[FONT="]Challenge I – Game Review[/FONT]
[FONT="]Survivor III 2009-03-07[/FONT]
[FONT="]Kingdom Hearts
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Kingdom Hearts follows Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy Goof on a quest to find the King (Mickey Mouse) and solve the mystery of the Heartless and Sora’s sensationally peculiar weapon, the Keyblade. Throughout the course of their journey, they must travel to other worlds (among others: Aladdin’s Agrabah, The Little Mermaid’s Atlantica, Peter Pan’s Neverland and Hercules’ Olympus Coliseum) and join forces with the heroes from stories loved by everyone across the globe. Combined with spectacular graphics, a powerfully gripping story, strange new characters and a dazzling set of arrangements and new scores, Kingdom Hearts proves to be both a recommended purchase and an undeniable epic.
Storyline – 10/10
The story begins with Sora awaking from a “dream” in which he was guided through a number of rooms by an enigmatic voice and was given some imperative advice pertaining to light and darkness, the main themes running throughout Kingdom Hearts. He is awoken by Kairi, a friend living on the same islands (known as Destiny Islands), and is joined by Riku, whom we quickly see as Sora’s rival for Kairi’s affections. The three friends long to find “other worlds” that exist beyond their islands and are amidst building a raft, when the game begins, on which they can sail to these apparent other worlds. One night, there is a terrible storm; Kairi and Riku disappear but their boats are found near the raft. Sora marches on through the island to find them and, along the way, is encountered by a number of shadows, which we later discover to be called Heartless. Sora is confronted by Riku, who discusses doors, darkness and stepping through to other worlds. Before anything can happen, Sora suddenly receives the Keyblade: a powerful weapon that can open and close doors. After this, he is separated from Riku and Kairi; he awakens in Traverse Town, at which point he meets up with Donald and Goofy, who have been sent to find the Key Bearer. The three join forces and set out on their adventure after being spoken to by the residents of Traverse Town: Final Fantasy VII’s Aerith Gainsborough, Yuffie Kisaragi and Cid Highwind, as well as Final Fantasy VIII’s Squall “Leon” Lionheart.
Over the course of the game, Sora, Donald and Goofy travel to many worlds in search of Kairi, Riku and King Mickey, while closing the door to the heart of each of the worlds (thus saving the world from falling in to darkness). Along the way, they meet many familiar Disney characters, some of whom can join your party and combine powers to defeat both the Heartless and the infamous Disney villains, who are collaborating together under the leadership of Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent; their goal is to collect the Seven Princesses of Heart ---that is, those with the purest of hearts--- who somehow hold the key to opening the door to the heart of all worlds.
The storyline is impressive in the sense that it combines the very best aspects of the very best stories from around the world and successfully manages to deliver a completely original and yet familiar experience for players of all ages. One might worry about Kingdom Hearts “ruining” the glorious Disney tales but, in my eyes, Kingdom Hearts manages to hold true to the original stories and, somehow, miraculously manages to adapt them at the same time to suit their new context.
As for the unique storyline to Kingdom Hearts itself, it falls nothing short of magnificent and incorporates bravery, betrayal, friendship, fantasy and a degree of love. The plot itself can appear vague at times but this isn’t necessarily bad; the unexplained aspects of the story have paved the way for several sequels and a prequel to the first title and, for anyone like myself, this is great news. Despite only having four brand new characters in the entire game (Sora, Riku, Kairi and Ansem), the storyline delivers a refreshing gaming experience for all.
Characters – 9/10
It is very difficult to actually notice that there is a grand total of four new and unknown characters in this entire game (you may want to be pedantic and count Sora’s mother’s voice as a 5th character) due to the sheer depth and exploration given to just three of them. Sora (voiced by The Sixth Sense’s Hayley Joel Osment) is an appropriate leading role and faces the challenge of keeping the light in his heart shinning brightly whilst searching persistently for his lost friends. Kairi (voiced by Heroes’ Hayden Panettiere), although we directly see and hear very little of her throughout the game, appears to mainly take the role of the typical Damsel in Distress and is incapacitated for a large portion of the story. Despite this, however, her presence in the game is vital and her character was handled perfectly by the game developers. Riku (voiced by Seventh Heaven’s David Gallagher) is arguably the most intriguing character in Kingdom Hearts; his determination to help Kairi leads him to open his heart to darkness, which inevitably causes problems for Sora throughout the game on several occasions. Some players describe him as a small-time villain as a result of working with the Disney villains, mainly Maleficent. Others will describe Riku as an anti-hero; a character with heroic intentions but an unorthodox and unsound method of achieving this. Overall, these original characters aren’t developed enough, though; again, however, this is not necessarily a bad thing as it led to the development of sequels and a prequel.
