Kingdom Hearts
A PS2 Game Review By
Le Chupacabra
Avatar summons, magic potions, Moogles, a guy named Cid, Cloud Strife…and Donald Duck (?) !!!
Surely someone’s made a mistake. It is Final Fantasy we’re talking about…isn’t it?
Welcome to Kingdom Hearts - a game that’d probably have Uncle Walt Disney drop into a coma had he lived to see it. The marriage of Square-Enix’s sombre, deep Final Fantasy characters and Disney’s cutesy, loveable ones is indeed something that’ll have most people scratching their heads while others are simply happy with doing a double take and yelling “WTF?!”
But fear not, Kingdom Hearts is a bloody wonderful game to boot and the collision of these seemingly opposite worlds has lead to something that’s utterly charming, brilliantly executed and close to the heart.
With his spiky anime hair and overlarge Disney-esque shoes, Sora is the perfect protagonist for such an odd game. A series of events see Sora separated from his lifelong friends and now he must find them at all costs. At the same time, King Mickey (yes, that Mickey) is missing from his palace and its upto court-magician Donald Duck and guard Goofy to embark on a quest to find their ruler. These events are somehow related and soon Sora, Donald and Goofy partner up to help each other…
The result: a simply magical journey of epic proportions the likes of which you really have never seen before!
Going from world to world, each with a Disney theme from Tarzan’s jungle to Aladdin’s Agrabah, you must battle an enemy called the Heartless. The combat is completely in real-time and this makes each fight rightfully tense and exciting. The ability to perform all manner of awesome combo attacks and cast magical spells all at once really makes you relish the battles and makes you wonder why Final Fantasy doesn’t have combat like this! As you level up, you gain the ability to do cooler looking moves, cast more powerful spells and even perform Summons, ala Final Fantasy. Except here you summon avatars like Simba and the Genie. Watching Simba roaring from the top of Pride Rock before coming to your aid is something worth seeing over and over again! Wielding your Keyblade you fight alongside Goofy and Donald. Depending on the ‘world’ you’re in, characters like Ariel and Tarzan can join your party! The AI is quite good so it feels like you’re actually working as a team as you battle your way through the countless varieties of Heartless. Once you’re done with the cannon fodder you’ll face bosses that happen to be classic Disney villains! Not only are these fights thrilling, but being able to battle it out with characters you’ve hated since childhood leads to a certain feeling of glee that’s indescribable. Should the Disney charm not work on you, worry not again – Square-Enix has infused Kingdom Hearts with the same magic that makes Final Fantasy so enjoyable. There are certain quirks that just add to the fun-factor and you’ll really love to take your time to search out every little thing. Despite being an Action-RPG, the gameplay depth that is synonymous with Final Fantasy also permeates throughout Kingdom Hearts! You couldn’t ask for a better way to spend your time!
The graphical style of Kingdom Hearts is one of its biggest assets. Each character is faithfully and lovingly sculpted in 3D and they look and act every bit like their cartoon counterparts. It’s just sheer joy to watch Goofy bumbling about while Donald waddles and jumps about crazily during battle. During fights, the screen bursts into a show of pyrotechnics and general mayhem – it looks simply amazing! The enemy character designs are as bizarre as they are creative! Each locale is vintage Disney yet still feels fresh and different all at once. The attention to detail is wonderful and the integration of the unique styles of Final Fantasy and Disney is so seamless - it’s like it was always meant to be! Each cutscene is brilliantly choreographed and helps tell an incredibly amazing and wonderful story that once again mixes the epic grandeur expected from Square-Enix with the loveable cartoony-ness of Disney.
Square-Enix has gone out of its way to make sure the game sounds as good as it looks. Each Disney character is voiced by the same people you’ve been hearing since you were a kid. Once you hear Donald start cackling, you’ll forget that you even thought about doubting Kingdom Hearts. Sora is voiced by Haley Joel Osmont who really helps portray him as a rather likeable character. The soundtrack is equally brilliant and you'll love to hum/sing along with remixed versions of classic Disney songs, and marvel at the perfectly SquareSoft tracks in the new worlds.
But where Kingdom Hearts really stands on its own, far ahead of the rabble, is with its plot and pacing. It would take all of SquareSoft’s best and Disney to come up with such a smoothly paced, yet brilliantly dramatic plot, and that too with characters who you instinctively refuse to take seriously… at least, before you've played the game. Forget the Disney or SquareSoft connotations… at heart, this is an RPG of epic proportions, and it shows.
