I know I'm doing a sort of series already, but the Kingdom Hearts series was smack dab at the beginning of my six months away. The reason this was one of the first ones I started on was because I got RE: Chain of Memories right around Christmas (shortly before hiatus began) and I wanted to refresh my memory of the series before playing through it.
This series will cover the first three games in the series, as I have yet to play any of the newer ones. If I actually owned a DS rather than sporadically borrow it from someone, I'd go purchase it, but as it is, probably not the best idea. Anyways, without further ado, I bring you Kingdom Hearts, for the PS2.
Quick note: There will be spoilers in the review, as I will be building into part II, if you don't want to read them for a game that's been out almost a decade, stop reading now. Thank you.
Kingdom Hearts opens in the mind of Cloud...I mean, Sora...as he has a somewhat prophetic dream of what's to come to his small island home, the Destiny Islands. In it, he discovers that he's the one who will open the door, alluding to the fact that he will be the Keyblade Master.
It's a pretty standard fair, very similar to Ocarina of Time's Link having the dream about Ganondorf long before they meet. The only difference, is that you actually play during this one, and make decisions about how the game will be throughout, specifically, how your abilities will level up and what level you get combos. I usually go with the Sword and get rid of the Shield in this, gaining combat, but losing defensive, simply due to how I play.
Then you get to encounter the Heartless, the body of a creature who's heart and soul have been ripped away, but were absorbed by the darkness. They are the most common foe thus far throughout the series, and they're usually associated with dark, lack of hearts, and evil...though not always.
When the section is over, you start on the extremely cheery Destiny Islands, a stark contrast to the Dark Tower you seemed to be in previously. It's pretty straightforward in that it's meant to complete the training the dream sequence had started. You can train your combat against former FF characters, Titus, Wakka, and Selphie, as well as with your best friend, Sephiroth...I mean Riku (sorry, I'll stop doing that). Though the main point is to find things so you, Riku, and Kairi (see, told you I wouldn't draw allusions to Aerith...oops) can leave the islands and go on an adventure.
Someone never told these kids be careful what you wish for, obviously. After only two days of getting stuff ready for the raft, it's ready, but they're going to wait until morning to leave. That night, a storm hits though, drawing all three of them to the island.
This sets the stage for them all departing into this adventure, as a worm hole opens and Heartless pour out onto the island. Armed with only a wooden sword, Sora is no match for them, but as he gets deeper into the darkness, he finds Riku, ready to embrace it, ready to leave the island for good. He drags Sora with him to the darkness, granting Sora access to the keyblade, his mystical weapon that all RPG characters end up having eventually. With it, he's able to wail upon the heartless, and finally, find Kairi.
She appears to be waiting in the trio's secret spot, but the door in the cave opens, blowing her out towards Sora, and pulling him in. As they meet, she vanishes, making for one of the most contrived plot points in the game, but I'll try not to spoil that too much.
Sora is drug even deeper into the darkness, but is able to return to the spot where he found Riku, hoping to find him again. There, however, he doesn't find Riku, but the gigantic heartless he fought in his dream at the beginning. This boss, Dark appears quite frequently, and each time he's a little harder to fight, but he's pretty easy over all.
After fighting him, Sora is dragged into the wormhole and blacks out. Meanwhile, we learn of his companions for the adventure, Donald and Goofy, from the Disney Castle.
The court wizard and captain of the guards have gone off in search of King Mickey who's vanished, looking for an answer to the stars dying out all over the sky. They travel to Traverse Town, because they are told to in a letter left by the King (the same one he told them why he'd gone off) that's where they'd find an answer to stop it, the Keyblade Master.
As they arrive, Pluto, who's accompanied them, runs off, revealing Sora, who's ended up here, unconscious and disheveled. Pluto quickly awakens him, and Sora's adventure truly begins, as he tries to help Donald and Goofy find the King and search for his friends, all while being hunted by the heartless and stopping them when he can.
It's a pretty decent story, and I'll try not to reveal too much more of it from here, though I may have to as I get into its following sequels. If you haven't checked it out...you should now.
Gameplay is what you'd expect from a post Ocarina of Time action-adventure RPG. You have a lock on function, and you're able to fight with just one button. Pretty standard fair. A little platforming, and a pain in the ass magic system round it out (Final Fantasy menus in real time is a bad idea). Oh...and my favorite part...you can fly!
The music is rather hit or miss, with the main themes being superb (Dearly Beloved, Sora's Sacrifice, Kairi's Theme, Riku's Theme, and, of course, Simple and Clean) are awesome, however, the world themes, and most of the combat themes, are repetitive and annoying attempts to capture elements of the Disney Films the worlds are based off, or to try to make the world more atmospheric. It doesn't work well. Disney's Castle and Halloween Town are somewhat bearable, but even then, they repeat to much and it gets annoying very quickly.
Voices were great, with Squaresoft bringing in some of Hollywood's Talent to balance the game's story. To date, it has one of the best voice casts in a video game, beating out Spider-Man 2 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Visually, the game was very much ahead of it's time in some parts, and very much well within it in others. The cg videos were even better than Squaresoft's previous FFX, and the 3D versions of the Disney Characters were all but perfect in most cases...far superior than those found in in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse series. The FF characters for the most part, got a great upgrade with the stylized looks that the series brought them, specifically Leon, who you see the most.
I've never been clear on the history of the franchise, so I can't really go in depth on it this time. If someone would like to clue me in, maybe you have a blog about it, please, send me a link and I'll include it here.
Otherwise, just let me know what you thought? Did you like the game? Was it a horrible medley of Disney and Final Fantasy? Do you think it was a good game to kill some time on while I was away? Let me know.
-Sara
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