Kingdom Hearts Review
Platform: PS2, PS3
Developer: Square
Publisher: Square Enc
Author: S.A.
If there ever was an unlikely success story for video games, here it is in the form of Kingdom Hearts. Just looking at the cover of the game case often had people, including myself, shaking their heads. After all, what kind of game that was meant for older children could possibly involve characters such as Donald and Goofy from the Disney crew.
I ate my own words willingly once reaching the end of this game.
Not the usual suspects for a game.
Enclosed within the tiny CD that was brought to us on the Playstation 2, then successfully remastered on the Playstation 3, was a game that hit you right in the emotional centre of your childhood. It spoke of betrayal, adventure, loyalty like no other, and what it meant to be a good friend and person. I personally believe many of my current views on how friendships should be have been altered by merely playing this game.
The story concentrates on our very young protagonist Sora and his friends Riku and Kairi. It started with their want to travel to other worlds, and losing their own home due to the power of darkness that had been festering within the universe. Not only that, a betrayal on the part of your best friend Riku has cost you your young love Kairi. When you awaken after the destruction of your home world, you find yourself on another planet. It is through the help of King Mickey and his loyal subjects Donald and Goofy that you seek to find not only Kairi and Riku, but also restore balance to the universe.
The story is simple in nature, but the friendships that you see gained throughout the telling and heartfelt content is enough to bring even a grown man to feel a tremble in their hearts. The great voice acting is accompanied by a beautiful symphony of music that often has you enthralled in the story like few games seem capable of doing.
The graphics at the time were beautiful rendered, and with the remake in the past year done, remain top notch. So don’t let it being an old game slow you deter you from playing. That’s right folks, if you can still play final fantasy 7, don’t you dare look away from this masterpiece.
The gameplay in Kingdom Hearts is influenced heavily by its brethren game, Final Fantasy. It carries over basics from that world into its hack and slash system, but does not involve a turn base system. So feel free to throw around your magic while dodging all enemey fire. That is, if you’re good enough.
The main battles consist of a party of three characters, usually Sora, Goofy, and Donald. Sora is the only person directly controlled by the player, and is done so from a third person perspective. All other players are controlled by the computer and may even be customized to some extent through the start menu. For instance, if you don’t like Donald or Goofy’s style of play, you can change that to an extent in the start menu, or sub them out on certain worlds for the characters available there. For instance, in Halloween town Jack Skellington can join the party and change up dynamics. However let it be said that these interchangeable characters are only availble on their respective worlds. Not only that, but you will see certain skill sets that are unique to specific worlds, such as Neverland and the ability to fly, and must cater your abilities to such a fighting style.
Don’t think you’ve strayed to far from traditional RPG’s though, for Kingdom Hearts features an experience point system just like Final Fantasy that determines your character development. As you grow stronger you gain new abilities that will change your style of play if your willing to experiment. Also it is important to note that at the beginning of the game we get a choice on how we want our character to develop to an extent. We choose if we want young Sora to excel in one certain area while lagging behind in another, whether that be strength, defence, or magic, that’s up to you. This will change what abilities you gain as you grow levels though, so be careful! Donald and Goofy themselves specialize in particular branches from the beginning and cannot be changed. Goofy excels in defence and special attacks, while Donald is your magic man.
In conclusion Kingdom Hearts is a more than enjoyable game that I’ve played through more times than I can count. If you’re looking for a game that will have you begging for more? Look no further and get this beautifully crafted masterpiece.
Yes guys, If you can’t tell yet, I’m definitely in love with this game.
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