"Simply one of the greatest RPG's to hit the PS2". True Score: 9.6.
Graphics - 10
Sound - 9
Value - 10
Story - 10
Kingdom Hearts 2 is the sequel to Square's Kingdom Hearts, is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Square Enix and Buena Vista Games, released on September 29th, 2006 (Australian release date).
KH2 is the third game in the franchise spawning after the much loved Kingdom Hearts and the GBA sequel Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. The story once again centres around the adventures of a teenage boy by the name of Sora and his two friends, who are disney classics that go by the name of Donald and Goofy. It centres around there ongoing quest to find Sora's missing friend: Kairi.
At first, you would think that the culmination of Square Enix and Disneys' partnership would be unsuccessful and unattractive but it does exactly the opposite and the inclusion of Disneys character into a FF type game breathes life into the series. Kingdom Hearts 2 does no harm to the series infact it raises the bar one more level.
Gameplay
While it does take a long time to get into the game, the gameplay becomes quite fun and rather addictive, that is if you get into the game. The sheer amount of time you spend on the prologue is ridiculuos which is around two and a half hours of actual gameplay with 1-20 minutes ofc utscenes and what not. Taking out enemies can become an annoying experience as well because they just tend to respawn when you leave the area and the come back but nonetheless it is still a fulfilling experience.
Once you do get out of the "prologue" events, there is a vast universe of disney world to explore. You will really find yourself wanting to play more and more after you pass each world. These worlds include a host of disney classic setting which include the worlds of: Alladin, Lion King, Mulan, Little Mermaid, Haloween Town, The 1950s version of Mickey Mouse as well as some made up worlds such as Twilight Town, Hollow Bastion and the World That Never Was.
The game will last you atleast 30 hours, that is if you breeze through everything and not to the extra stuff. If you do plan on going through all the sidequest, achievements and such then you will find yourself clocking 50 hours.Square has also added a new type of mini game when taking on enemies and bosses, its kinda like a "finishing off enemies from God of War" type of mechanism, but this one doesn't work quite as well since only the triangle button is involved. You also have to use this button to do certain tasks.
The game also adds new content such as extra bosses and synthesis to make the gameplay experience deeper as well as a singing mini game which involves Little Mermaid songs and this combined with the great fighting gameplay shows that Kingdom Hearts 2 delivers well in the gameplay department.
Graphics
The style of the Kingdom Hearts world is just midn-blowing, from the happy-go-lucky style of world from Wonderland to the depths of Hades Shadows in Hercules is so well designed, each level bringing something new. All the disney characters are well designed too, they look just how they were originally made and even like there is a new life to them not to say that the Final Fantasy characters weren't great, its just that there were more Disney characters to look at. Artistic is what you would call KH2 when it comes to graphics but the technical side is pretty great too, the game runs at a constant fps rate, at around 60. Just beautiful the Kingdom Hearts world is, and the scenery of the whole world should be watched by everyone.
Sound
Everything in the game sounds all good and well except for some minor voice acting issues. In game cutscenes can be really affected when the voice of the character doesnt sound like it should. Besides this flaw, KH2 has a great musical score, Utada Hikaru does a greta job with the intro song and there are some really lovely orchestral pieces in this game. The in-game music just feels like it belongs there and is great to listen to, simply one of the best sounding games ever made minus the voice acting bit.
Value
What can I say? If you havent got enough of KH 2 the first time around you can play through it again and try to complete all the achievements part of Jiminys Journal and do all the sidequests. There are special unlockables including extra weapons to obtain thorugh synthesis as well as a video to unlock which isthe preview to Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for the PSP. To do this you must beat the game on proud mode. Overall the Replay Value is high and gives you alot to do, you could easily cock more than 60 hours on this game.
Story
Simply said, this is an epic story. The plot focuses on Sora, Donald and Goofys' quest to save Sora's lost friend Kairi. Along the way you meet several characters which have been spawned from Square Enix games, Disneys films and series as well as characters specifically made for the game. Throughout your journey you'll find out that a new evil brewing, this takes as the form of Organisation XIII which the story has also touched on in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Nobodys: A enw kind of enemy similar to Heartless appear, and your quest also turns into a mission to unravel the secrets behind the Nobodys and Organisation XIII. The Story is probably the greatest strongpoint of the game as you might find yourself immersed more in the story rather than the gameplay.
Conclusion
Kingdom Hearts 2 creates a majestical experience as an RPG, the fun gameplay, great artistical graphics combined with the superb musical score which really gives more life to the games, shows how a partnership of two completely different companies can culminate to create a great and entertaining journey. With the high replay value you will find yourself playing this game a whole lot. Kingdom Hearts 2 is simply immersive and is clearly the best in the series.