SoulKnife
04-04-2006, 09:49 PM
Mid point review of kingdom Hearts 2.
A few years back Square and Disney came together to create what many found to be an enjoyable action adventure game, Kingdom Hearts. It wasn’t perfect, problems with the camera being one of the bigger complaints but it did well enough to earn a sequel on the GBA and now one for the PS2, Kingdom hearts 2.
At the present I think I’m about half way through the game as I just finished the Tron level and decided to give you my impression of the game so far, good and bad. So let’s get to it.
First the bad, if you have not played Kingdom hearts, or Chain of memories on the GBA you could find yourself lost in the story rather quickly. The game does try to help by giving you some flashbacks and background information in Jiminy Crickets Journal but it may not be enough for everyone. Also the game stretches out the prologue/tutorial longer than it needed to. It is a story point but I figure they could’ve done that in a half-hour to an hour at the most instead of the three hours it took me to get to the meat of the game.
Another problem is that once you get going, you find yourself helping friends, old and new, more than trying to complete your main objective which is to find a friend of the main character and King Mickey. Personally, I liked this as it was a nice excuse to roll with some of my favorite Disney characters but others that I’ve talked to weren’t so happy with it.
There have been some complaints that the game is too easy but I’ve found myself enjoying the combat and the wrinkles they present you with from time to time.
All right on the fun,
I like the main character. Sora is a great fusion of Disney and Square ideals. He is an earnest, good hearted lad with a good sense of humor. He’s backed up in his quest by Donald and Goofy who have been taking lessons in combat, as Donald wields magic and Goofy wields a mean shield. Sora is the wielder of the Key blade and as the game continues he earns a number of abilities that turn him from a novice in to master.
Speaking of amazing sword skill, Mickey has obviously been training with Yoda as when ever he does show up he spins his weapon, the dark key blade, as if he were everyone’s favorite green Jedi master.
Another fun aspect is that when you travel to different worlds and hook up with the local heroes you often have the chance to pull of a link attack with said hero. For example, in Agrabah, our young street rat, Aladdin, uses his superior speed to slice and dice his enemies and after a few repeated attacks the two of you do a team attack using each other as spring board to accelerated to high speeds and clean out the trash before coming back together, giving each other a high five in the process, standing shoulder to shoulder after having mauled your enemies.
Another fun aspect is the drive forms. These forms allow you to fuse with Goofy, then Donald and eventually both at the same time. Depending on the form, you can find yourself dual wielding key blades, launching magic blasts our wielding Key blades psionically. These forms all have differing strengths and weaknesses as well as a cool visual look to them.
The last addition to the combat system that I will discuss is the reaction abilities. During a fight the reaction button will flash and if you press it in time, Sora will do a neat trick that either harms the enemy or puts you in a good position to maul them. These range from simple ones against grunt enemies that just put you behind them to more complicated ones against bosses. For example, in the fight with Captain Barbossa, he’ll launch a lunge attack that leads into a punishing series of strikes. If you’re in position and time it right, Sora will leap over the thrust and land on Barbossa’s Rapier pinning it to the ground. The next part is a fast draw between you and the evil Captain as he goes for his gun and you for your Key blade if you prove the quicker the captain will take a significant amount of damage and be launched into the air.
Another fun thing they did in this game is that on certain worlds you take on the look of the locals. In ‘The little Mermaid”, Sora becomes a mer-boy along with his companions, while in “Lion King” Sora becomes a lion cub, albeit one holding a key blade in his jaws. So far my personal favorite is when Sora and Co. sport the blue glow in Tron.
The voice acting has been good so far and the story is interesting. Meeting and working with characters from both Disney and Final Fantasy is a tad disconcerting at first, especially when I found myself talking to Merlin from ‘sword and the stone’ while Squall from FF8 was standing beside him, but you get used to it. At present I would easily suggest this to anyone whose played the first game. To the rest, if you enjoy a good action adventure game and are willing to do a bit of research to figure out what’s gone before, I think you will find a most rewarding experience.
