Let the Criticism and Compliments begin!
By
TheXeonGeist This Review's Trust Rating: Unrated
May 7, 2006 - Let me just start off by saying if you're as big a fan as I am of this game, than you've probably been waiting for it as long as I have. Which is about two and half years if you're wondering. So the main question is, was it worth the wait? Well i'll cover five sections to tell you that, that's the Story, Gameplay, Sound, Graphics, and Fun Factor.
Right, lets get down to business.
Story-
I would hope most of you reading this have actually followed the story thus far by playing Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories (And if you haven't get to it). This game follows exactly where Chain of Memories left off. Yes that's Sora still stuck in a pod but what happened to all of his other friends? Going through the story you'll find out what all of Sora's friends have been up to for the past year while he was sleeping. In one perspective the worlds are still as linear but depending on which world you're in it doesn't seem like it. All the Disney worlds are hardly apart of the main plot however until Orginization XIII steps in. These are the main bad guys called Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts II. Likewise, when you do encounter the Org in the Disney worlds you'll almost always experience an event that lets you see what a Nobody has to go through. I guess the last thing is whether you see what happens to Riku and Kairi. Well I won't tell you that but I will say Sora does see them, but does he actually meet them? You'll have to find out for yourself.
Final Words on the Story: A little not so well paced but it's enjoyable and is easy to understand. There are elements however that let you look at the game in a complex manner.
Score-9
Gameplay-
Where to begin on this one. For starters the entire system has been revamped. The way Sora holds and attacks with his keyblade to how he's finishing a combo. There is also somethign new called Reaction Commands, they add a great deal of gameplay to fights and are just overall pretty fun to watch. There is a new feature called Drive as well, this is where you combine with one team member so that you can attain all new abilities. For example, when you merge with Goofy you get two keyblades and your attack power has been increased. Overall it's arguably the most fun part of the game and the most upgraded part. Like the gummi ship, totally revamped as well and more easier while more fun to play. It's a bit more complicated to customize however but it isn't needed.
Final Words on Gameplay: If this is the most important feature to you in a game than this is definitely one game for you.
Final Score-10
Sound-
Sound, its what sets the atmosphere for a game isn't it? This game is made by Square-Enix, and you can bet there will be fantastic audio in this game. If there's one thing both the original and this game have it's a fantastic audio background. Yoko Shimomura does just an excellent job on the music that I can't stress it enough, Utada Hikaru does the theme song Sanctuary, which actually has some connections with the game and is very well written and sung. Ryo Inakura does the actual sounds in the game, like grunts and the liking. Lastly there's the voice acting, I'll say this, some voice actors did a spot on job, while others could have put in a bit more effort.
Final Words on sound- I didn't go into much detail on the sound, it's just something you have to hear for yourself and enjoy.
Final Score-10
Graphics-
What can I say about the graphics, stunning comes to mind. Headed by Tatsuya Kando in the animation department, Kingdom Hearts II puts on some of the most breate-taking graphics you'll have the privelage of laying your eyes on. The ingame graphics are stunning enough but when you get to see the full CGI, forget about it, your eyes will be glued to the TV. I was actually quite taken with the lip synching in the game, not a huge must for me but it's nice to see the effort Square took into the game.
Final Words on Graphics-There's almost nothing negative about the graphics I could see. Amazingly put forth in almost all aspects this game delivers top notch graphics.
Final Score-10
Fun Factor-
For this I can't tell you if the game is fun or not, that is for you to decide but I will express my opinion on it like I have thus far. This is one of the most fun games i've played in a long while, it's about equal to the original, which will probably hold it's place as the most fun game to me. It's fun enough so that you can play it over and over again, but it doesn't match the original in that aspect.
Final Words on Fun Factor- It's a fun game, no doubt, how fun it is, is up to the player.
Final Score-9
Alright, now to say some negative things about the game. The game has a lot of filler and suffers from that. The Disney worlds don't actually have a direct affect on the plot and are just there for fun, which is nice but that can be more focused on the actual game. Some voice acting seemed like there was no effort put into it, might have been due to different voice actors, regardless it was still bad at times. The game's difficulty was somewhat of an issue, sometimes it was too easy, sometimes it was too hard.
Final Word on Kingdom Hearts II- This game did actually deliver on what I expected from most things. The only thing that I think could have changed was the story, it was great but I feel like it could have been so much more. Everything else was spot on and I couldn't have asked for me.
Final Score for Kingdom Hearts II:9.3
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