Systems: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3
Release Date: PS2 Original: 3/28/02 (JP), 9/16/02 (NA), 11/15/02 (EU), 11/22/2 (AUS)
PS2 Final Mix: 12/26/02 (JP)
PS3 Final Mix / HD: 3/14/13 (JP), 9/10/13 (NA), 9/13/13 (EU), 9/12/13 (AUS)
Developers: Square Enix
All About Irony
Story: Our hero of this story is Sora, a boy who lives on Destiny Island with his friends Riku and Kairi. One day, the island is attacked by shadow-like creatures known as the Heartless. While they were attacking, they swept up Riku and Sora tries to save him, but he too get into the darkness. Sora ends up on a stain-glassed platform featuring Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs where he hears a voice asking him questions, which leads him to obtain the Keyblade, a weapon he can use to defeat the heartless.
Meanwhile, in another world, King Mikey goes missing. He leaves a note behind in his castle saying he has left and that Goofy and Donald has to find the “key” and save the world. So they head out to Traverse Town and do some looking.
Ironically, Sora wakes up in Traverse Town with the key that Donald and Goofy need. They all end up bumping into each other, and agree to helping each other find King Mickey and Riku and Kairi and save all kinds of Disney worlds from darkness.
OH MY GOD I’M IN A VIRTUAL DISNEY WORLD!!
Gameplay: So the game is partially an RPG but also a mix of action. It’s not like your traditional JRPG. During battles, rather than having the standard take your turn battle system, you just run around at your will and use Sora’s keyblade to beat up enemies and earn experience points to level up. Donald and Goofy can level up as well. All the worlds besides Traverse Town is all based on classic Disney movies prior to 2002. From Wonderland to Agrabah from Aladdin, Atlantica from The Little Mermaid, and so much more. These areas are so detailed and stay true to their source material. In some areas, certain characters can join your party to fight the heartless.
Traverse Town is an area where you can buy items to use around the worlds and during battles.
Other than that, the game is rather your simple JRPG with a different battle system which can be seen as good or bad. I personally like it, as it can be fast paced as long as the enemies can go down easily.
Pretty Damn Good for Early-ish PS2
Graphics: Man this game is so beautiful! For an early-ish PS2 game, it’s rather detailed and looks amazing, especially in HD. The models of the various Disney characters look like they jumped from 2D to 3D, staying true to their original design. They look so lovely. This whole game is beautiful from top to bottom.What’s a Disney Related Media Without Music?
Music: This game’s soundtrack is also amazing oh my goodness. Some tracks are just half instrumentals from the actual films themselves (example: hearing the first half of “This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas or “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid). Even the battle music sounds as if they were also from the films too. They’re just perfect. Music is composed by Yoko Shimomura.
Best Video Game Crossover?
Overall: Kingdom Hearts is an excellent game. It takes some getting used to though. The game can be rather tough at times and will not tell you what to do exactly so you better use some thinking skills. But other than that, a great JRPG.4 / 5