Overall 9.4 Graphics 7.6 Sound 8.9 Addictive 8.3 Story 8.9 Depth 7.4 Difficulty 7.4
7.8
Kingdom Hearts I: I hope you like cutscenes NVTaks
Growing up Disney movies were an integral part of my childhood. Yeah, I was that kid who was infinitely more obsessed with Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and the Lion King as compared to basketball or football. Some might argue I still am. I had always dreamed of a crossover game between the Disney world and the video game world that was more than just a crummy game based on a movie. And thus, my passion for Kingdom Hearts began.
The brain child of a Sony system and Square Enix design, Kingdom Hearts revolves around the protagonist Sora, his friends Donald and Goofy, and their quest to locate the 7 Princesses of Heart and seal the keyhole to every world. What are worlds you might ask? Imagine every disney movie setting turned into a 3-D adventure wonderland. Agrabah, Atlantica, 100 Acre Woods, and even Halloween Town are all included. In order to perform his duties, Sora wields a key blade, giving him powers to unlock/lock any door and combat the enemies of the game, the Heartless. Who are controlled by various disney villains, and their overlord, Ansem.
So let's get reviewing!
Graphics: 8/10The graphics in Kingdom Hearts I are superb.
The great part about Kingdom Hearts graphics is that the world isn't painstakingly detailed. The whole point of Kingdom Hearts is to create an atmosphere comparable to most disney movies, and the cartoony style of graphics greatly contribute to that feel.
What really sets the Kingdom Hearts graphics apart though, is how they dramatically change when you enter a cutscene. The graphics of the cutscenes are far superior to those seen in standard gameplay. What impressed me the most in the animation was how well the mouths were animated during cutscenes (of which there are a TON). I was also incredibly impressed with the graphics of the Keyblade. In game, you can collect different "keychains" which change the attributes and strength of your keyblade. These keychains also physically alter the appearance of your Keyblade, incorporating themes from various disney movies. And I must say, they make your keyblade look 100% pimped out. Little things like that are what really set game graphics apart for me.
The only issue I have with KH graphics is that the disney theme can occasionally make them blocky, and the clothing of the characters
(especially shirts) looked like they had been painted on to the skin without any 3-D qualities.
Sound / Music 9/10Honestly, the music in Kingdom Hearts is some of my favorite, and I know some people may disagree.
The song "Sanctuary" by Utada Hikaru makes up the majority of cutscene, and non-gameplay music. And honestly, it's gotten to the point where if I hear that song outside of KH, memories of the game come flooding back to me and I might even tear up a bit. I know it sounds incredibly cheesy, but that song carries so much emotional impact throughout the game that it's hard to listen to it and NOT reflect on all of your actions thus far.
The voice acting however, is incredible. The wonderful thing about the voice acting in KH is that you've probably already heard almost all of the voices. Whether it be from disney films or saturday morning cartoons you watched as kid, you're probably familiar with most of the voices you'll hear in-game.
The battle noises are the only part of the music that stops it from getting a perfect 10. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the music that starts playing up right before a battle. Battles in Kingdom Hearts tend to be pretty random. You walk through a room and then "BAM" suddenly there are heartless everywhere, and the music that accompanies their arrival really puts me on edge. Also, Sora's constant grunting and moaning every single time he swings the Keyblade gets really old. Really fast. Believe it or not fighting 50 enemies and hearing "whoa!" "hyaa!" every time you attack is impossibly annoying.
Addictiveness 7/10I'm going a little lower on the addictiveness level because of how long and convoluted the KH series as a whole is.
Yes, yes, I know that I shouldn't be basing this game's stats on other games in the series but since every Kingdom Hearts game ties directly into the next, it's kinda hard not to. In fact, if you just play the first Kingdom Hearts game then you won't even understand 50% of the total storyline.
The reason I put addictiveness so low is because many people who play this game are often confused and angry at the storyline. KH has an incredibly divided fan base in that there are those who love the story, and those who despise it. Even I got pretty tired after KH 3D:
DreamDropDistance introduced yet another form of enemy, and your entire adventure basically occurred within the subconscious.
I find it's imperative to consider all released sequels when considering addictiveness, because it's likely that future players have heard of every game in the series and that they're decision to start playing one game could be based on what they've heard about a game that occurs later on in the series.