A few years back Square and Disney came together to create what many found to be an enjoyable action adventure game, Kingdom Hearts. It wasn’t perfect, problems with the camera being one of the bigger complaints but it did well enough to earn a sequel on the GBA and now one for the PS2, Kingdom hearts 2.
At the present I think I’m about half way through the game as I just finished the Tron level and decided to give you my impression of the game so far, good and bad. So let’s get to it.
First the bad, if you have not played Kingdom hearts, or Chain of memories on the GBA you could find yourself lost in the story rather quickly. The game does try to help by giving you some flashbacks and background information in Jiminy Crickets Journal but it may not be enough for everyone. Also the game stretches out the prologue/tutorial longer than it needed to. It is a story point but I figure they could’ve done that in a half-hour to an hour at the most instead of the three hours it took me to get to the meat of the game.
Another problem is that once you get going, you find yourself helping friends, old and new, more than trying to complete your main objective which is to find a friend of the main character and King Mickey. Personally, I liked this as it was a nice excuse to roll with some of my favorite Disney characters but others that I’ve talked to weren’t so happy with it.
There have been some complaints that the game is too easy but I’ve found myself enjoying the combat and the wrinkles they present you with from time to time.
All right on the fun,
I like the main character. Sora is a great fusion of Disney and Square ideals. He is an earnest, good hearted lad with a good sense of humor. He’s backed up in his quest by Donald and Goofy who have been taking lessons in combat, as Donald wields magic and Goofy wields a mean shield. Sora is the wielder of the Key blade and as the game continues he earns a number of abilities that turn him from a novice in to master.
Speaking of amazing sword skill, Mickey has obviously been training with Yoda as when ever he does show up he spins his weapon, the dark key blade, as if he were everyone’s favorite green Jedi master.
Another fun aspect is that when you travel to different worlds and hook up with the local heroes you often have the chance to pull of a link attack with said hero. For example, in Agrabah, our young street rat, Aladdin, uses his superior speed to slice and dice his enemies and after a few repeated attacks the two of you do a team attack using each other as spring board to accelerated to high speeds and clean out the trash before coming back together, giving each other a high five in the process, standing shoulder to shoulder after having mauled your enemies.
Another fun aspect is the drive forms. These forms allow you to fuse with Goofy, then Donald and eventually both at the same time. Depending on the form, you can find yourself dual wielding key blades, launching magic blasts our wielding Key blades psionically. These forms all have differing strengths and weaknesses as well as a cool visual look to them.
The last addition to the combat system that I will discuss is the reaction abilities. During a fight the reaction button will flash and if you press it in time, Sora will do a neat trick that either harms the enemy or puts you in a good position to maul them. These range from simple ones against grunt enemies that just put you behind them to more complicated ones against bosses. For example, in the fight with Captain Barbossa, he’ll launch a lunge attack that leads into a punishing series of strikes. If you’re in position and time it right, Sora will leap over the thrust and land on Barbossa’s Rapier pinning it to the ground. The next part is a fast draw between you and the evil Captain as he goes for his gun and you for your Key blade if you prove the quicker the captain will take a significant amount of damage and be launched into the air.
Another fun thing they did in this game is that on certain worlds you take on the look of the locals. In ‘The little Mermaid”, Sora becomes a mer-boy along with his companions, while in “Lion King” Sora becomes a lion cub, albeit one holding a key blade in his jaws. So far my personal favorite is when Sora and Co. sport the blue glow in Tron.
The voice acting has been good so far and the story is interesting. Meeting and working with characters from both Disney and Final Fantasy is a tad disconcerting at first, especially when I found myself talking to Merlin from ‘sword and the stone’ while Squall from FF8 was standing beside him, but you get used to it. At present I would easily suggest this to anyone whose played the first game. To the rest, if you enjoy a good action adventure game and are willing to do a bit of research to figure out what’s gone before, I think you will find a most rewarding experience.