There haven’t been many games this year I have really been looking forward to be released on Sony’s PS2 - ICO, Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts. While ICO, on the one hand, could stand up and even exceed my high expectations, Final Fantasy X, on the other hand, couldn’t really do so – mostly due to the cheap PAL conversion and the bad German translation.
I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Kingdom Hearts, Square’s latest and probably most innovative instalment, and now finally, this day has come.

What would you expect of a Squaresoft title? A graphically overwhelming Fantasy Epos like Final Fantasy, a stunning strategy game like Final Fantasy Tactics? Something like that, I guess.

But this time it is a different matter. Even though regarded rather sceptically in the beginning Square realized the concept of creating a dream world consisting of both Disney and Final Fantasy characters.
By putting in world famous characters like Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse, as well as memorable heroes of various Final Fantasy titles this game might succeed in raising interest in a broader audience.

First of all I would like to point out that this is NOT a typical Squaresoft like for example Final Fantasy or Chrono Cross, although many elements are well known to RPG fans – the fighting system reminds on the Secret of Mana series (Seiken Densetsu 1-4, SNES, PSX) in terms of fighting system and soundtrack (Shimomura Yoko, Legend of Mana), or the N64 Zelda like controls.

The plot arrangement of Kingdom Hearts is, unlike the rather dull plot itself, pretty exciting, interesting and at the same time highly entertaining and motivating from the first to the last step.

“Alice meets Tarzan”

This has several reasons; on the one hand, you will travel to various famous Disney world, like the Wonderland, the Jungle, the Sea etc. and therefore encounter many familiar characters, who act just like if they were cut out from the original movie.

More experienced RPG fans will definitely recognize that most of the Final Fantasy character’s past and personality tend to be slightly different from the original game, like Squall who now calls himself “Leon” for personal reasons, or Aerith who, as we all know, sadly didn’t make to the end of FFVII.

These tiny alterations will leave you, at any rate, very curious to find out how and when characters will appear in the actual game.

On the other hand the story is, with the help of many cut-scenes, told in a very fluent way, it unfolds at decent pace and consequently will keep your attention fixed on to what is happening on the screen.

The ever so twisting fate has chosen Sora, a boy of about 14 years, to be the bearer of the key blade (a sword in key form) and therewith has the power to seal and break the locks to the dark dimension of the evil Heartless.

Obviously, it is up to him to, once again, save the world (many worlds in fact) by locking up all of the dimension portals through which the evil spreads across the land.
As a matter of fact, his beloved childhood friend, a girl called Kairi, has been missing ever since she was drawn into a dimension/world warp hole, leaving yet another task for Sora to fulfil – find and rescue her.

Since the burden of fate weights much upon the shoulders of a child, our young hero is backed up by two well known fellows, Donald Duck and Goofy, who are searching for King Mickey and add very much to the typical Disney entertaining factor.

With the help of the Gummi ship (will be described later on) the fellowship of the key blade is travelling between various world of the Kingdom Hearts universe to accomplish the annoying task of becoming heroes.

“Sora, you will have to learn a LOT”

Controls are kept very simple, effective and a little innovative. A “Final Fantasy”-like menu on the lower left side of the screen offers various options at once.

In a matter of seconds you can switch to fighting, use items, do some magic, talk to people, or check out the area.
Some actions like, magic, or special abilities, like blocking enemy attacks, are accessible by shortcuts which can be modified easily in the menu. Pushing the “select” button it is also possible to switch into First Person mode, but only for taking a closer look on the environments.

Graphically speaking Kingdom Hearts stands its ground magnificently well against the other games on today’s market.
The different worlds explored on Sora’s journey are not just visual appealing but also really succeed in coming to life – at all times the characters and the environment from a very dense and authentic atmosphere.

The appearance of FF characters in Disney settings and vice versa is not - as some expected – annoying, but rather a true enrichment that offers many new perspectives, to both Disney and Final Fantasy fans.

