This review is taken from my website, Waza Online:
(sorry in advance for formatting problems)
Kingdom Hearts was one of the most critically and commercially successful Playstation 2 titles to hit the market world wide, when news of a sequel first came at 2003’s Tokyo Game Show thousands of fans world wide were ecstatic to continue the journey of Sora and his pals Donald and Goofy. After the CGI unlockable by meeting certain requirements in the first game where players saw a character that resembled Riku in a black trench coat fighting a strange character wielding two key-blades in a similar costume. Even more so this video contained footage of King Mickey in the same out fit fighting of hundreds of Heartless with his own keyblade. It’s been a bit less since than 3 years since the announcement was made and now it’s time for an answer to a very important question. Was it worth the wait?
It’s been one year since the events of Kingdom Hearts, and after the events of Chains of Memories, Sora’s memories need to be reconstructed. Players will be surprised to discover that the game does not have you start out as Sora but instead a new character known as Roxas, who lives in a world known as Twilight Town. The game begins with a CGI recap of the events of Kingdom Hearts and then it turns to the in-game graphics to continue telling the tale. We then learn that this is one of the many dreams that Roxas keeps having every night. He’s curious as to what his connection with the boy Sora is, and what happened to him and his friends. Players control Roxas for the beginning of the game, and learn about the new features and controls, along with the new types of enemies, known as the Nobodies. 4 hours or so in to the game though players will once again have control of Sora and his buddies in a quest to find Riku and the king after seeing them in the realm of Kingdom Hearts at the end of the last game. How and why you gain control of Sora, and what happens to Roxas is something you’ll need to find out by actually playing the game as it is key to the plot of the game.
Soon after gaining control Sora will shortly meet up with the King only to see him go once more and being told to take the train that has just arrived. As if that’s not enough the king is wearing the same outfit as the mysterious black figures shown in some of Roxas’ dreams. The train lands at a mysterious tower in Twilight town where Sora, Donald and Goofy see a mysterious figure peeking in the door way to the tower. We soon learn that this character is Pete, who was featured in an old Disney TV series starring Goofy and his son, a troublemaker banned to another dimension by King Mickey who was brought back by Maleficent and now can control the Heartless. Upon hearing this Sora and his pals crack up in laughter knowing that they defeated Maleficent back in Hollow Bastion, which Pete apparently does not know. Learning this Pete runs off leaving the rest up to the Heartless. Pete also tells the gang that the tower belongs to Yen Sid, the man who taught King Mickey everything he knows. Hearing this Donald and Goofy rush Sora in to visit the master and ask him questions about why they were sent there. This in turn answers one huge question about the sequel, How does Sora get the new duds? Right off the bat players will notice that Sora’s original outfit is a bit too small for him since he’s grown and thankfully the wise Yen Sid notices this as well. He tells Sora to go into the room next door where Sora is given his new outfit that is imbued with magical powers that allow him to change his own physical form. With this and some facts about what’s happening Sora and his pals head out on their next journey via the Gummy Ship. What happens next though is a something that confuses Sora and the gang when they first encounter it. After leaving Yen Sid dissapears and Maleficent’s clothing are brought back by her Raven. The thought of Maleficent brings her back to life and she begins her own conquest once more. However, her allegiance in this game is questionable as she makes some interesting choices.
Mickey.Sora.Donald.Goofy. Kingdom Hearts II
Upon traveling to different worlds the group learn for themselves about the Nobodies, and those who control them, more advanced Nobodies who’ve formed a group known as Organization XIII who use the nobodies and the Heartless for their own plans to gain hearts and become full; this Organization are also revealed to be the characters who werar the black hooded cloaks. This organization becomes the main antagonist in the game and a key element of the plot; it answers many questions from Chains of Memories and the first Kingdom Hearts as well. The entire story in this game is just much better and deeper than the original game, as are the Disney worlds. Gone are the monotonous days of Tarzan, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, and in are The Lion King, Mulan, Tron, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Steamboat Willie. And yes, I did just say Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean, the two most unlikely Disney films to be added to the game. Besides the new worlds the old ones return as well, save Traverse Town as Leon and the gang moved the inhabitants to Hollow Bastion where they used to live before Maleficent took it over with the help of the Heartless. Most of these worlds are well done except for Atlantica, which is a world based upon The Little Mermaid, while the annoying and encumbering controls of the previous game have been reworked so has the entire world in general. This world doesn’t have any heartless and is all about singing. Thus forth, the entire world is a mini-game where you try to help Ariel get over her obsession for the human world, and stop Ursula from ruling the ocean… by singing. On the other hand the new Disney worlds are exceptionally done except for Mulan, however that’s more of a game-play aspect which will be covered later. With an excellent story to gain ground with how do the graphics affect the game?
Graphically Kingdom Hearts II is one of the most impressive titles to date on the Ps2 alongside Jak III, God of War, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, the upcoming Final Fantasy XII, and Gran Turismo 4. This is in part due to the incredible remodeling of the Disney locales and characters. While Nightmare Before Christmas was the perfect example for this before hand, Steamboat Willie and Tron take it to the next level. For instance everything is much simpler graphically in Steamboat Willie in every regard, Sora does not have all the detail in his out fit and neither do the rest of the characters. Everything feels like a vintage version of the original Mickey Mouse hit. Tron does a good job in portraying the virtual world; while not as good as the PC hit Tron 2.0 it’s still incredibly impressive. While the Tron world takes the cult sci-fi hit and makes it more “cartoony⠀
Learning Curve: Takes a while
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