The Disney characters in Kingdom Hearts are all still completely as you would remember them from their appearances in your video collection. Ariel (from The Little Mermaid) still wants to leave the ocean and see what’s beyond the waves. The Queen of Hearts (from Alice in Wonderland) is still hell-bent on beheading Alice for crimes she didn’t commit. Jafar (from Aladdin) is still mercilessly attempting to procure Aladdin’s Lamp for his own purposes. I am particularly glad that the Disney aspects of Kingdom Hearts were kept true to their original contexts; had that failed, the Kingdom Hearts experience would have been notably less appealing.
When it comes to the Final Fantasy characters, I can only extend so much praise. It should be immediately noted that all of the Final Fantasy characters are cameo appearances, meaning that they do not have to appear in their original contexts (and none of them do, for that matter). Traverse Town’s Cid, Aerith, Yuffie and Leon remain particularly close to their personas, however: Cid is the ‘engineer’, Aerith is still the lovely, innocent character, Yuffie is as boisterous as ever and Leon remains troubled by his past (so much so that he hides from his past by appearing under the alias “Leon” and not Squall). Players encounter Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife in Olympus Coliseum; he appears in a combination of his SOLDIER uniform and fellow character, Vincent Valentine’s, attire and is “looking for someone” (whom we assume to be Aerith but is actually Final Fantasy VII’s Sephiroth, poorly voiced by N’Sync’s Lance Bass). Final Fantasy VIII’s Selphie Tilmitt and Final Fantasy X’s Tidus and Wakka are ripped from any kind of previous association and are depicted as children on Sora’s Destiny Islands. Selphie has no knowledge of Leon and Tidus and Wakka have no relation as they did in Final Fantasy X. Despite the changes made, each of the cameos manages to fit well into their designated roles and probably wouldn’t have worked anywhere else.
Gameplay – 10/10
My score will differ greatly from the majority of players’ scores; my preferences of battling lie in the minority, unfortunately. Kingdom Hearts features a real-time battling system (notably the first of its kind in an RPG developed by Square-Enix), as opposed to the typical turn-based system, and has a faster pace when battling compared with other SE titles. Players are required to think much more actively and adapt to their surroundings by utilising the setting to their advantage, work around the disadvantages and exploiting one-and-only opportunities that may arise during a fight.
Like all games developed by SE, the main character battles with two fluctuating bars in battle; their Hit Points (or HP – basically, life force, which determines how many hits you can take before you die) and Magic Points (or MP, which determines how often you can use a magical spell before having to replenish your gauge). HP and MP can be reduced by being hit and using magic, respectively, and can be restored with HP and MP-replenishing items, acquired from shops, chests in the surroundings or as dropped items from defeated enemies.
Battles can become repetitive after a while; after all, a player can only press X and see Sora swing the Keyblade in the same way so many times before thinking, “what else can you do?” The inclusion of the jump function (again, the first of its kind in a game developed by SE) added a new dynamic level previously unheard of by players devoted to SE. A number of skills could also be executed in battle, ranging from a simple defensive Guard to an excessively powerful Trinity Limit attack; these added the benefit of aesthetic quality and the ability to break the repetitive movement of battles.
Sora is the one and only playable character in Kingdom Hearts and so there are no extra controls to get to grips with after you become familiar with him. You (mostly) battle in a party of three with Donald and Goofy as your permanent companions. In certain worlds, you have the option of exchanging either Donald or Goofy for the hero relevant to that world (e.g. you can add Tarzan to your party in Tarzan’s Deep Jungle, or have Beast, from Beauty and the Beast, take Goofy’s place in your party). The temporary party members often have new attacks specific to them and help to alleviate the repetitive flow of battle.
For the players amongst us who expect a challenge in every game, there is an option at the beginning of the game to play as either a Beginner or an Expert, the latter of which has admittedly caused more tension headaches than I care to count. This mode is, however, well worth making use of for secondary players.
A typical levelling system is incorporated into Kingdom Hearts, where characters’ stats increase gradually as experience points are gained from defeating opponents. This is combined with an equipment system, where players can customise which weapons and accessories their party are equipped with during battle, as well as a customising menu, where players can choose how often their fellow party members execute particular functions (e.g. you may wish for Donald to attack offensively frequently, cast defensive magic constantly and offensive magic occasionally).
Enemies mostly materialise before your eyes in Kingdom Hearts; there is no battle screen, compared with previous SE titles. Players will be running around in the field from room to room and battling Heartless (as well as other enemies) along the way.
Ladders, ledges, ropes, stacks of crates and more are available to players to allow dynamic interactions with their environment.
Throughout the game, Sora, Donald and Goofy will acquire “Shared Abilities” after specific events. These abilities cause changes in the way Sora and his companions move in the field (e.g. the High Jump ability allows the party to reach higher ledges and leap further than before, the Glide ability allows a degree of flight both in and out of battle) and, again, contribute to the dynamics of the game.
