I remember the commercials for the game and scoffed. Hah! A Disney / Square collab? No way it'll be any good. However, slowly the word began to build (from the lips of ADULTS, mind you) on the game, so I just had to pick it up to see what the hype was all about. The minute I popped in the game I felt like I was being insulted. Its cartoony candy coating and intense pastels almost made me feel as if I, as a grown man, shouldn't be playing a game with "The Little Mermaid" as one of the playable characters. Surely I had made a mistake, right? ...But I kept playing That's when I reached the true heart of the game. Kingdom Hearts is an immersive journey into both the worlds of Disney and Square that seems more like it was made by one hardcore fan, than by a cast of many. It follows the story of Sora and a cast of Disney favorites in their attempt to salvage their ravaged worlds from the clutches of "The Heartless" a colorful bunch of life force stealing troublemakers bent on plunging all living things into darkness. The character models are crisp and bright, staying pretty true to their universes, save for the faces, which stay frozen in the same expressions. Level design is clever and does justice to the Disney source material, taking the player to many of the famous locals in our favorite disney movies. Oh, and the SOUNDTRACK! I capitalize that to make a point. Its soo good, that it really needs its own review. Unfortunately, the worlds did not always blend together so seamlessly in the plot. The story is rich and engaging, but thick and almost overflowing with Square's nagging clichés that sometimes seem too commonplace in many a good RPG nowadays. I often squirmed uncontolably as I had to sit through tripe filled cutscenes and saccharine sweet sermons. One chosen kid hero blah blah blah...humans are scum, but there's hope..fubar...It also shares some of Disneys tired kid-friendly humor that at times can be very funny, but often comes off as annoying. But there is hope... Thank God the gameplay is good! The action is fast-paced and sometimes intense playing more like a hack and slash than a true turn-based RPG. Gameplay never gets stale as you cut through swath after swath of Heartless foes with an easily manageable control scheme and in-game menu. Camera flaws are now apart of the average gamer's life and KH does its part to fill your RDA of crappy angles. In closing, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Despite minor plot annoyances, the story is engrossing and interesting. You care about these fractured worlds. Despite the occasional camera floops, the gameplay is powerful. I recommend, this game to those that don't like RPGS, as well as to the younger set as a "My First RPG" adventure. Advanced RPG players may feel insulted, as I did. So I recommend this game to them not as a full course meal, but merely as an appetizer, inbetween your Xenosaga and Final Fantasy games. Either way, you won't be disappointed!
This game has been one of the best action RPGs I've ever played in my life. At first I didn't want to like it cause I had the normal, "Don't mess with the childhood Disney legacies." But after I finally tried it I abso... Read Full Review
This game right here is the start of a great series! The first Kingdom Hearts started off a great collaboration between Square and Disney which now spans three games and two systems. This game really caught me by surpr... Read Full Review
