There is darkness in every heart (Kingdom Hearts (PS2))

Member Name: thanatoszane

Product:	Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
Date:	07/12/04 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great graphics, has Final Fantasy characters in it, decent plot

Disadvantages: Sometimes slow going, camera system can be mildly annoying.

I saw the trailer for Kingdom Hearts on one of the Final Fantasy games a fair while ago. It looked strange, very surreal, and vaguely interesting, so recently I got round to picking it up.

Created by Square Enix, it's a cross-over between their genre and Disney. There are appearances from characters out of the Final Fantasy series (Cid, Sephiroth, Squall to name a few) and lots of faces from Disney.

The game starts with Sora, our main hero, experiencing a strange dream and wondering about the meaning of life. Sora's friend Kairi wants to leave the island to see other worlds, as does another friend, Riku.

They build a boat to get off the island and travel to Traverse Town. Before they leave, they get attacked by Heartless that have come through the door to the other worlds. The heartless are attracted to the darkness in everyones hearts, and destroy the worlds they enter.

Meanwhile, our Disney characters are distressed - the king has gone missing. Donald and Goofy are sent to look for him, also in Traverse town.

Sora is given the keyblade - a huge key which he can use as a sword to destroy the heartless.

=======The start of the game======

I've given a brief outline of the first mission or two above. Before all this though, there is the tutorial. This is a huge long cinematic sequence with a few bits that give you choices - which weapon would you choose first out of these three, and then which would you give up. Those choices affect your starting stats, and the order in which you can gain abilities.

You are also asked to speak to three people, each with a question. You aren't told WHY the are asking those questions, or what your answers will mean, but according to some FAQs that I have read, the questions will dictate the rate at which you will gain experience at different levels.

The character creation like this was an interesting idea, and certainly got me curious.

After this though the game is slow to get started. I found wandering around the first island fairly boring, but once you get past that and reach traverse city things certainly pick up.

======The Main Game======

Once you actually get started this is quite a fun game, you spend a lot of time in Traverse Town, using it as a place to rest, refuel, and save the game between other words such as Wonderland, The Jungle (hi Tarzan!) and 100 Acre Woods.

Just about every character from the Disney films makes an appearance - Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Mini, Huey and co, Bambi, Tarzan, Tigger, Pooh, and lots lots more - I won't ruin it by listing them all, but I'm sure your favourites will be in there somewhere.

This is a real RPG, not a kids game. As such you have levels, abilities and equipment. A lot of the time it feels like Final Fantasy but with a modified combat system.

The main plot takes a fair while to work through - it took me AGES to get even partway in without a FAQ. I must convince I eventually relented and scanned a guide to get some advice because I hate puzzles. I didn't rely on the FAQ word for word however, just looked at the paragraph that would help me get past whatever it was I was stuck on.

Doing it like this I avoided the tedium that I sometimes feel gets into these games when you feel like you've looked at everything 100 times over and really can't figure the next move out.

There was still a lot to explore and enjoy even WITH a guide for certain parts. There are lots (and I mean lots) of side-quests to do, and some rather nice touches in certain areas.

Working through the game usually consists of solving a puzzle or two, speaking to people, exploring areas, then defeating a 'boss mob' some of the 'bosses' you don't have to defeat, but if you do you get potions, items or lots of experience. Basically in that respect it's a typical RPG.

The biggest problem I found was that you often need to be a higher level to defeat a boss than you would normally be if you just worked straight through the game. Spending time defeating monster after monster just because you're blocked from progressing because you're not strong enough to defeat a boss is not something I really relish. Granted if you do all the side quests you may be closer to the level you're meant to be at that point, but some of those quests weren't that appealing.

That said, levels are a necessary evil in most RPGs - just after the way they were so innovative in many other respects I was hoping that they might have gotten rid of the 'grind'.

Often tactics and brains can make up for lack of levels and abilities. I managed to defeat a lot of the bosses at a level lower than what conventional wisdom says you can do it at.

======The Graphics and Sound=======

The music is fairly nice in this game, and there's lots of cutscenes which are mostly interesting and add to the game.

The graphics are up to the usual Squaresoft Standard (read very good) and although they're a different STYLE to the Final Fantasy games they still have the same feel.

The Disney characters all sound the same as they used to, which is a huge bonus - there's nothing worse than a game based on an existing franchise that gets the voices wrong. The Garfield computer game is an example of how this can work out badly, but Kingdom Hearts has definately got it right.

The Disney characters make the transition from 2D cartoon to 3D game very well. A couple of them look different to how I imagined, but it's subtle differences and nothing too annoying, they all look good and you soon become used to seeing them in 3D.

======The Interface======

The interface for the game is smooth and easy to use. You quickly become familiar with using / selecting items and the combat system is very intuitive - a bit like in Zelda but with more options.

There are a few annoying quirks - for walking and moving around the camera works great, but for combat the auto target often targets something you wouldn't expect it to, and 'Lock-on' doesn't appear to help at all.

This is just a minor irritation and doesn't really cause any major problems though.

In the main I found the game looked good and played well. It's a great experience to watch, pretty immersive, and despite being based a lot around cartoon characters it wasn't overly soppy or cute.

Sometimes it was plain wierd and surreal, but it certainly is a pleasure to play.

======To Conclude======

Anyone who knows me will know I can be picky about games on consoles. I usually prefer (with the exception of extreme sports games) to play on the PC, but this game has nice controls, nice graphics, nice sound and a nice story.

It did get tedious from time to time, but mostly it was an immersive, interesting experience.

Anyone who wants to play a RPG but has already played Final Fantasy to death, or who just wants a change, should try this out.

If you like Disney cartoons, give this a shot too.

I would probably recommend this for adults or teens. It's a bit too slow to get started for children, and although the characters might be of interest to them, I think they might find it a bit too difficult - some of the fights are tough, and sometimes navigating requires a fair bit of skill too. If you have a child who would like to play and who is patient with games (i.e doesn't just want to pick up and play something with constant action) then it may be for them too, but if not then you have a great excuse for keeping hold of the controller yourself!

So, there you have it, Thanatozane recommending a console RPG.

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