Story 10/10As I previously said, there are some who love the story line, and other who hate it. If you can't read or for some reason don't understand what 10/10 means, then let me explain. I. LOVE. IT.
The story of Kingdom Hearts is just extraordinary. Now for all those diehard KH fans out there I'd like to point out that I'm only judging the story from game 1, not the entire series. As a whole the KH story can be incredibly confusing and convoluted, but that probably definitely doesn't start with the first game.
The first antagonists you meet is this council of Disney villains. However, you later learn that they are in fact henchman in controlled by Ansem, the most powerful heartless.
In the ultimate pursuit for power, Ansem opens up Kingdom Hearts (hey look it's the name) to fill himself with darkness, but in a massive plot twist Kingdom Hearts turns out to be made of light, and Ansem is obliterated.
The story ends with Kairi drifting off back to the Destiny Islands (their home), Sora being teleported along with Donald and Goofy to a field, and Riku being trapped in the realm of darkness. The ending leads into the sequel in which Sora finds himself fighting against the Nobodies, and searching for Riku.
Depth 6/10The reason I rank depth lower than the rest is because the plot line of every world you visit revolves around the same three things.
1. Kill heartless
2. Kill boss
3. Seal keyhole
That's basically it. The nuances and added interest come from the story line, not necessarily the depth. Also if you look at depth in terms of battles and fighting, well., good luck finding it. Basically battles in KH 1 can be won by doing almost nothing but pressing the attack button over and over again. Now, that's not to say there aren't other options while fighting. You can summon friends, and use magic, but they aren't crucial to victory to someone who can manage to dodge attacks and counter with a quick keyblade strike.
Normally I'd also consider extra things after the game to do, but considering the only one of those things that really exists is collecting freaking Dalmatians, it's not really helping the score here.
Difficulty 7/10Let's make one thing clear.
This is an easy game.Kingdom Hearts was never meant to be that impossible gaming gem that you couldn't put down for hours, but at the same time could never move forwards in. The bosses aren't meant to be extremely difficult, because if they were it would distract and take away from the story line. Kingdom Hearts is a game that's meant to be enjoyed for the story it presents, not the level of difficulty of the boss battles.
I would like to add in though that playing the game on proud mode is insanely difficult. Like, seriously. Any one wanting to undertake that…..well….I wish you luck.
9+8+7+10+6+7=4647/6 = Overall = 7.8Kingdom Hearts is a brilliant game that marked the start of a brilliant series. For those of you wondering why a game I claim to love so much doesn't have a perfect ten, well, that's just not how I roll. For me, a review that gives a game around a 9.8 is just painfully unrealistic, and doesn't accurately show much of anything about the game itself.
And there's my first review! That was a ton of fun to write. I'd love to hear ideas on how to improve my writing so feel free to criticize (constructively of course :P)!
Graphics 8 Sound 9 Addictive 7 Story 10 Depth 6 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 03-04-14
Review Replies: 5
8.5
Kingdom Hearts Estaban216
I have always loved the Kingdom Hearts series. All starting with this one. I remember back in the day when I was little and this game came out. I started playing and immediately was addicted. I could never stop playing this game. There was always something to do. Even after I finally did beat everything I could, I still went ahead and tried to max out Sora's stats (Strength, Defense, etc.). I never quite got to that point as more KH games came out, but it still was a great game. Now, my ratings for this game are based on the PS2 version only. This does not apply for the new 1.5 version, because trust me, they would be much better. I am in the process of the 1.5 version and love it. The only thing I don't like about 1.5 is they changed the music and made it sound a lot different. I liked the original soundtracks. I still play this one from time to time to get the old feel for the original. However, I am really only playing the 1.5 Remix version so I can beat the secret bosses that Japan didn't give to the North America version. The PS2 Remix version was all in Japanese so I never could understand what was being said. Now I can. :D
So, let's get down to the depth of my ratings:
Graphics: 9
The graphics for the PS2 version are great. Especially during some of the cut scenes. They really put a lot of effort into this game and the design of the characters and making them look like they did in the movies. I personally believe this game was made to put you into the worlds of the your favorite Disney movies, and that's exactly what they did. You really feel like you're on a pirate ship with Peter Pan, or walking the streets of Halloween Town with Jack Skellington. It really is impressive. It is part of the reason why I like this game so much. However, some of the graphics could be a little better such as with the Gummi Ship. It has a very basic feel to it that could have been improved. Otherwise, this game was very well done.