All of playable and non playable characters, as well as enemies, have been designed and animated in a very carefully, detailed and “cartoonish” way – especially the face expressions of the main character Sora are simply astonishing!
Cut scenes are of equal perfection and suit the overall atmosphere enormously well, as they, unlike in many other games, are fully integrated into the story line.

“Left is right is left is right, right?”

One of the mayor problems with Kingdom Hearts lies not within the graphical appearance but the within the arrangement – the camera angle is rather low and therefore affects the overall view, especially in battles or platform jump sequences.
Considering the Kingdom Hearts’ game play emphasizes very much on action it is possible that the hectic resulting from the lack of sight has been intended – but, frankly speaking, this would indeed be very odd way to do so.

Fighting in Kingdom Hearts is not as quite as stupid as might look and sound!

Although it might seem like hammering on the X button as fast as possible will save you at any rate, the actual concept offers a very large variety of options to choose – blocking, breaking through opponents defence, or using special skills is rewarded by so called tech points, and will keep your character gaining more and more abilities to chose from.

Using magic is not really easy – to find our which when to use magic effectively takes a lot of practise and timing. Bolt magic, on the one hand, is used when many enemies are standing very closely by since it creates devastating bolts of lightning in a circle around your character, Fire magic, on the other side, is best used against enemies in the distance.

As mentioned above the view angle is set too low to provide an optimal perspective; in order to keep your enemy in sight it is highly recommended to make use from the “camera-lock-onto-target” opportunity by pressing the L1 button.
Doing so will shift your field of view according to the opponent’s movements and keeps the bad guy always in the centre of attention.

Most of the time you are accompanied by two more characters who fight AI controlled, which sounds like big trouble. But it is not half as bad as it could have been – by accessing the option menu the fighting attitude (defensive – offensive, when to use magic or items etc.) can be modified quite easily, and luckily, the characters do just how they are told.

Still it is hardly possible to fight as a team for you will lose sight of your brave friends in a matter of seconds – a screen packed with more then ten enemies flying around like mad leaves no time for you to check if i.e. Donald is doing well, although he is crying out for help.
AI controlled characters tend to be a bit lame, and die rather frequently, but it doesn’t matter as long as you are fighting consequent and effective enough to deal with the remaining villains alone.

“...Lego racer?”

Travelling to foreign worlds isn’t as easy either – you have to get into the Gummi Jet and navigate through a short 3d space channel – this mini game is nothing more than plain shooting at various flying ships, avoiding obstacles blocking the way and collecting strange items.
Throughout the game you will find huge lots of “gummis” that can be attached on the Jet to improve its capabilities (i.e. stronger board canon).
This feature sounds like fun at the beginning but after a few flights motivation declines drastically.
There are many entertaining sub quests and mini games in Kingdom Hearts, which don’t get as much attention as the Gummi Jet, but still this pseudo flight simulation is the weakest of them all.

Shimomura Yoko, the composer of memorable scores like that of Legend of Mana, has once again created listening experience rather than a simply soundtrack. Music suits the scenery perfectly; styles vary from Oriental to Modern Pop and leave nothing to be desired. The re-arrangements of classic Disney themes (“under the sea”) together with new highly catchy tunes add incredible much to the overall atmosphere.

“Hikari”

Square even took on Hikaru Utada, Japans voice talent number 1 to vocalize Kingdom Hearts main theme and turn it into a great pop song (unlike Rikki’s kitschy and uninspired “Sudeki da ne” in Final Fantasy X).
Voice Acting leaves nothing to complain about as well, voices fit the characters well and dialogues appear naturally and fluently.
Shimomura’s creation did exceed my, already high, expectations – this is what game music is all about!

Be it the beautiful character design, be it the great musical support, or be it the overall innovative concept of creating a lively Final Fantasy/Disney world, Kingdom Hearts convinces at all terms, although the fighting system might not be everybody’s first choice.

Although I have been rather sceptical about Square’s Kingdom Hearts project after seeing the first screenshots, now, I have to admit that - after playing for hours - I simply love the overall style of this game!
If you are looking for a real gaming experience, don’t hesitate to get a copy - Kingdom Hearts does best to provide just that!