If Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp made appearances in every video game, I’m sure we’d have a lot more girl gamers….
The original Kingdom Hearts has become a cult classic among most PS2 gamers. Kingdom Hearts II steps above and beyond its predecessor by improving the graphics, the camera (thank God…), and still manages to have gameplay riveting enough to pull gamers through this incredibly long RPG.
Contrary to popular opinion, a love of Disney movies and characters is not needed to enjoy Kingdom Hearts. Personally, the return of my beloved Final Fantasy characters was enough for me to shell out the $50 for the game. The mish-mash between Final Fantasy and Disney doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but it doesn’t have to! The story works so well that the relationship at many times isn’t even noticeable. Players start the first three hours of the game as a troubled kid named Roxas. This time is mostly spent getting acquainted with the controls and story. Roxas has been having dreams about Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Even at this stage in the game, it is obvious that the two heroes are connected.
What happens after the first three hours is a rollercoaster ride. The Heartless are back, and with them are the shells of the Heartless: the Nobodies. A group of punk guys wearing black zip-up Jedi robes called Organization XIII will stop at nothing to inconvenience Sora’s life at the worst time possible. Lastly, Malificent (the queen from Sleeping Beauty) has come back from the grave and now commands an army of Heartless.
Sora searches for his friends Riku and Kairi while chasing King Mickey through the worlds of Disney. Using the Gummi Ship, the trio must go to each world and help each character with their own individual crisis. Unfortunately for us, many believe that Square Enix’s hands were tied by Disney in terms of new material. If you’ve seen the movies, you could probably already guess what the plot will be for each world.
The story is hardly engaging enough to drag through fifty hours. It finally comes together at the end, but enduring all of those hours until then feels like torture. I don’t care enough about the individual worlds to want to help the characters; I just want to fight the Organization.
Despite the lack of a truly engaging story, Kingdom Hearts II is beautiful to look at. The cut scenes are gorgeous and some of the worlds look better than the movies. I was especially impressed with the character models. Although Cloud and Sephiroth didn’t look this way in FFVII, I can still point them out and recognize them. Many of the cut scenes are too plot heavy, but the graphics help make them bearable. Also, the battles graphics are awesome. Even when the baddies are flying in all directions the frames never miss a beat.
The battle system not only makes sense, but also opens up a lot of possibilities for the individual. There are several commands used during battle besides “attack”, such as drive, summon, limit, magic, and item. “Drive” uses another character’s help to become super-powerful.
Later in the game, Sora acquires drive capabilities for Donald and Goofy, both of which are extremely strong. The “summon” attack is exactly the same as any other RPG. However, the summoned powers fight alongside Sora instead of by themselves. Mostly I found summons to be less useful than drives or limits. A “limit” is like those in Final Fantasy, but can only be used with guest characters.
Limits are extremely helpful and are like “drives”. A combination of the two can help you win battles quite easily. Lastly, the triangle serves as the context-sensitive button. During battles, the triangle will appear with the name of the attack, and you will try to mash that stupid triangle until the attack is no longer available. Being aware of the context-sensitive menu is extremely important, in fact, many battles cannot be won without using it.
As Sora, Donald, and Goofy level up (by means of experience, of course!) they acquire new abilities. These can be equipped from the main menu, and every ability does something different. For Sora, mostly these abilities are strength related, while Donald’s are magical and Goofy’s are more defensive. How abilities are equipped can really influence the outcome of the battle.
Like the original, the Gummi Ship is used to travel between worlds. Instead of simply arriving at each new planet, the Gummi Ship has to go through an asteroid belt of sorts. These levels remind me of StarFox 64. Shoot the aliens and rocks until they blow up and collect whatever items they leave behind. These levels can get annoying, considering each level must be beaten before moving on to a new planet.
The game is quite linear, probably due to the age of the target audience for this game. It is obvious what the next objective is, as it is recorded in Jiminy’s journal. In some parts of the game several planets are opened at once, but some objectives cannot be accomplished because certain items are required. Therefore, there is little chance for exploration.
Some of the movie cut scenes are also influenced by catering to a younger audience. Obviously Pirates of the Caribbean involves dead people and violence. There is not much focus on the “dead” part of the pirates. Also, at the climax of the movie where Barbossa shoots Sparrow, all we see is the gun being pointed and then hear a “bang”. The camera is focused on other characters as the gun is being fired. Cuts such as these from the original movies are really disappointing.
The music and vocal acting are superb. Each world has an orchestral rendition of its respective Disney theme, and some battle jingles from Final Fantasy can be heard as well. Haley Joel Osment (you know, the kid that sees dead people!) does the voice work for Sora, but Christopher Lee absolutely steals the show (no spoilers here!). The lip-synching is good as well.
Also impressive is the group of actors used to voice the characters. Each Disney and Final Fantasy character that had a voice (not Cloud!) sounds exactly the same, although many of their characters are not voiced by the same actors. The only really noticeable differences are Mushu (Eddie Murphy) and the Genie (Robin Williams).
Many of the best parts in Kingdom Hearts come from the dialogue and scenarios in each world, many that will go over the heads of the target audience. For example, Roxas and his friends use slang and comebacks appropriate for people in the 7th grade: “We totally owned you lamers!” Also, the lyrics to Ariel’s musical are positively rancid. I found great joy in hearing Hades announce Auron as the biggest bad-ass in hell and seeing Captain Jack Sparrow swagger around the ship looking drunk as a skunk.
Kingdom Hearts II is really an enjoyable RPG experience. The game has certainly earned its place behind the original. Although many times Kingdom Hearts feels like a journey back through childhood, the adventure is well worth it.
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