Kingdom Hearts 2 Review

Yes I know this game has been out for months. On the 28th of October, after 37 hours on the in-game clock (geekchic can verify this), I finally managed to finish the game! And thats only the storyline portion of it, I didn't go out and look for all the ultimate weapons and complete all the miniquests. Guess I'm more driven by story then the I'm-level-99-and-can-kill-the-final-boss-in-one-fell-swoop.

It is a collaboration between Squaresoft, one of the greatest RPG houses in history, and Disney, easily the most recognisable cartoon franchise in the world. I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive at this game at first. I guessed that the game would be too childish and for the first many hours, my guesses were true. I can't fathom carrying a huge-ass Keyblade into a world with Pooh characters really...

The game worlds comprise of Disney universes and franchises such as Pirates of The Carribean, The Little Mermaid, Hercules, Aladdin and much more. There's even a world called Timeless River where it transports you back in time where Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pete were first drawn. It's based on the first Disney's Steamboat Willie cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse, way back in 1928. Definitely cool!

Interspersed in those universes are Final Fantasy characters such as Cloud, Squall, Sid and Auron. They looked pretty out of place at first, but fit in nicely after my initial shock.

The game is a continuation from Kingdom Hearts 1, and as I have found out the hard way, if you haven't played the KH-I, there would be quite a few instances in KH-II that will make you go "Huh? What the..?" I highly suggest that you play the first installment first. And since I didn't, I cannot comment on the advancements from the first game.

The game tells the story of Sora and his companions Donald and Goofy. Apparently the worlds have been overrun by bad dudes called the Heartless. You will be romping through Disney worlds laying the smack down on said Heartless and bringing light once more to the hapless public. Some of the Disney worlds have you playing a role in the actual cartoons/movies and some have more original storylines.

Within the first hour of this game I knew this is Final Fantasy. It's what kept me going. Truth be told, I haven't played FFX-2 so its been a while since my last FF game. You FF fans will recognise the familiar aspects on the FF genre, with spells such as Firaga and items such as Tent, making fantastic weapons out of raw materials, summoning allies to help in battles and intricate limit breaks.

The action, unlike FF, is in real-time button mashing hack-n-slash mode though, requiring you to run around enemies and clobber them with your Keyblades. This gives rise to the added complexity of selecting items and casting magic while enemies are swarming over you. Donald and Goofy will do their own thing with minimal input from you. There are also special commands called Reaction Commands, which when triggered at the right time, causes Sora to do something bad to the enemy, whether it be climbing onto the back of a flying dragon. Reaction commands can also be chained, particularly in elaborate boss battles, like parrying and enemy's attacked followed by a counterattack. If you've played God of War, you'd know what I mean. Very cool.

The graphics are excellent, capturing the colourful worlds of Disney and its characters. Definitely one of the nicer looking games around with intricate attack combo animations and excellent motion capture. Whats even better than the graphics is the sound. Oh my gosh, its truly Final Fantasy, with its epic scores, punchy sound effects and first rate voice acting. With big names such as Christopher Lee (Count Dooku in Star Wars) and other reprising their original roles such as Ming Na (Mulan), it's truly a feast for your auditory senses. I do have one gripe though, while most of the cutscenes and story bits are voiced out, there are few that are just text on the screen, ala Final Fantasy games for the PS1. Maybe there isn't enough space on the DVD, but I really felt everything should've been voiced out.

The storyline is classic Squaresoft, complicated in some situtations and always dealing with touchy-feeling subject material. In this case, its all about, you guessed it, hearts. I also feel that the Disney worlds were thrown in a bit haphazardly and did't seem to connect to one another. Its like, go to this world, finish the quests, go to the next world. Belle has never met Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas and Pooh has never seen Tron. That sorta stuff. A bit more cohesiveness would've been great.

In the end, 37 hours of my life over 2 months were well spent. A must play for fans of Final Fantasy and Disney and highly recommended for everyone else. I wonder if Kingdom Hearts III will have Lightning McQueen from Cars or Mr Incredible from The Incredibles...