Review: Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts 2 gets released this week so I thought it would be nice to get my review of Kingdom Hearts done in time to celebrate it, so I hope you like
Story:
Sora is a young man living on a tiny island only inhabited by children with his friends Riku and Kairi. The three conspire to build a raft to explore the world to see what they can see. On the eve that they were to set out however, the island is attacked by creatures that are called "The Heartless" this attack is only the precursor to the destruction of their world. Sora awakens in a nexus world call Travers Town, separated from his friends. Now he and new allies, Donald Duck, and Goofy, Search for Sora's friends, and the missing king Donald and Goofy are searching for.
Graphics:
The look uses heavy cell shading to accomplish the look that you are in a cartoon based world, and accurately recreates the worlds from many Disney properties, including the unique looks of movies like Hercules, and The Nightmare before Christmas. Though I found the look of the Final Fantasy characters a little disturbing, since their look is now that of this game and not the game they were originally from, still this aside the game is beautiful and utterly enjoyable.
Music:
The music is easily matches the quality Square is known for, epic and sweeping, as well as mixing in some common themes from the given Disney musical scores. The voice acting is not only good but filled with most of the original voice actors from the movies that they were in. and since most of the characters from the Final Fantasy Games had no original voice actors they have included voice talents like Haley Joel Osment, and Mandy Moore.
Control:
Kingdom Hearts is an action RPG. Usually this would mean that you are hacking and slashing ala Diablo. That is not the case for Kingdom Hearts in that the action is in full third person, while locking on to one enemy. Most of the combat is strategically decided on who you lock onto and attack them, because the camera is not very responsive and tends to stay behind you at all times, and is slow to turn around if you make a quick directional change, making the lock on option an absolute must especially when fighting groups of enemies. The platforming aspects are a little off and are wonky at best, this tends to get frustrating when platforming is essential to progress through the game, or you are being timed in a race. The Gummi Ship stages are the worst feature in the game, controls are sluggish and aiming to shoot is non existent, and what is worse is that you have to use them to progress to new levels. Aside from these gripes the control is good, and fighting enemies will keep you in this game, especially in boss fights.
Design:
The Story was well thought out and is deeply engaging, though it kind of bugged me a little that they basically did a Cliffs Notes Version of most of the Disney movies, which were already chopped up from their original stories, which kind of left me feeling a little empty, but it was nice not to have to play through every aspect of games like Tarzan, and Hercules, especially since The Hercules move had nothing to do with Greek folklore. If there were anything that the developers could have fixed it would have been my gripes in the game play section.
RPG fans this is a good title well worth your time, Disney fans this is the best Disney themed title since the Capcom years. Casual fans may want to rent it, still I have to recommend this game and since you can purchase it for $20 or less why not buy a copy? You will find this game to be quite engaging! I know I did!
Graphics
9/10
Game play
7/10
Sound
9/10
Fun factor
9/10
Tilt
9/10
Average score
8.6
Kingdom Hearts:
Pros:
Good graphics
Good action
Engaging in fight game play
Great storyline
Cons:
The Gummi Ship Stages SUCK!
The Camera is in the way, alot
The platforming aspects are clumsy, and annoying