Shinbu has made studying the art of the sword his life-time pursuit. It is a passion and way of life for him. It was not always so. At one time he was a disciple of the Seiryu clan, but then he did “something stupid” and was expelled.

And so he lives in the town village in the eastern portion of the realm. He supplements his livelihood by acting as a bodyguard to travelers. It is during his return home from such an assignment that he sees a disciple of the Seiryu clan being chased by members of the Kirin Clan. Shinbu steps in and fights off the pursuit. The disciple is Sui Lin, and she has come to find the one-time student Shinbu (he says nothing, initially). Something terrible has happened. The Kirin have attacked and wiped out all of the Seiryu clan with the exception of Sui Lin. She is the sole surviving member and thus heir to the role of clan lord. But she doesn’t want it, and so she has come to find Shinbu, to see if he will serve as clan lord.

That is the preamble to the story of Kingdom of Paradise, a sprawling role-playing title for the PSP handheld that carries more of the standard features of the RPG genre, but departs from them at all the right moments.

The game is from Climax and SCEA, and all one really has to do is launch the game to know that this is something new for the platform. The intro is more like a movie, with a lush musical score carrying the credits as though the player was in a theatre.

The story follows Shinbu’s quest of vengeance, which leads to ancient swords and unification of the divided realm of Ouka.

There are times when the story seems to be made up on the spot. His teacher in the village give him his father’s sword, and then hurriedly – almost like an afterthought – mentions there is another legendary sword.

While Kingdom of Paradise has many elements familiar to fans of RPG titles, one area where it deviates markedly is in the combat system. Shinbu is a sword master and thus he will be taking on a variety of enemies with nothing but his sword between him and a restart.

Prior to entering an area where it seems likely that a battle will occur, players select a bungei scroll. The scroll is, essentially, a pre-loaded attack combo. Players can find the scrolls in the journey throughout the kingdom. These scrolls come with slots that are filled with kenpu tiles, which are also found. Each tile has a different attack (there are 150 moves spread throughout 15 different martial arts styles, to there is a lot of diversity here). You load the kenpu tiles into the bungei scroll to create your own unique combos. It is really cool stuff.

But that is only half of the equation. The other half is Chi, the magical ability that it tied to elemental objects. The more you use your Chi, the better it gets and the more powerful spells you can cast.

Using both of your offensive abilities has been kept simple. And the entire control scheme of the game is rather simple. But the game is missing that second thumbstick – you know, the one that controls the camera angles. The locked camera position is decent, but there are times when the game almost feels like a side-scrolling title, rather than the lush three-dimensional game it is. Being able to rotate the camera would have been wonderful, but then, this is on the PSP and it is a thumbstick shy of the PS2 controllers.

The game’s graphical elements are very good. The character models are typical of the Japanese style RPG style, but are still compelling, and the environments are very well done. The sound goes from solid to silly with ease. Just when you think the game’s narrative is pulling you in, it seems to jump over to a badly dubbed English track of a Japanese movie, complete with the fast-talking portions.

But regardless of the minor obstacles, Kingdom of Paradise is a grand RPG with a great combat idea. It is certainly deserving of more than a mere look by PSP owners and RPG fans are likely to be enthralled with the create-a-combo pack idea. It adds personalization to the game, and truly makes the experience unique.

Gameplay: 7.9
Load times are minimal and the control scheme is easy to grasp. The combat mechanics have a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it is good stuff indeed.

Graphics: 8.0
The graphics are very eye catching and the animation is solid. The locked camera creates some frustration at times, especially when the gamer tries to rotate it using a thumbstick that isn’t there. Only that and the small screen remind players they are on a handheld and not playing on a home console.

Sound: 7.5
The musical score is wonderful, the dialogue, and some of the dialects, can seem like a hurried translation (a la the Godzilla movies) that the voice actors were improperly briefed to do.

Difficulty: Medium
The challenge lies in putting together the right bungei scrolls of kenpu moves for the most effective combat combos possible. You will need them as you progress through the story.

Concept: 8.3
While the story itself is not totally new, and the general presentation is standard (in that you can level up Shinbu as he gains experience) the combat ideas are rather intriguing and quite fun.

Multiplayer: N/A
There is a head-to-head battle mode included in the game, but this was not a release version and so the mode was not available for testing.

Overall: 8.0
The game begs for a moveable camera, and the plot – at times – seems like ideas were tossed in out of the blue (the “oh yeah, and there’s another sword, too”). The voice acting sounds like a dubbed Japanese movie at times. Those are the downside of the game. The upside is that the title is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, the animation is solid, the combat ideas are excellent, the role-playing elements are very well executed and the game evolves at a steady pace with a lot of action and story-driven moments. This is a fine RPG title and, quite honestly, any PSP fan of the genre would be well served to own it.