Kingdom Hearts Isn't Evil- It's Good!

Sometimes, things go together well that seem like they shouldn’t. An example of this is strange food combinations. You know what I’m talking about- eggs and ketchup, bananas and barbecue sauce, pizza and mayonnaise- there are so many to choose from, and yet none of them seem appetizing. People say “Ew, gross!” and “Why would you make such a thing?!” You know, however, that those foods combine together well, even though some other people may think different. Where am I getting at with this, you ask?

You see, my initial reaction to the Squaresoft/Disney game Kingdom Hearts was much like the “Why would you make such a thing?!” reaction to the foods. When I say “make”, I mean combining Squaresoft and Disney to make a real-time RPG. “Squaresoft and Disney? It’ll never work!” That’s what I thought too at first, until I actually played the game. All I can say is this- wow. I hadn’t been this addicted to a video game since the original Mega Man series or when I first started playing the Final Fantasy series.

Now you know why I was pretty ticked at the notion of putting Final Fantasy and Disney characters in the same game- I’m a die-hard Final Fantasy fan. After I saw the improved characters from the series, though, my anger went away. These were the same Final Fantasy characters I grew to love over the course of the games, except better and better looking. The new characters are also fun and interesting, and the Disney characters are, well, Disney characters.

So anyway, on with the review-

Gameplay ****1/2
Now, I’m not usually a hack-and-slash fan, but this game makes it fun. Through the skills system, you can add combo hits to your hack-and-slashing, acquire special moves (my favorite being the Sonic ability), increase the amount of munny you receive after defeating a monster, and so much more.
The magic system is original and easy-to-use, combining quick-spellcasting and summons to make a friendly system that’s easy to learn for beginners and easy to access and make devastating combos for veterans. The magic used is pretty standard (Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Gravity, Cure) as are the summons (even though there really isn’t an “all powerful” summon like in any Final Fantasy game you might play). The bad thing about the summons is that they’re kind of useless because they’re hard to get out, they make all of your allies disappear while the summon is being used (with exception to Tinkerbell), and they’re really not that powerful.
One aspect of the game that I found interesting was the “Trinity” ability. The Trinity ability is an ability that is useful throughout all the worlds you visit. There are different Trinity marks (which are shaped like the head of Mickey Mouse) scattered throughout the worlds. There are four different trinities- Red, in which Sora, Donald and Goofy jump on the ground and things fall from the sky; Green, in which Sora, Donald and Goofy ram into a wall to unlock a secret place; Yellow, in which Sora, Donald and Goofy stand on top of each other to find something (usually a ladder, maybe a treasure chest); and White, in which Sora, Donald and Goofy hold their weapons together and a treasure chest appears beneath them. Sometimes the Trinities are needed, and sometimes they’re just ways to get a new weapon, more Munny, or a much-needed item.
This brings me to the next aspect of gameplay- side quests. Side quests are things that are in every RPG, and are what make RPGs so fun to play, because you’re not just stuck with the same linear path the entire game. The side quests include finding the lost 101 Dalmatians, the Hundred Acre Wood book, item synthesis, the Coliseum, extra bosses (which are not disappointingly easy- these guys will eat you, chew you up, spit you back out, and do it again just for fun), and my least favorite part of the game- the Gummi Ship. The Gummi Ship is the airship of the game, but this airship you have to build using different Gummi blocks. It’s quite pointless, as you only use it while traveling between worlds, which will only take up about 0.5% of your entire gaming time. So there’s really no use in trying to make your Gummi ship the best thing ever.
This game, contrary to Disney game standards, is pretty challenging. It’s not challenging in the “If I die one more time, I’m going to throw this controller into the TV!” sense, but challenging in the “Wow, that boss fight was hard, I can’t wait until the next one!” sense. A good example of the difficulty is the Clayton/Stealth Sneak fight in the Deep Jungle. It may be kind of annoying while you’re fighting them, but it’s a fun fight at the same time, and you feel a real sense of accomplishment after beating them.

Graphics *****
You may ask, “Five stars for graphics?! They aren’t that good!” True, they’re not the best graphics ever, but for the time it came out they were. Plus, they convey a cartoony, animated quality that portray the Disney characters rather nicely, while still maintaining the quality that makes Cloud and Sephiroth look kick-butt. The graphics also convey the main characters nicely- Sora looks as happy and go-lucky as his personality, Riku has a dark aura around him, but he still looks like somebody you want to trust and you want to root for, and Kairi looks as innocent as she really is. It’s things like these that make the graphics so good- the graphics portray the characters and environments in such a way that they keep you interested in the game.

Sound *****
What’s better than hearing your favorite Disney songs playing over and over and over and over and over and over and over in the background of a level that you’re playing? Well, burning alive sounds nice. Thankfully, that only happens in one of the levels (Atlantis), in which you’re subjected to “Under the Sea” played Ad Nausea. Other than that, the music is all music from each respective movie, but the music if from the original score, and not one of the nauseating musical songs you’re subjected to in any Disney movie you can find. This makes the game much more enjoyable (at least for me). Plus, the theme song “Simple and Clean” is such a good song that it makes up for the torturous “Under the Sea”.
The voice actors in this game are superb. Most of the Disney characters keep their original voice actors, which is always a good thing (especially Winnie the Pooh- his voice rocks), and the Final Fantasy characters that didn’t have voices now do, and they fit perfectly with the characters (Squall, I mean Leon, is just as monotone and boring as I thought he’d be). The new characters’ voices are also great and fit perfectly with the characters’ personalities. Sora is voiced by Haley Joel Osmont, Riku by David Gallagher (who plays Simon on Seventh Heaven) and Kairi is voiced by…uh…that girl on Remember the Titans…the coach’s daughter…yeah, her. Each one provides the personality to their respective character, and makes their character more enjoyable.

Characters ****1/2
The characters in this game are probably the main factor of why I kept playing and why I wanted to beat it. They’re enjoyable, have distinct personalities, and make the overall gaming experience that much better. The Final Fantasy characters are still the same characters that I grew to love playing the original Final Fantasy games. The Disney characters are still the fun-loving characters that I either rooted for or booed at watching the original Disney movies. (I just wanted you to know that I rooted for you all the way, Maleficent. You didn’t deserve to die.) So why didn’t I give the Characters five stars? Three words- Donald and Goofy.
What were supposed to be the comic relief in the game are just really annoying. They’re not kind of annoying, though. Oh, no. They’re annoying in the sense that you only keep them alive and in your party because they’re with you the entire game, so you don’t want to waste your valuable experience points on some person that you’re only going to use in one world (like Tarzan, Ariel, etc.). They’re so annoying that while you’re travelling around the worlds that keyblade of yours is looking pretty tempting- to kill them with. They’re so annoying that you start swinging at them instead of the Heartless when Goofy wastes all of his MP 10 seconds into the fight (literally), and he’s almost out of items 20 seconds into the fight (again, literally), and Donald is either close to dying or dead…again. They’re so annoying that if you hear either one of them say anything else during a fight or any other time during the game, you’re going to destroy the speakers on your TV. That’s how annoying they are.

Replayability *****
Don’t be surprised if you see me playing this one again once I’m done with Dark Cloud and Final Fantasy X.

Overall ****4/5