Kingdom Hearts II is in every way better than the original, and then some!
The game starts you out as Roxas to go through the tutorials of the game, this is also the prologue. The game has a long prologue taking almost 1-3 hours before you ever see the Kingdom hearts II logo appear dramatically. After a cruel twist pf fate you finally play as Sora and ready to really start the adventure.
Gameplay: 10
The combat in the game has greatly improved since the last game, combos are cool looking and easy to pull, using magic as a finisher at an end of a combo is also a good addition. Though combos could have been easier explained on how to use them, never going farther than "in the middle of" or "in the end of"a combo. Magic hasn't change much since the original so not much to really say.
The new reaction commands are great making battles more fun by pulling off special moves against enemies even using the enemies themselves! There are also now "Limits" available during combat that allow you and one of your party members to pull of special attacks together (even Donald and Goofy), These Limits are very powerful and are avaliable as long as you have one party member alive and MP, downside; using a Limit completely takes drains you entire gauge. Another thing new is are the "Drive" modes Valor, Wisdom, Master, and Final. By coming with either Donald, Goofy or both, you can turn into any of the Drives. Valor (Goofy) offers a strong offense, Wisdom (Donald) lets you float around while shooting enemies with magic, Master (Both) is the in-between Drive, and Final (Both) is like Master but, much much more powerful. These Drives last till your Drive Gauge goes to zero.
There are many new Keyblades in the game, and not all are from the Disney Worlds. Some are given to you by some of the Final Fantasy characters like Auron, YRP (Yuna, Rikku, paine), Leon, and Tifa gives Sora a Keyblade.
The difficultly of the game is pretty easy. I can swarm trough a horde of enemies and kill them all while taking minimum damage. Most of the bosses too aren't hard, still some offer a fun challenge due to their almost cheap tactics. The game is also a little bit linear, sure you can still do the clear worlds in any order you want, but once your in that world you'll never really have a chance to drift off, since some entries/exits become blocked if your going the wrong way.
The Gummi ships now in the game is very fun, the last was a slow and boring, the new updated version is great. Creating your own ship is great A new addition are the "Teeny ships" you can have of these little ships to fight by your side. Can't fit that other gun to you main ship? then build a teeny ship to put that gun on and then add a few more!
Graphics: 10
The Visuals in the game are great. Though there is a lack of high quality CG cutscenes compared to other Square games, the game still looks great. Each world is amazingly brought to life and really feels like what the world is from the movies. The amount of detail for each world is great from the dramatic showning of the worlds title to the diffrent skins the command menu gets depending on what world your in. A good example is Timeless River where Sora and co. go back to the time of black and white toons. Sora and co. also change skins on a few world like turning into a lion in the Pride Lands and creepy holloween suits in Halloween Town. Also a nice touch is each weapon has there own effects and slash trails when used.
Sound: 10
The music in the game is great it takes the original music from the movies and changes them a little, even the music made riginally for the game is geat. The opening song "Sanctuary" by Utada Hikaru is on par with the lasts game "Simple And Clean".
The music is also a good expamle of how they made each world feel diffrent is by how each world music is very diffrent, In The Timeless River world you can hear he sounds of a old film projector in the backround, and sound effects are ones you'd hear in those old cartoons.
Voice acting in the game for the best part is great, only voice I had a problem with personally was Elizebeths from the Pirates of the Carabbeian, it seemed too British. I have no complaints at all for the voices of the Final Fantasy Characters they all seem to fit for the character, there dialouge is a bit off though, perfect example of this is Siefiers "We Totally Owned You Lammers" though thats the really only bad line I can remember.
Value: 10
There are a lot of things to do in the game, even though the main story is very linear theres always the Gummi shop missions, the Collosium tournys, leveling everything to the max, getting the Ultima Weapon and fighting a well known Final Fantasy VII character.
Tilt: 10
I love this game, though with a few flaws I can ignore the game itself is great.
I had fun through out the whole game (except the few bosses that pissed the hell out of me) The story really got me going through the game and he secret ending couldn't have made my jaw drop any lower.
So to end this....I love this game and I can't wait for Kingdom Hearts III!!