Sound: 8
I gave this game a 9 for sound. I love the music in the game. Especially the way they implement some of the famous songs into the worlds as you travel them. Such as "This is Halloween" in Halloween Town, and "Under the Sea" in Atlantica. The music while fighting bosses is great too (I have a guilty pleasure with the boss songs that I actually have downloaded onto my phone). "Sanctuary" by Utada Hikaru is also a great song that fits very well with this game.
The sound effects of the game is another story. Some of the things can get pretty repetitive that many people may find annoying, but I love the game too much that while playing, I look past that. However for my review I have added this in here for anyone who may read it and I would rather not get yelled at for not mentioning it.
Addictiveness: 9
I have given this a 9 because me personally, I am extremely addicted to this game, and the series in general. This is my number one favorite series of all time. But I have also figured not everyone loves this game, so I gave it a 9 for those 1/10 people who wont like it. If you're looking for something with a strong story line (even if sometimes excessive with all the side stories they have out) then Kingdom Hearts is a game for you. If you do plan on trying out the Kingdom Hearts series, I have a proposition for you. If you're looking to just try it out simple and just get the story line, then get the original PS2 version. If you're looking more in depth and things to do, then I suggest you get KH 1.5 Remix. Either way, insanely addictive to me personally.
Story: 10
I LOVE the story to Kingdom Hearts. This is the main reason why I love this series so much. The story line has such an in depth feel and really touches you. Granted the story line is across 7 games at the moment, not including Kingdom Hearts 3 (2015!!!! Hopefully...), it still is really great. It can get confusing at times because the way the games came out completely screws up the story line. For example, they came out with all these games in Sora's time, then they come out with Birth by
Sleep which is a prequel, ten years before Sora receives the Keyblade. You start up Birth by
Sleep going "Who are these guys?" And only until later do you realize what's going on. However, the story line in general is amazing.
Depth: 7
Depth was rated low only because the PS2 version does not offer a whole lot to do. There are 4 secret bosses you can find and fight, 2 of which are in the Olympus Coliseum. And once they are beat, there's not much to do besides collect items, unlock trinities, and collect puppies. All which could be done in a day. I mean, you could always try to reach level 99 (or 100, whichever was the max, I don't remember) but you'd have the rest of the game beat before you got anywhere near. I've beaten everything at level 74 only because Sephiroth is a major pain for me. I had everything else beaten by 56-57. However, the HD Remix version offers a few more things to do. Along with a new secret boss that was only released in Japan, the Gummi ship menu has missions to complete, and a few other things I have yet to discover. That's why I said before that if you are looking for things to do along with the story line, get the HD Remix version.
Difficulty: 8
This game is fairly simple following the story line. If you play on normal mode, there are very few difficult parts along the story line. One such time is when you return to Traverse Town for the second time and the Air Soldiers come into play. I FREAKING HATE THOSE THINGS. Even on normal difficulty, if you are on a low level they'll take you out quickly. Otherwise, the story line is pretty simple. Once you get into level 60+, even the toughest of the small heartless are easy to take out. However, inexperienced players will have a hard time with the secret bosses on anything below level 65-70. I have been playing this game ever since it came out and with enough concentration, I can beat the secret boss in Agrabah on 56, and he is a pain when he starts flying across the map. Sephiroth is the only real challenge for me in that game. Best I have ever beaten him on is 74.
The Proud difficulty is another story. Easy parts become hard, and hard parts become next to impossible. For inexperienced players of course.
It is still to this day a challenge for me on Proud, but its also still the same Kingdom Hearts. Heartless still act the same, and things all work the same way as usual, just heartless attacks are stronger, and Sora's attacks are weaker. Nothing that can't be solved with some power leveling, it's just finding the happy median between good xp, and heartless you can beat without getting pummeled.
