Kingdom Hearts
When I first heard about this game via gameinformer, I was like “Disney + Squaresoft? This has to be one of the most mindfucking combos of all time.” But for some strange unexplainable reason, I had to play it. But this was during the time when Squaresoft released the piece of shit that was Final Fantasy VIII, and even worse one released by Square Enix of which that was 10. So my trust for anything that comes out of the final fantasy makers was low… I have to mention I have heard of this game in 2004.. so I was a little late to the party. Kingdom Hearts is without a doubt one of the biggest mixed bags released by Square Enix, but I rather have a mixed bag than a flaming bag of dog shit. When I mean mixed bag, The graphics are nice… but the gameplay is very different to say the least.. They thrown out the whole turn by turn gameplay and instead make the game a button masher. I’ve played a lot of role playing games, so it’s very sobering to see the makers of Final Fantasy to make a button mashing rpg. Turn by Turn is what makes RPGS… RPGS. Don’t get me wrong, I play a lot of fighting games, I love to mash the buttons.
The story… what can I say about it? It speaks echoes from the halls of Disney. But the game adds it’s own variation of it, the hero Sora loses his lady friend Kairi and his friend Riku, so he goes looking for them but not without gaining friends. He bumps into Donald and Goofy, as they are trying to find their king, who is Mickey. So the 3 heroes have a common goal, to find their long lost friends. So Sora goes through world to world beating up the games antagonists; Heartless. The heartless consume worlds from taking people’s hearts, the ring leader is Malefincent. Malefincent not only wants to take over the universe, but she is also kidnapping 7 princesses with pure hearts, so she can open this gateway called Kingdom Hearts. Now the story takes a turn or two with the last world, Hallow Bastion, where it’s revealed that the true villain is named Ansem, who is the true master of the Heartless, who by the way takes over Riku’s body after Sora kicks his ass in Round 1. So blah blah blah Sora defeats Riku/Ansem, but Ansem is not dead and he tries to open Kingdom Hearts, so they all have one big final showdown at the beginning of the game, and Sora wins, and prevent the opening of Kingdom hearts. That’s the basic summary of the game… it’s convoluted to say the least.
Let’s talk about the gameplay; It’s an action rpg button masher. Your goal is to get as strong as you can, leveling up your stats to become a badass with a KeyBlade. Now if you want to talk about ridiculous looking weapons, let’s talk about the KeyBlade. The Keyblade is the 2nd most ridiculous weapon ever created by Square soft, only a few paces behind the Gunblade. But in this game, I think it’s more acceptable.. c’mon folks this game is more age friendly than Final Fantasy, this game is the most unrealistic game of all time, it has a more cartoonish pallet because it has Disney worlds in the game. Sure the game has a semi adult plot in the game, but really do the kids really care about the story, they just want to see Goofy and Donald kick the shit out of those heartless. But I really don’t care, the story is decent and I don’t mind it at all… with the cards the game creators were dealt, they did a fabulous job with it.. I can’t really say the same about the next few games after this.. This game feels like a anime/manga, and I like this medium. It’s fun and playful. Anyways, I have to talk about my one true gripe with this game besides the convoluted plot.. The camera. Oh my god, this camera system blows Mickey mouse balls. This becomes a problem almost immediately when the action picks up, it’s very irresponsive, it spins when I don’t want it too and it actually cost me a few battles when I am playing this at the hardest difficulty.
But besides that, this game has a lot of replay value. After the game, you can go back to all the worlds to face off against secret bosses such as this phanom dude at Neverland, this Sahara blade dude at agrabah, and my favorite but also the hardest boss in the game, the one winged angel himself; Sephirioth. You can also partake in survival tournaments in Mt Olympus. You can also look for additional treasures to find material to created stronger keyblades, oh did I mention you can use different keyblades? Also you can look for the missing Dalmatians spread across the game… um how did those little puppies travel through space? Who cares, you also have to find these missing pages for the other world Hundred Acre wood, and complete mini games. Once you do all these things, then you will truly beat the game and unlock the secret ending which hints at Kingdom Hearts 2… which I will get into on a later date.
One more thing, the cast is full of all stars. You have Haley Joel Osment as Sora, David Gallagher as Riku, and Hayden Panitiere as Kairi. But my favorite has to be Billy Zane as Ansem. It’s a darn shame that Billy Zane wasn’t in the 2nd game as Ansem.. I’ve said too much. The music, oh my god this is the highlight of the game. The latter part of the game has some of the best music I have heard in any video game period.
All in all, Is Kingdom Hearts a perfect game? Hell to the no, but man is this game enjoyable to play. It has a decent story, the worlds are rich and vibrant when they need to be, and can be dark and gloomy when they need to be. The action is heated and exhilarating when you are playing in Critical mode. This is by far the best product Square Enix ever made in the 2000’s, and I highly recommend playing this game.
Score 3.8/5
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