Finally, “Summons” feature in Kingdom Hearts, although not as we know them from previous SE titles. Instead of seeing our veteran Summons like Shiva, Ifrit and Bahamut, Sora has the ability to Summon 6 well-known Disney characters, who aid him in battle in various ways. Simba, the Genie, Tinkerbell, Bambi, Mushu and Dumbo can often be invaluable to players in times of need.
Controls – 8/10
All of the controls in Kingdom Hearts are simple:
X – Attack, Talk, Execute Command (the general “accept” button)
O – Jump, Cancel
Square – Execute field ability (e.g. Guard, Dodge Roll)
Triangle – Nothing
Directional Buttons/Right Analog Stick – Move up and down menu options
Left Analog Stick – Controls Sora’s movement
L1 + [X, Square, Triangle] – Customised shortcut (can be accessed from main menu)
R1 – Lock-on to target
L2/R2 – Rotate Camera
Despite being simple, I have deducted two marks for sheer annoyance. As stated in another section, the real-time battle system forces players to think more actively. In times where (1) you need to use magic in the heat of battle that is not customised to a shortcut or (2) you must use an item, it becomes impossible to continue fighting whilst doing this. If we take an example of using an Elixer from the item menu, we cannot attack or we’ll select every option on the way to the Elixer’s position in our inventory; this prevents us from attacking and makes us more vulnerable. We must select the Elixer with our left hand on the directional pad and, in most fights, we cannot afford to stay still; we must, awkwardly, control movement (often sporadic, not methodical or at all safe) with our right hand on the left analog stick. This can cause many problems for players unaccustomed to doing this quickly and efficiently.
The second deduction is in reference to the camera. Quite often, during battle, the camera should be rotated for optimum angles. In some cases, particularly near walls or where you are not locked-on to a fast-moving target, the camera angle can be disadvantageous to players. There is no solution but to persevere, often with button-mashing techniques.
Graphics – 9/10
Kingdom Hearts is visually appealing in every way possible: busy cut-scenes are abundant, spectacular character (re-)designs, 3-D characters and environments as well as stunning abilities, spells and Summons.
The game opens with a unique CGI introduction while Utada Hikaru’s Simple and Clean plays over the introductory sequence. The game closes in much the same way. CGI is not featured in any other part of Kingdom Hearts other than the beginning and end. This is a shame to some players but, due to the constant action of the cut-scenes, you’ll soon forget that you’re missing out on anything at all.
Sound – 9/10
Yoko Shimomura composes and arranges most, if not all, of the music featured in Kingdom Hearts, notably re-vamped versions of The Little Mermaid’s ‘Under the Sea’ and Nobuo Uematsu’s ‘One-Winged Angel’. There is little room for criticism in this section of my review: the majority of the music will have been heard before, in the original movie titles. His original pieces deserve praise in that they accurately set the mood for all settings and capture the themes intended by the creators. The only reason that I have not given full marks is because I feel that the music should have been more fully orchestrated, as opposed to only really being orchestrated in Utada Hikaru’s Hikari.
Unique/Extra Features – 7/10
The Gummi Ship is probably the most note-worthy new feature in Kingdom Hearts. Contrary to previous SE titles’ method of transportation, there are no airships in Kingdom Hearts: the Gummi Ship is composed of Gummi blocks found throughout the KH Universe and is what enables Sora, Donald and Goofy to travel between worlds. Players can work in the Gummi Garage and manufacture or modify their own Gummi Ships: this is regarded by some as a mini-game, in itself. Mini-games in Kingdom Hearts are abundant, indeed: Olympus Coliseum frequently holds tournaments in which your party can participate to earn great prizes. Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood is an entire world dedicated to existing as a mini-game. More are hidden in other worlds after (or before) specific story events.
Secret Bosses are often large “extras” in SE titles but, despite this, only 4 secret bosses exist: Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII), Ice Titan (Hercules) and two original monsters: Kurt Zisa (found in Agrabah) and Phantom (found in Neverland). Four is generally a low number of secret bosses for SE but, that said, these bosses are no pushovers.
Finally, players can undertake the monumental task of finding 99 Lost Dalmation Puppies and returning them to Pongo and Perdita in Traverse Town: this nets the player some very worthwhile prizes, as well as the good feeling of completing a rather large section in Jimminy’s Journal (your personal log of your game progress).
Replay Value – 100%
I’ve played through Kingdom Hearts countless times, despite completing it entirely 100% on more than one occasion. The story is so enormous that it is nigh impossible to become bored. The gripping original plot combines itself with nostalgia (from the Disney aspects of the game) and game-play that you can never quite master all of the time. I’m actually replaying the game in between writing sections of this review.
Overall Rating – 9/10
I have nothing but praise for Kingdom Hearts (it is easily the best game in my collection) and the only reason I have deducted a mark is to account for the possible irritation that some aspects of the game might cause some players.