So in conclusion to my review, it really is a wonderful game. I can't ever get enough of Kingdom Hearts. I have replayed every game in the series too many times to count, that's how much I love them. This one is no exception. So if you like Disney, deep story lines, fun game play, and are ready to get addicted to all that, I highly recommend this game.
Overall Score: 8.5
Graphics 8 Sound 9 Addictive 9 Story 10 Depth 7 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 04-07-14
Review Replies: 3
9.2
Kingdom Hearts 1 deggle
Graphics 9 this games graphics are super good and they don't glitch out. it was like watching an anime. with disney characters and the graphics were nice to the eyes.
Depth 8 this game is about frienship and has a kidnapping of 7 princesses. there is a lot of challenges the player will have to go through.
Difficulty 9 you decide on what the games difficulty can be in the game there are two points where you can toggle this setting.because they enemies will grow continualy stronger and stronger than you.
Addictiveness 8 this game was so cool and fun to play i beat it so many times you guys will love this game. the thing about this game is that the you get to go into different disney worlds and play inside their story and unlock werid but cool features as you go on.
Sound 10 i love the voice actors that play in this game they were really good at their job and they fit with characters. and the music was also composed beautifully. it just was always something that was heat-warming or music that gives off a sad emotion buy makes the user smile.
Story 9 the story starts with a boy named Sora who is in this werid place he thinks is a dream but is waken up by his two friends Kairi and riku and they tell him to hurry up and help build the raft so they can travel to different worlds. he helps Kairi out by finding food and water but as finds one of the mushrooms he need this figure apears to him and a cut scene come up then that night he fins Riku's and Kairi's boats parked at the dock where they put them so they can play in the islands Sora leaves out the window as his mother calls him for dinner and Sora finds Riku on the other side of this bridge he tells Sora that the world is being swallowed by darkness Riku says he accepts the darkness and get's swallowed by it hoping Sora joins him but Sora's heart won't allow this and grants Sora a Keyblade a special weapon that can do many things. then he is attacked by these werid creatures called heartless that steal humans hearts and Sora figures out that only the Keyblade is able to damage the monsters. then he finds Kairi in the cave as he comes in she goes away like a ghost because her heart has been taken. well her we go
Overall score time ? 9+9+10+10+8+8=54/6=9.2
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 8 Story 10 Depth 8 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 01-08-14
Updated: 01-09-14
Review Replies: 1
9.8
A Match Made in Heaven Drewster712
Square has made the Final Fantasy games that have left the world amazed, and Disney has made the films and stories that we all love and always have a happy ending. These two companies are both a lot alike in terms of popularity, and very different in terms of story; but when put together, they become an unstoppable couple. This game that they have made is one that has its deep dark story line from Square, and its humor and happiness from Disney. The game makes you interested and scared, and then gives you a relief and makes you happy. Now onto the game itself. The game starts with a beautiful music video that shows the main character Sora falling into a dark place with no explanation of why you're there. After the amazing scene, a mysterious voice with no source tells you about life in a very dark way. After the whole dark place, you wake up on the calm relaxing beach of Destiny Islands. Sora knows it was a dream but thinks in the back of his mind that it might be something else. This island is meant to calm the player down after the dark mysterious dream. That was just the beginning. Later Sora teams up with Goofy and Donald, and they travel to other Disney worlds and solve problems there by defeating the main enemies; Heartless. Now onto presentation. The game I think has music that always makes me smile when I play; especially Traverse Town's music. The graphics are good because they make them like a cartoon so it doesn't look bad, plus most of the Disney worlds were originally made as a cartoon. I loved playing this game because it felt really good seeing characters that I used to love when I was little, and I liked fighting heartless.The game is long compared to others but short compared to the Final Fantasy games. I found myself going back to the worlds a lot to find hidden items and other things. In difficulty, it's not that hard. I can see it being a challenge for a child or beginners, but not for people who have played and rpg before. If you put the game on expert then you are in for a challenge especially the optional boss fights. I found no problems with the game except for a couple of the worlds but there is just so much to say about this game and so little time so I think I'll end here.
