enjoyable little game worth about $15 or so. I had fun with it but it does have a number of flaws.

Story - 6/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 6/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay Value - 5/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/07