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 camera has been pulled way back and moved to the right analog stick. Playing in third person keeps the bad guys in view at all times and makes running around the environment much, MUCH easier. During battles the camera does a good job of keeping track of the boss and Sora at the same time, which makes planning your next move easier because you can actually SEE what you are aiming at. Kingdom Hearts II uses the action part of RPG. Unlike traditional turn-based battling, players control only one character and hope the other two are doing their jobs healing and attacking. Welcome to the wonderful world of button-mashing! Battles are more exciting with this kind of system. Also, by some miracle Donald and Goofy never die, so HP is always replenished right when it’s needed. Finally some aspect of RPG’s you don’t have to worry about: dying.
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.