Graphics 8 Sound 10 Addictive 9 Story 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 06-22-14
Review Replies: 2
9
Kingdom Hearts: Final Fantasy Meets Disney janus
“Back in the days”, Nintendo had collaborated with Squaresoft to produce Super Mario RPG: the Legend of the Seven Stars. That unusual combination did give a fine games that combined action with RPG elements like fights and quests despite a childish story
In the early days of the PlayStation 2, Square Enix made an alliance with… Walt Disney. It gave Kingdom Hearts, a game that is technically interesting but that will prove to be quite a challenge.
Graphics: 7/10
The graphics are certainly a great improvement from PSX games. Despite their oversized shoes the characters are well-drawn with realistic measurements. Their movements are even more fluid than in Final Fantasy X – it’s an action RPG, mind you. Sora (the main character) moves around almost like any human being: he walks, runs, slashes, swims and even flies (in Neverland) like no other.
The main enemies he will face are the “heartless”, creatures that try to steal other people’s hearts. They come in all sorts of shapes and forms, which was very imaginative. Some of them even show their empty hearts.
The environment in which he evolves is very rich and diversified. He starts on Destiny Island, a tropical location with a luscious jungle and a sandy beach. He will visit many worlds like Traverse Town, where the houses are nicely drawn; Wonderland, where like Alice he will have to change his size to complete his mission in this world faithful to the Disney movie; Agrabah where he will both explore the city and the Cave of Wonders – you will even relive the escape on Carpet, and many.
As I said in the intro, the game was co-designed by Walt Disney and it shows everywhere. For starters, Donald Duck (a mage) and Goofy (a defensive knight) will always be by your side. They are both well-drawn and move according to their persona (Goofy moves in a more mellow manner). In worlds like Agrabah, Atlantica and Captain Hook’s ship you will even have the possibility of having an optional character replacing Donald or Goofy like Aladdin, Ariel and Peter Pan. They are also well-drawn although they are not as developed since they can’t go out of their worlds.
Still about Disney you will have to face many classical villains like Maleficent (in both her witch and dragon form), Captain Hook, Ursula (in her regular and extra-large form) and many others. You will even face the giant demon from Fantasia! They are also well-drawn, although Maleficent looks a little too pixelated, especially her horns and arms.
Still about pixilation, the space ship you use to travel between worlds could have been better. It almost looks like the blocks were taken from Star Fox because they are so square and unnatural. The space background itself looks primitive and unimaginative.
Finally, because my dexterity for action games is rather low, I didn’t get to explore many of the spells. However the summon spells are very interesting (although pixelated as well) where you can ride Dumbo and water your enemies, have Bambi look for rare items or have the Genie zap enemies for you.
Big caveat: the camera can run wild at times when you lock on your targets. It’s especially nauseating (as in it moves too much) when you fight Sephiroth or your shadow on the pirate ship.
Lesser caveat: there are barely any movies per say; the cutscenes are mostly dialogues.
Music: 7/10
The result is a little low because of the sound effect because the music is excellent.
It’s lively and always appropriate for the environment. Destiny Island has a very nice exotic music, Traverse Town has a calm jazzy atmosphere while Wonderland has a goofier track to illustrate the surreal atmosphere. In all the worlds the battle music is an upbeat version of the world’s theme, which was done nicely.
Boss battles sound very dramatic with either their trumpets or violins, while Forze del Mal (a “major boss” battle) is even more dramatic with its choir, a little like the final boss battle. You even get to hear Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain when you fight the giant demon! It was too quick to carry the drama of the original piece, but it was good nonetheless.
Speaking of “remixed”, you will sometimes hear other well-known tracks like One-Winged Angel (when you fight Sephiroth in the Coliseum) or Under the Sea when you visit Atlantica. And while it was not part of the movie, Never Land Sky sounds so magical.
The sound effects aren’t that interesting, unfortunately. But it does have its moments.
First the game is fully voiced. Sora and Riku all talk appropriately for their age – they are preteens. You can feel the animosity (friendly at first) when they talk to each other, but it grows even more hostile as the game progresses.
Donald and Goofy sound just like they sounded when they were created. Donald is more expressive and makes his weird, er, duck sounds. Both (like Sora) also talk during battle which was a nice addition. Disney even recruited back Katherine Beaumont, the one who did Alice and Wendy’s voices in the 1950s! She doesn’t sound like a girl, but she doesn’t sound like a granny either.
