User Rating: 8.4 | Kingdom Hearts PS2
Kingdom Hearts isn't like Squares other games, Although the combat involves several things from the turn-based system in Final Fantasy, including critical hits, buffer and healing items, and spells translated into a real-time system. It also features the party system of Final Fantasy. Of course, as I mentioned, the biggest difference is in the movement to real-time. I prefer this system because it focuses more on skill and less on stats and luck. As it turns out the system is both a blessing and a curse. The combat is pretty in depth for an action/Rpg. You have armor, better weopons, magic, and several other things you don't see as involved in games of its ilk. Unfortunately, the combat with the heartless is rediculously repetitive. It's always fun, but not diverse. The boss battles, on the other hand, are VERY diverse. You might be fighting three small, weak children in a little room. Other times, you might be fighting a fat, ugly, big (with an emphasis on big) squid/she-sumo wrestler freak in the depths of the ocean. Your party members have scriptable AI, and they're good at following your settings, but they tend to just stay in one place and keep fixed on their current target till its dead or you assign a new one. The story in this game is surprisingly emotional, albeit heavily clished with a cornily delivered moral. The cutscenes are great, with good camera work, lip-synching, and voice-acting. I actually wish that Disney wasn't involved with this one, but Square does a good job of making some of the characters look like they belong with ones like Cloud and Aeris, er, Aerith (isn't she dead?). The visuals do a good job of giving each world its own feel, and the lips just look great. The music is good, but very repetitive. In the end, Kingdom Hearts is the closest Disney is going to get in having its characters featured in a classic game. You'll get over the Disney guys in a Square game, and you might actually get a lump in your throat from the story (but not in the part where the moral is delivered). 
