G4TV

Platform: PS2
Developer:  Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
Rating:

Pros: Longer game; improved combat and controls; gummi ship is actually fun now
Cons: Opening act is truly awful; some levels are stinkers

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They said it couldn’t be done. Gamers would never go for it.  But with the original Kingdom Hearts, Square somehow managed to take the Final Fantasy mythos and effortlessly meld it with Disney canon.  The result was an engaging romp through familiar Disney territory with a storyline that somehow made it all seem plausible... at least for a video game.

But it wasn’t perfect.  Awkward camera controls, too much backtracking and fighting, and a great deal of wandering around aimlessly until you figured out just where you needed to go next put a damper on the fun.

Kingdom Hearts II does a good job addressing these issues (and more).  It also bravely attempts to play more like a sequel in the cinematic sense rather than how we normally expect video game sequels to be.  The result is an excellent game with some notable problems in execution.

Forgettable Beginnings
 
Kingdom Hearts II picks up after the events in Chain of Memories for the GBA.  If you haven’t played that, you’ll likely be a more than a little lost and annoyed for the first 4 hours of game.  If you have played Chain of Memories, you’ll merely be annoyed for those 4 hours.  This game has one of the worst opening sequences in recent memory.  Instead of jumping into the game proper, players are forced to endure a narrative that unfolds at a snail’s pace.

You begin the game as Roxas, a young lad who resides in Twilight Town.  Summer vacation is nearing an end, and in the last days before school begins he begins to notice things are not quite as peaceful as they seem. During your time as Roxas you indulge the game developers in what only can be described as 4 hours of busy work while they train you up on the controls and toss random bits of plot cribbed from the “Great Big Book of Japanese Role-Playing Cliches”.  This should have taken an hour, tops.  But to drag the beginning out like this is just plain cruel.

Deus Ex Machina

Furthermore, once the great revelation is at hand and your get control of Sora it’s all kind of underwhelming.  Perhaps the single greatest criticism we have of Kingdom Hearts II is that it tries so very hard to come up with a technical explanation for everything that happens in the game.  Whereas Kingdom Hearts was fueled purely by faith, friendship, and fate, Kingdom Hearts II appears to wallow in the literal and the technical.

The good news is, once you do get into the game proper, the whole thing takes off like a shot and there’s no looking back.  Sora’s a little older now. He’s got more confidence and some badass news threads to boot.  And while we won’t dwell on the storyline, it’s safe to say that Sora, Donald, and Goofy once again travel to a variety of Disney-themes worlds chasing after Riku, Kairi, and King Mickey.  If you’re in it just to experience the Disney element, you can safely ignore the story and enjoy the eye candy.

Have Keyblade, Will Travel

The gameplay portions of Kingdom Hearts II have been greatly refined.  The unwieldy camera has been reigned in and tethered to the right analog stick where it belongs.  Most of the back tracking has been eliminated as has the oddball adventure game puzzles that often killed the momentum in the first game.  Instead, players have more focused, linear goals, and in the case of Kingdom Hearts II we think this is a change for the better.

There’s still a lot of combat, but the battles no longer feel like filler.  Sora has a bunch of new moves to try out.  Characters still gain AP which they can use to activate special abilities in combat.  Players also have access to “Drive” and “Limit” powers.   (Side Note:  I’m beginning to think these are the only two English words the developers at Square Enix know)  Invoking your Drive power allows you to change into an ultra powerful form that specializes in strength, magic, or both.  Limits are special super moves that Sora and the other characters in his party use at the expense of his entire magic meter.  Summons are back, but downplayed quite a bit.  Asking Chicken Little or Stitch for help just doesn’t feel very cool.

Beautiful Battles

All of these special moves and powers serve to showcase just how amazing the battles look.  Every move, even Sora’s most basic attacks look absolutely amazing.  And the game provides you with ample opportunity to try out each and every power many, many times.  There’s no reason for combat to feel hum drum.  Added to the mix are new context sensitive commands called “reaction commands” that let the player execute special moves during key moments in a battle.  Again these spice up the already beautiful combat considerably.

World Hopping

In addition to revisiting worlds from the first game (the areas have been reworked quite a bit), players will delve into even more Disney content.  These vary greatly in quality and impact.  Some, like the Mulan world just don’t come off all that interesting.  Others like the Timeless River which is based on “Steamboat Willie (1928) are really creative.  The worst of the bunch is Port Royal.  Based on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, Sora and his gang are given absolutely nothing of worth to do in the world, and the player is largely relegated to watching cutscene after cutscene that just retells the story from the movie.  It appears they couldn’t even get Johnny Depp to track new lines.  They just lifted his dialogue from the film.

The funniest moment has to be from the Tron-themed world.  The level itself it kind of a wash, but hearing Bruce Boxlietner try to explain what the hell data nodes, DTDs, and the MCP are to a clueless Sora, Donald, and Goofy was just the perfect homage to a film that left audiences just as perplexed when it was released in 1982.

Key to the Kingdom

So yeah, there are still some rough spots (especially at the beginning) but Square Enix has managed to capture the feel of Disney characters a lot more closely than in the first game.  And with a much expanded role for Donald and Goofy, as well as a lot of love for Pete, playing Kingdom Hearts II feels a lot like spending some quality time with old friends.  And perhaps that just what they were trying to accomplish in the first place.