Unfortunately, not all voices are created equal. Wakka and Tidus lost their cool from FF X; Tidus sounds like he’s younger than Sora. Also, Maleficent – who is voiced by the same woman who voices Lady Tremaine in the new Cinderellas – just doesn’t have the deep, evil voice Eleanor Audley had. Especially when she says, “You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil?!” And considering we hear her often, there are many occasions for deceptions.
The other sound effects are OK. They blend is so well that I can’t think of any in particular that stands out.
Addictiveness: 10/10
WOW! This game has SO MUCH to offer! I will only talk about some of the sidequests you will face.
First you will try to find all 101 Dalmatians through the world. As you bring them to their parents they will start giving you all sorts of goodies.
You will also visit the 100 acre woods and Winnie the Pooh and his friends in various mini-games like catching up to Tigger so he doesn’t jump all over the “kerits” or propel Eyeore in a sling far away.
The Olympus Coliseum is probably the place that offers the most to play. There you will fight regular enemies you encounter through the game but also Disney monsters like the Cerberus from Hercules and even Final Fantasy opponents like Cloud (who stole Sephiroth’s wings) and Squall Leonheart. Will you be able to win all 100 fights? But before that will you be able to complete the Road to Hero?
Finally before you reach the End of the World (the last area of the game), the Clock Tower in Never Land has something to offer for every hour of gameplay you complete after first reaching it. But after reaching that area you will first need to defeat one of those nearly-impossible-to-defeat bosses… while flying. There is one such boss in the Cave of Wonders too and two of them in the Coliseum, including Sephiroth.
Story: 6/10
Probably because Disney is involved, I found the story a little childish.
You play Sora, a preteen that lives with his friends Riku and Kaily (whose hand is disputed by both of them). Then one night, everything changes: the Heartless invade the island. At the same time, King Mickey (Mouse) noticed that the stars in the sky are turning off, so he goes on a quest to find out what’s happening.
But as he was gone for a long time Donald and Goofy start looking for him. They end up in Traverse Town, where they meet Sora (he lost both his friends during the fateful night). They will notice that he wields a keyblade, the legendary weapon Mickey was talking about. They follow him on his quest to find his friends but also rescue seven maidens of the purest heart (Disney princesses) so they are not stolen to animate the king of the Heartless.
As you can see, the story was really made for children even though the game is rated T. I didn’t care much for Sora as the only “development” he gets are flashbacks from his grandmother, who tells him about good and evil. Riku either wasn’t that good; I would have loved to see his transformation into a more evil being – maybe a cutscene or two with Maleficent.
Speaking of whom, she probably was the only interesting character of the game. She transcends the worlds, unlike the other villains like Jaffar and Captain Hook, and her evil character is perfect. The other characters (world-specific) however, don’t get much development. Their story is re-arranged to fit the narrative of the heart stealing – Alice’s “trial” is for an attempt to steal the Queen of Hearts’ heart.
Finally, why is Alice a princess and not Ariel? It’s not like there were universes that could have been used instead like Sleeping Beauty’s forest (with Philipp as an ally).
Depth: 7/10
Fortunately, the story goes into deep for the most part.
Sora’s progression as the keyblade hero is slow and isn’t linear. For starters not every princess has been abducted yet so you still try to save them before they get captured. All through the game you will get bits and pieces on Ansem’s journal, a mysterious man who write about wanting to know about that Heartless. What are they? Where do they come from? You will get the shocking answer later.
Also, until the second part of the game (where the Gummy ship theme changes) levels have quite a bit to explore. Wonderland, the Deep Jungle and Agrabah have a lot to explore, including many detours and deadends. However, starting around Captain Hook’s ship, levels seem to shrink quite a bit. Indeed the vessel doesn’t offer much to explore, nor does Hollow Bastion. Everything changes in the End of the World though, where you go deep inside the Earth, so deep that the final battle starts in the dark.
Finally, sidequests like the 100 Acre Wood will last you for a long time before you complete theme. It comes with about 5-6 different quests that pop up through the game as you find pages from the book.
Difficulty: 6/10
It would have been higher had it not been so easy to control.
Indeed you can decide right at the beginning, by talking with Selphie, Wakka and Tidus, how you will level up. You can level up quickly until level 50, evenly throughout or quicker after level 50. But chances are you won’t need to increase your level so much because you will have picked up the right weapon.
