Childish & Poorly Executed A Review by a Game Developer
I start playing... and Jesus Christ, the first 3 hours went just like this:
10 minute cutscene
2 minute tutorial
30 second fight
5 minute cutscene
30 second fight
5 minute cutscene
30 second fight
5 minute cutscene
2 minute tutorial
30 second fight
15 minutes of running around doing 3 quests over and over again
30 minutes of cutscenes and running from place to place to trigger them.
Lame-ass easy tournament: 30 minutes of cutscene and 2 minutes of fighting.
Well, you get the point. It's choppy and there's too much talk and not enough action. They almost never let you run around freely, and when they do, you are limited severely by either objects blocking your path to where you want to go or by a lame invisible wall that makes Sora say something like "We can't go this way. We have work to do."
It breaks all these rules:
1. Do not block a player from going where they want to go without giving them a GOOD reason.
2. Do not show something to the player if they cannot use it.
3. Do not design gameplay paths linear-ly.
4. Do not bore the player.
5. Do not reward button-mashing.
6. Do not make a sequel easier than its precursor.
The first game was so great because you could run around and figure stuff out on your own without being lead everywhere and shown how to do everything. I've played 11 hours into the game and have yet to see a single puzzle! My favorite level in the first one was Alice In Wonderland because it was full of puzzles that were challenging and rewarding.
Just when I think I might have to do something to get to the next area, I'll walk through a dor and a cutscene will appear, doing it all for me. Then, they will talk more and more, boring me and making me yell "Just let me fight already!" or "Let me go to _____! I don't want to head back to town!" Its so frustrating to be lead on a linear path and have no say in what you want to do next.
It seems that every time I run to a new zone, there's a 2-5 minute cutscene. Break the action one more time with a pointless cutscene and I put the controller down and play WarCraft 3.
And then, you expect a certain degree of basic game quality from Square Enix and Disney, but the environments have so many bugs, its as if they never playtested. There are tons of objects that have player collision, but your keyblade goes right through it. There are places where you're supposed to be able to grab a ledge somewhere and the shape of the model makes you miss it through no fault of your own. Your keyblade will clip right through a target (like the bouncing ball) but the collision will not read and the ball will not react.
It feels just like all other Disney sequels... Half-baked, half-budgeted,
and all-suck.
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Others have responded the same things to me, but these are some noteworthy quotes:
"It feels like they think I'm stupid"
"Makes me feel like a little kid being lead by the hand"
"Everything that made the original Kingdom Hearts great is gone"