Kingdom of Paradise is one of several role-playing games to hit the PSP lately, and certainly one of the best. Combining an interestingly customizable combat system that includes heavy swordplay and martial arts themes, a strong tie to Asian mythology, and expansive, attractive landscape, there’s plenty for role playing fans to get into. It might not be paradise, but this is still an excellent adventure.

Asian Delights

Take the role of Shinbu, a young, aimlessly wandering sword master, who comes to the aid of a young girl in trouble. Shinbu was once a member of the Seiryu clan, until he found himself exiled after sneaking a peak at forbidden ancient secrets. Unfortunately, war is afoot in the country of Ouka, and Shinbu finds his destiny taking hold as he struggles to save not just the girl, but his entire clan.

The combat system is action-focused real-time, and you can customize your attack style with scrolls (called bugei). These bugei scrolls can be further customized with special tiles that you collect (often from fallen enemies). Each scroll enables you to string together combat moves in different sequences, and finding new scrolls and tiles is something hardcore role-players will revel in.

Another facet of the combat is the use of chi powers. These elemental attacks allow Shinbu to strike out in a radius around him, damaging multiple opponents at once. The chi moves tend to be much more powerful than the sword combat, which makes the combat feel slightly imbalanced. KoP’s system seems complex on the outset, but in reality, the complexity is in the customization before combat. Fighting itself is a great looking, arcade-like affair, and the game walks a fine line between button-mashing action and tactical maneuvers.

Portable Epic

Kingdom of Paradise looks good overall. The characters are well-animated, and during dialogue, their close-ups sequences are remarkably detailed. The landscapes are beautiful, and overall the graphic quality is somewhere between a really good PSOne game and an average PS2 title. The lack of any camera controls is somewhat annoying, but seldom intrusive, and the ability to save at any time is especially welcome.

Your stay in Paradise isn’t an especially long one for an RPG, but at about 15 hours or so it’s a longer adventure than most games on the system. Great atmosphere, engaging combat, a solid story and presentation all make Kingdom of Paradise a worthy addition to the PSP library.