Speaking of weapons, you need to choose them carefully as they vary in strength but also in length. The keyblade you get from the genie is strong but very short; that explains why I failed at one of the trials in 100 Acre wood but also at a boss I can’t remember since I couldn’t reach it.
Other than that, the difficulty level depends on your ability to mash the attack (or magic) button to avoid getting hit. I did relatively well but did end up losing my voice the next day a few times out of sheer frustration from getting killed/not being able to hit the enemy enough. It was especially difficult when fighting the boss inside Monstro (the whale in Pinocchio) and the first “major boss fight”, where the boss is excessively swift and you fight alone.
It also depends on how well you can perform timed hits, i.e. very precise hits that give you bonuses but also can deflect an enemy’s attack. You can practice both inside Merlin’s house, against his magical furniture (that doesn’t attack you, fortunately). However, no amount of practice can help you fight the difficult bosses that appear after Hollow Bastion. Sephiroth and the ice monster inside the Coliseum are just too quick and strong, and fighting the boss in Neverland while flying is almost impossible, especially since you need to use magic if you are to stand a chance against his “death penalty” attack.
Fortunately, the difficulty level is toned down with a few tricks. First, you can acquire scan early on, meaning that you can see how many points a monster has (it fills up to the left and then to the right like Shining Force II), or even if you’re fighting the right monster if it has doppelgangers.
In short I would recommend Kingdom Hearts to all you out there. The graphics are decent, there are memorable tracks and voices and the game has so much to offer. And despite a childish story the story is well-developed and will keep you busy for over 40 hours, if not more.
Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 10 Story 6 Depth 7 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 04-28-15
Review Replies: 6
6.4
Overrated Hearts OrdannonsX
Kingdom Hearts. The video game series with one of the biggest fandoms in the video game industry. For me, and a lot of other gamers, this video game invokes a lot of childhood nostalgic feelings. Disney, Final Fantasy, video games. My three favourite things from my teenage life made an epic collabration. I can't begin to describe how much fun I had with this game back then. But now it's almost fifteen years later. And I'm here to give my honest thoughts and opinions about the first game of the Kingdom Hearts series.
The Graphics
The graphics seem to be praised by both fans and critics. Even though the worlds are varied and pretty detailed, and all the Disney and Final Fantasy characters are designed really well and instantly recognizable, I still feel that the graphics in Kingdom Hearts just aren't what they're cracked up to be. In some parts of the cutscenes the facial motion of the characters look amazing, while in most parts, they're standing there with two-dimensional faces, with their mouths moving up and down to indicate speech. It looks really awkard. It wouldn't have mattered so much if it all looked like this, but at some parts, the game really shows you what it's capable of by showing off the character's emotions in its fullest detail, and when you see those characters just weirdly blabbing away in the next shot, you realize that this isn't perfect in the slightest. What's more, I felt that there are quite a few environments that felt cluttered, and didn't give you a lot of space to move around. This made some of the worlds feel a little linear, but I think that's just a little nitpicky of me.
The Sound
I really liked the overall sound design of the game. The voice acting is great, and the Disney cast is largely spoken-in by their original voice actors from their respective movies, which is very impressive seeing the age of some of the Disney movies. The Final Fantasy characters like Cloud, Squall and Yuffie also got voice actors in the game, and their voices fit their characters to a T. The music is wonderful and varied, and each Disney world you explore has a theme music that fits the atmosphere of the movie.
The Story
Three friends, Sora (this is you) Riku and Kairi (and three Final Fantasy characters, but they don't really matter) spend their days on a lovely island just outside their hometown. One day, darkness swallows the world, and Sora wakes up in a place called “Traverse Town”. Here he joins Donald and Goofy in order to search for both Mickey Mouse, and Sora's friends, Riku and Kairi. I know this sounds basic and frankly kinda ridiculous, but putting the vast plot of this game onto paper takes quite a lot of time and I think this is really all I can give you without giving too much away in my review. Pay in mind that Kingdom Hearts is partly a Disney game, so expect a lot of drama, and the story to have a nice feel-good vibe to it. If that's your sorta thing, you can't really go wrong with following Kingdom Hearts' plot.
