Kingdom Hearts is the product of Square and Disney getting together to make a video game. It's for the PlayStation 2 and came out not long ago in 2002. When I saw this game in a magazine I thought: What, Disney with Square?! Aw man, Disney is going to ruin the game! My expectations lowered considerably, but, after remembering the great times with FFVII, VIII, IX and X, I decided to trust Square, and I bought the game.
I will review on a scale of, surprise, 1 to 10. 1 is horrific and 10 is excellent.
Story: 8.5
Sora, the main character, is living on a small island in the middle of nowhere with his friends Riku and Kairi. Oh, and some other kids named Tidus (from FFX), Wakka (from FFX), and Selphie (from FFVIII). One time he finds a strange door and is met by a strange voice.
At night, the island is invaded by strange monsters called The Heartless. Suddenly, a powerful (but comical) sword called the Keyblade appears in Sora's hand. He enters the now opened door he found earlier that day and warps to a strange world he never knew existed. He then embarks on a quest to find his old friends and to rid the worlds of the invading Heartless. The story is above average, but certainly not as good as FFVII's or FFVIII's.
Graphics: 9.5
The graphics are superb, but that's expected, coming from the PS2. The characters don't look exceptionally real, but I don't think that was the designers' goal.
Sound: 9
The sound effects are perfect. The music was great too, there were many good tracks but none of them were totally awesome. The voice acting is beautifully done too.
Battle System: 10
The battles take place in real time, it isn't turn-based! You can actually try to dodge the attacks and the like. It's a really good system since it gives you more freedom and it's much more exciting. If a boss beats you, you have two options: level up more or use a different fighting strategy, like fight more defensively or more aggressively, etc.
Characters: 8.5
Sora looks like an 11- or 12-year-old, and sort of lame. I like the main character to be super cool like in FFVII or FFVIII. The party members weren't to my liking either, they were just Disney characters, and those characters aren't cool at all. What brings this score up is the appearance of characters from other Square games. Fighting against Cloud and Squall (my favorite characters from the FF universe) and Sephiroth (my favorite bad guy) was priceless.
Difficulty: 7.5
It was pretty tough, but never overwhelmingly hard. I'd say it's the perfect difficulty. However, if you include the optional bosses (especially Sephiroth) it would be more like 10.
Items: 10
There weren't an overwhelming number
of items like in some RPGs, but there were enough. I have no
complaints.
Secrets: 9.5
Finding all 99 Dalmatians, defeating all optional bosses, finding all trinity marks, finding the strongest weapon (Ultima Weapon from FFVII), unlocking the secret FMV at the end of the game and many minor unimportant secrets. Yep, this has its fair share of secrets.
Controls: 9
The moving controls were perfect, but sometimes it was difficult to use items in the heat of battle.
Length: 7.5
The game is definitely not short, but alas, it ended way too quickly for me.
Replayability: 4.5
Although the game was a lot of fun, like most RPGs, you probably won't want to play it for a long time after you beat it.
Fun Factor!: 9.5
Oh yes, it's a whole lot of fun. The real time battle system is what makes it really fun.
Overall: 9.25
I was partially right about what I thought
before I had the game. The Disney element makes the characters
score go down, but it doesn't stop
this game from being great. If you're an RPG fan get it or if you don't
like RPGs because of their slow and unexciting battles, try this one out.
This is one of those RPGs that can appeal to many different people.
| If you would like to send some feedback
to the author of this submission, please complete this form.
What's your name?
What's your Email address?
How do you rate this submission?
Does this submission belong in Little
Lemmy's Land?
Would you like to see more from this author? Comments and suggestions:
|
