Kingdom Hearts II --Review--

Story:
The wacky but fun collaboration between RPG masters Squaresoft, and Disney Interactive returns in Kingdom Hearts II for the PlayStation 2. Sora, Donald, and Goofy are joined by a Jedi-cloaked Mickey Mouse as they continue their adventure into other worlds and battle the forces of an evil mummy-wrapped ruler. Whether or not Mickey will be a part of the battle team, however, remains to be seen, though it was revealed that Sora and other characters will see costume redesigns to solidify the game's more advanced timeline.

Summary:

Anyone who’s played Metal Gear Solid 2 can attest to the confusion that runs rampant when a game switches gears—and lead characters—in the heat of the action. When Konami decided we’d had enough with Solid Snake and would finish off the rest of the PlayStation2 masterpiece as Raiden, Master of Peroxide, many were caught off-guard, some so much so that they refused to finish playing the game.

Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts II offers a similar tactic in the first few hours of the game, but the shock value is nowhere near as disconcerting as it was with Konami’s mega-hit. In fact, the confusion between where Sora, the first game’s hero, is and who the character we’re introduced to, Roxas, is adds to the game as a whole. Fortunately, the pluses don’t stop there.

To be entirely truthful, I wasn’t sure Kingdom Hearts needed a sequel. The first game worked better than expected, given the unorthodox marriage of the Final Fantasy universe with everything Disney. I wasn’t convinced lightning could strike twice, and that Square Enix was looking to do nothing more than make itself—and the big mouse—some more quick cash.

Then again, this is Square Enix we’re talking about, and one should never underestimate these guys when it comes to RPGs.

Sound

Voice acting does leave a little to be desired, as not every voice from the first game has made a return appearance in Kingdom Hearts II (most notably to me: David Boreanaz, formerly TV’s Angel , voiced Leon in the first game; he did not return to voice Leon in the sequel).

All in all, Kingdom Hearts II is a worthy follow-up to its predecessor and a game any PS2-owning RPG fan should own. It ventures a little too close to the first game at times, but Square Enix has created another gem, and while you’ll come for the fast-paced fighting and the exploration noteworthy in the genre, you’ll more than likely stay for the enthralling story. And let’s fact it, isn’t that the whole point of RPGs to begin with?

Gameplay

It’s been about a year since the events of the original Kingdom Hearts and for the most part, the events of the first game have been forgotten. Sora’s memories have been fragmented and scattered throughout the world, but a young boy named Roxas keeps having dreams relating back to the events of the first game. Enter this conspiracy to bring Sora back in one piece and a mysterious group called Organization XIII and you’ve got the basic framework for Kingdom Hearts II ’s storyline. I could go deeper, but I don’t want to give anything away.

From a gameplay standpoint, Kingdom Hearts II starts off slow. This is understandable in the sense that the game needs to establish characters and the overall plot, from for those of us looking to pick up a controller, mash the X button a few hundred times and kill hundreds of crawly minions, this can get frustrating. You’ll be watching cut scenes more often than actually guiding Roxas through an unfamiliar world, and while the cut scenes are well-executed and the story sucks you in almost immediately, you do forget at first that you’re playing a videogame and not watching a Disney feature.

But once the game gives control back to you, it’s off to the races. The mechanics of Kingdom Hearts II aren’t that different from those of the first game. Square Enix has again taken an action-RPG approach to combat, presumably in an effort to keep the Final Fantasy comparisons to a minimum. Truth is, the combat works just as well now as it did in the original game, if not better; the first Kingdom Hearts was plagued at times by slowdown during hectic battles, but that problem has been all but eradicated in the sequel.

Along with the familiar combat mechanics is the return of Gummi Ships, as well as some of the locales from the first game (such as Agrabah from Aladdin and Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas ). Though the Gummi Ship and its upgrades are much the same as they were in the first game, the Gummi levels are a blast. Decidedly more hectic than the first game, it feels as if Square Enix threw a full shooter in on top of the fleshed-out RPG. In many ways, these levels make up an entire game by themselves, and it serves as a nice break from the often slow-paced story sequences and exploration.

Not all is familiar with Kingdom Hearts , however. Along for the ride this time are the Disney favorites Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron , and there’s even a level that harkens back to the company’s black-and-white days. The merit of these additions will depend mostly on your personal preference when it comes to Disney films (I’m partial to the Aladdin and Pirates levels, but the black-and-white stage didn’t really do anything for me), but the eclectic mix serves the game well.

And come on, this game features Stitch as a potential summon. How cool is that?!

Summons are a part of this game, which should tickle the fancy of the Final Fantasy fans. They’re not implemented in quite the same way as in Square Enix’s flagship RPG series, but their inclusion does add an interesting new wrinkle to what is already an exhilarating and frantic game.

The Final Fantasy element isn’t as emphasized this time around, presumably because the franchise has established itself. Such FF favorites as Cloud, Aerith, Squall (called Leon in this series), Vivi and Seifer do make appearances, but overall this game is more about the Disney atmosphere and the reuniting of Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

The frantic combat, complimented nicely by an intuitive, responsive control scheme, combines nicely with traditional RPG elements such as exploration and item management, and the result is a game that feels like more than a money-making gimmick. The melding of Square and Disney again proves a success from a gameplay standpoint, even though there are plenty of times where this game can feel nearly identical to the last one (mostly when you visit stages that were present in the first Kingdom Hearts ).

In fact, the only thing that truly holds this game back is the fact in a lot of ways, it feels similar to the first Kingdom Hearts . The game does keep a lot of what worked in its predecessor, but I would’ve liked to have seen things expanded on a little further. There are far too many déjà vu moments in this game—mostly in the stages that were visited in the first Kingdom Hearts . I loved the original, and the sequel is a marvelous game in its own right, but I sat there with controller in hand too many times thinking, “Haven’t I done all this before?”

If there’s a third game, I hope the developers try to branch the game out a bit more and change this up a bit.

(Revieved by: Jeff Cunningham)

(For me, i have ended this game so many times in hard difficulty.. This games is really interesting because it combines Square Enix and Disney.. Fantastic.!! 5 of 5)