Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts II has been out for a little while now, and, to be truthful, it never held my attention in the least. I guess the main reason why I never paid it the consideration it deserved was due to the presence of those silly Disney characters---you know, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, and the other denizens of Magic Kingdom that delight children but make adults nauseous. That is why when I first heard about a game that allows the gamer to fight on the side of Donald Duck & Co. against Final Fantasy villains, such as the likes of Sephiroth, well---I thought it was not only ridiculous, but an insult to RPG games in general! Mixing Disney with Final Fantasy is like making a milkshake out of carrots and milk! Yuck!

I now know that I was quite wrong. Kingdom Hearts II has proven itself to be a most unusual, but delicious, beverage. Square Enix, KHII’s developer and publisher, has come up with a sequel that is way better than the original---better controls, more characters, and numerous plot-driven choices for the player to ponder.

Gameplay

Kingdom Hearts II, an obvious sequel to its predecessor of the same name, is a beautiful, well-crafted game with an original storyline that somehow manages to successfully merge the disparate worlds of Disney and the Final Fantasy series. You begin the adventure as a character by the name of Roxas, an average kid who goes around playing and having fun with his friends. Soon, strange memories and dreams begin to take over his mind and you find yourself in a strange "twilight zone" situation where you encounter the familiar creatures from previous games. After awhile, things eventually get worse and the big question arises: "Who am I really? Who is Roxas?" After battles with robed men who call themselves Organization XIII, you will finally be in control of the one character you really understand, the lovable Sora from the original Kingdom Hearts. Sora, along with his loyal comrades Donald and Goofy, will meet shadows from the past, as well as all new enemies and allies, and begin to slowly discover details about your alter-ego Roxas. As the story-line develops, you soon discover an elegant plot the likes of which I have only seen in very few RPG games. It completely captured my attention had me at the edge of my chair throughout the game.

As the game progresses, the gamer visits many different fantasy worlds, each enticing you to cooperate with the heroes (and heroines!) of Disney and Final Fantasy in order to overcome nefarious opposition from the worlds of both Disney and Final Fantasy. Thus, one session you may find yourself helping Mickey Mouse explore an old school, black and white cartoon world from the early days of Disney, while the next has you teamed-up with Cloud, Tifa and Aeris to overcome Sephiroth (all characters from Final Fantasy VII). The Little Mermaid, Tron, Aladdin, Auron, Yuna, Rikku---they are all in here, each imparting a unique gaming experience as you travel about with them. This offers you a spectacular feeling of adventure, as you are never quite sure what is coming next, or who your next companion, or nemesis, may be! And isn’t that what RPGs are all about?

The game soundtrack was excellent, perfectly matched with the particular world you are visiting. For example, in the world of The Little Mermaid (the one I most hated) the entire soundtrack is composed of concert music inspired by the film. Good thing it was a small world (no pun intended)! Still, I have to admit that the music was quite original and really well done---as were all the musical scores. Likewise, the piano interpretation of the main musical theme (as played on the introductory screen) was, in my opinion, touching and served to make a good impression of what the game was to be all about.

The combat control system has been greatly improved over the original, allowing you to morph into different forms (and apparel) while also utilizing dual weapons for simultaneous attacks. With time and practice, you will be able to perform crazy attacking combinations and turn into a virtual killing machine with the assistance of your loyal companions. The controls are basically the same from the previous Kingdom Hearts game, but the addition of several features like the "Reaction Command", where during certain situations in battle, you will be able to press triangle to perform a "crazy move" in order to dodge an attack, use an item in the environment as a weapon or to team up with one of your companions to perform a devastating double attack in your opponents.

However, the new control system also leads to the games first criticism: it will give you and your team a quite "unfair" advantage over the enemy… turning the new battle system a piece of cake where any 4 or 5 year old kid can turn into a professional on the field. Not that this is a completely good thing! I soon found that there was almost no challenge to the gameplay. Death comes rarely to your character, and then when it does, usually something unexpected occurs (such as help from the sudden appearance of a friendly character) and you will soon be revived and back in action. Succinctly, if you are a player that likes to be challenged by his electronic entertainment, this is not the game for you.

Another problem concerns the constant appearance of enemies that can end up being too repetitive, ruining the fun factor and making you rush into the storyline instead of exploring the game completely. For example, if you decide to thoroughly investigate a particular world, looking for specific items or side-quest missions, expect enemies to ceaselessly come at you from all sides---ALL THE TIME. While this is a sure way to level up and gain abilities, it feels just too repetitive and exhausting! Furthermore, since the game is now very easy because of the new battle system, you will soon find yourself invincible against all both the most powerful bosses! As a result, the player is forced to race through the excellent storyline just to face the more challenging opponents, leaving parts of the game completely unexplored.

Lastly, the game is too short. All in all, if you stick to the main quest, you could probably finish the game in like 3 or 4 days (less than 35 hours), achieving a 45-50 skill level in the process. However, you can make the game last longer if decide to confront some of the optional boss of the game (such as Sephiroth, an event you could easily miss if you decide to rush into the final stages of the game). I have found that in order to beat him, I needed to achieve level 73. This does add a greater challenge, but at the expense of even more repetitive leveling-up just to confront one specific enemy. In my opinion, many people will not even bother going through all the hassles to achieve side quests such as these as it is really not worth the effort just to extend the gameplay.