Story:
A Collaboration like no other! Squaresoft and Disney team up to bring you the
liveliest adventure you’ll ever likely to come across! Living on Destiny
Island, a tropical paradise, you would think those there would never want to
leave, but this is not the case. Three young children, Kairi, Riku and Sora
all dream of visiting places outside of there isolated home. This dream may
not always be a dream…. For when a supernatural storm envelops the island
and sends Sora into a far off land, all he can do is to wish for a way home.
Join Sora as he searches for his friends and makes new ones in his quest to
save the universe from destruction by the Heartless begins!
Artistic Elements:
The graphics are somewhat ‘fruity’ and lively in Kingdom Hearts.
In this game you experience 3D scenery and towns, rich in colour and vivacity.
With the use a of a Gummi ship, travel to worlds that if you are familiar with
the Disney movies should bring back some memories and if not, amaze you anyway.
The smooth graphics give the scenery, characters and enemies alike their own
personality and characterisation. Do not be put off by the somewhat childish
graphics because they are far from it, while they do contain characters from
children’s cartoons, this is an adventure that captures everyone!
The music is just fantastic. To the disappointment
of many Square fans, Nobuo is not directing the music in this game; however,
Yoko Shimomura takes this role and performs the task splendidly. The music that
you hear in the game blends perfectly with the situation and scenery creating,
which is truly a credit to the game itself. From Utada Hikaru’s Simple
and Clean, an upbeat dance track to the soft, melodious background music featured
on destiny island, there is such a wide range of music variants which will appeal
to everyone. Disney fans will remember some of the tunes as being variants or
exact copies of music found in the Disney Films.
Gameplay:
Unlike most Final Fantasy battle systems which take the form of a ‘Wait
– Select Action – Perform Action’ system, Kingdom Hearts take
those elements and manipulate them to make the battle system as active as possible.
While it may take some getting used to the battle system at the start when you
end up having to choose between 4 Magic, Items and abilities to use at the same
time, you should get used to it in no time at all. Usually, in the Final Fantasy
Series, you would walk around with 1 person and then fight with the whole team,
Kingdom Hearts is very different. Instead of walking around as the main character,
you walk around with everyone, which gives you a sense of authenticity when
travelling through the worlds.
Replay Value:
The assortment of side-quests and mini-games on Kingdom Hearts are not to be
taken lightly. In each world you’ll find something new to do, something
you’ve missed and want to go back to get. There’s even a whole world
devoted to battling – the Coliseum, a place where you can proclaim your
title as champion and fight previous enemies; such as heartless and even a familiar
face turns up to fight. From finding the 101 Dalmatians to helping Winnie the
Pooh get honey out of a tree, there is a spectacular amount of fun things to
do.
Despite this, some of the aspects do get repetitive and tiring, looking for
all 101 Dalmatians can get stressful, especially when you know you’ve
checked that one area hundreds of times!
Value:
This is definitely a game you want to own. You’ll spend a long time playing
this game making sure you got everything completed. This is definitely worth
your money, for both Adults and Children alike.
Overall:
Overall this game is a feast of colour, enjoyment and splendour, all packed
into one Playstation 2 DVD disc. Even if you don’t buy this yourself,
at least rent it before you dismiss it because I can guarantee that when you
start playing, you just can’t stop!