The Depth
Meaty story aside, Kingdom Hearts is a little simple.
It features a unique control system, called the 'Command List'. This small list is on the lower-left corner of the screen at all times, showing the various actions that Sora can do. It flexibly changes according to the situation. When enemies show up, the 'action' command changes to 'attack', which you can use to defeat the enemies. When you're standing next to an item chest, it changes into 'open', which you, naturally, open the chest with. Even with all the game's sequels and prequels, which basically incorporated the same core gameplay, the Command List still manages to feel fun to use. There is a flaw here, though. Even though there is a button shortcut you can use to cast spells quickly in-battle, you can't do the same with items. So when you're low on health, and out of MP so you can't cast a healing spell, you need to select the 'items' tab on the Command List, and then select the item you want to use at that moment. This all needs to be done in real-time because you can't access the items menu in-battle. This leaves you open for enemy attacks, since you can't fight back because you're in the items tab of the Command List, and can't select 'attack' to defend yourself in the meantime. You could say this is part of the challenge, but it is in a sorta cheap way, because if you die in the short period, because you can't fight back, you really couldn't have done anything to prevent it from happening.
Since Kingdom Hearts a game made by Squaresoft, you would expect there's a lot to earn by the tons of optional side quests. However, aside from playing through the storyline, there isn't a lot to do. There are a couple of tournaments being held at the Olympic Coliseum, which are more or less all the same aside from some surprise contestants; Finding Pongo's and Perdita's 99 dalmatian puppies who were scattered throughout the worlds; Fighting a surprise boss. The reason why I'm still giving Kingdom Hearts' depth a 6, is because of the vast storyline, and how it sets up so much events for the future games.
Also, there is a problem I had with the controls. For some reason, even though DualShock camera movement was already there since the PS1 era, Squaresoft decided it would be a good idea to still assign the camera control to the L2 and R2 buttons like in earlier PS1 games. What does the right analogue stick on your PlayStation 2 do? It lets you scroll around the Command List as an alternative to the up and down arrows. This is very primitive considering Kingdom Hearts is a PlayStation 2 game from 2003, and it allows for very restricted camera movement. If you wish, you could use the Select button for a first-person camera mode, which lets you pan the camera all around, but it stops you from moving around yourself. This makes exploring some of the more interesting environments not as fun and immersing as it could've been.
The Addictiveness
I can't say I'm a huge fan of Kingdom Hearts. The Command List is innovative but flawed, and the story consist for a large part of cutscenes, and even though the storyline is intricate, this alone isn't enough to cover up the flaws that the gameplay has.
The Difficulty
Kingdom Hearts offers a challenge, mainly due to the fact that you need to get used to the Command List. The fact that you can't pause the action to select a healing item adds a great deal of strategic planning of when to start to use the item. What's more, after you've selected and used the healing item, the effect of said item takes a second or so to kick in, which means if you're hit by a fatal attack after you used the item, but before it actually replenished your health, you'll still be dead. This is borderline-cheap, and caused me quite a little frustration at some moments. Then there's the fact that some of the worlds you visit offer you such a vague explanation of what to do in order to make progress that you might get stuck in them. Seriously, beating the Monstro level got me scratching my head numerous times because of how poorly designed it was.
VERDICT:
The first Kingdom Hearts game is good, but overrated. It feels awkward having to switch commands all the time to do a single thing, which makes combat messy and, when you end up getting killed, frustrating because you couldn't do much to prevent it. The music and voice talent is amazing, and the collabration of Disney and Final Fantasy made for a story like no one had ever seen, but is it fun to play now, with it's primitive camera controls and straight up better sequels? I honestly don't think so.
Pros:
Some of the worlds are a blast to explore
On-screen Command List is unique, even if it's flawed
Story is feel-good and interesting
Rich with all your favourite Disney and Final Fantasy characters
Cons:
Shoddy, dated combat and movement, even for 2003
Fighting the same enemies in areas you revisit grows repetitive really fast
Gummi Ship levels aren't fun
Not as many side quests as you may expect from a Squaresoft RPG
Review Rating: 1/5
Submitted: 09-29-14
Updated: 04-29-15
Review Replies: 5
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