Kingdom Hearts Retrospective Review
By: Nik S
Developer: Squaresoft
Producers: Square (Japan and North America), Sony Computer Entertainment (PAL Region)
Release: March 28, 2002 (Japan); September 17, 2002 (NA); November 15, 2002 (EU)
Platform: PlayStation 2 (high definition remakes on PlayStation 3 and 4)
Kingdom Hearts is a series that truly needs no introduction for those who owned a PlayStation 2 back in the early 2000's. For those of you who do not know if this franchise, it's an action role-playing game with hack and slash elements. The game was developed and published by Squaresoft in conjunction with Disney. The game is a collaboration project of Square and Walt Disney properties. It combines characters and settings from Disney animated films with characters and elements from the Final Fantasy franchise.
The mechanics depart from Squaresoft's standard role-playing elements, and instead focus on hack and slash action. It also includes a surprising voice cast, since a few Disney characters are voiced by their official actor. All characters have a nice blend of a Square design with some Disney magic sprinkled in, due to Tetsuya Nomura (longtime Square character designer) directing the project.
The story follows Sora, along with his friends Riku and Kairi, plan on using a raft to leave their home on the Destiny Islands to explore new worlds. One night the islands are attacked by Heartless, beings born from having their hearts consumed by the darkness. Sora, while obtaining a weapon called the Keyblade, is unable to save the islands and sent to another world. Elsewhere, we're introduced to Donald and Goofy, the king's adviser and royal guard respectively, who find that King Mickey has left the castle to fight the Heartless. He instructs his aides to seek out the "key" that will protect the worlds from darkness. Donald and Goofy use the Gummi Ship to go to Traverse Town, where Sora is. They decide to team up and travel together in order to find Mickey and Sora's friends.
Kingdom Hearts is greatly influenced by its parent franchise, Final Fantasy, by taking the core elements and blending them with a new unique style. The main party consists of three characters: Sora, Donald, and Goofy (the latter two can be replaced by a guest character). The player will only control Sora, while the other members are AI driven. Players can alter the AI's behavior through customization in the pause menu. As you progress through worlds, Sora will gain new Keyblades, spells, and summons (which calls forth a Disney character to do special attacks or buffs).
To fight the Heartless, the main enemies of the game, players have a menu to choose actions from. Sora has a basic attack, which is a few combos strung together (which can be altered with new skills and abilities learned). There is also magic, which can also be put onto a quick select rather than going through the menu, summons, and items. Each party member has a green and blue bar, which measure their health and magic respectively. The one thing that can disrupt the flow of battle, or even world exploration, is the camera. It can be really difficult at times to get the camera just where you want it, and even then it seems to fight you. It takes a while to get a hold of, and become overlookable, but when you're just starting it's rather annoying.
Similar to traditional RPGs, Kingdom Hearts has an experience system that helps to unlock new abilities, both active and passive. Unlike other games at the time, Kingdom Hearts allowed players a certain level of character customization. From the very beginning of the game, players are given a choice to choose between a sword, shield, or staff. Chosing one of these allows players to focus on one of three attributes, strength, defense, and magic. Players will choose one to focus primarily on, and one to lack in. Doing this manipulates how Sora can learn his abilities and grow his stats. Donald, Goofy, or any other party member have specific areas of strengths too: Donald exceeds in magic, and Goofy is great in strength and special attacks.
The game has a linear story, though they can choose which Disney inspired world they would like to explore next (some have higher difficulties than others). To travel to each world you will embark on what's known as a Gummi Ship. Every time players travel between the worlds they will find themselves playing a rail shooter. There are obstacles to fly around and enemies to shoot, which when destroyed sometimes will drop items for ship customization. The Gummi Ship can be customized by adding and removing parts to make it faster, take more damage, or up its fire rate. While adding different parts, players can also customize the design of their ship to fit their liking in Chip and Dale's menu. After some time, players can warp their way to worlds so they do not have to do the rail shooting mini game each time.
While the camera mechanics certainly have not aged well, the rest of the game is a classic gem. The game isn't perfect by any means, but any negative there is to say about the game can be easily overlooked by the charm this game radiates. There is so much customization you can do, like create the ultimate weapon, and the party's skills. Each world you visit allows Sora and company to change their outfits to match their surroundings (like Sora becoming a merman in Atlantis, or being a ghoulish devil in Halloween Town). Players can also fall in love with the plot, but it can get confusing really fast for any casual player.
Developer: Squaresoft
Producers: Square (Japan and North America), Sony Computer Entertainment (PAL Region)
Release: March 28, 2002 (Japan); September 17, 2002 (NA); November 15, 2002 (EU)
Platform: PlayStation 2 (high definition remakes on PlayStation 3 and 4)
Kingdom Hearts is a series that truly needs no introduction for those who owned a PlayStation 2 back in the early 2000's. For those of you who do not know if this franchise, it's an action role-playing game with hack and slash elements. The game was developed and published by Squaresoft in conjunction with Disney. The game is a collaboration project of Square and Walt Disney properties. It combines characters and settings from Disney animated films with characters and elements from the Final Fantasy franchise.
The mechanics depart from Squaresoft's standard role-playing elements, and instead focus on hack and slash action. It also includes a surprising voice cast, since a few Disney characters are voiced by their official actor. All characters have a nice blend of a Square design with some Disney magic sprinkled in, due to Tetsuya Nomura (longtime Square character designer) directing the project.
The story follows Sora, along with his friends Riku and Kairi, plan on using a raft to leave their home on the Destiny Islands to explore new worlds. One night the islands are attacked by Heartless, beings born from having their hearts consumed by the darkness. Sora, while obtaining a weapon called the Keyblade, is unable to save the islands and sent to another world. Elsewhere, we're introduced to Donald and Goofy, the king's adviser and royal guard respectively, who find that King Mickey has left the castle to fight the Heartless. He instructs his aides to seek out the "key" that will protect the worlds from darkness. Donald and Goofy use the Gummi Ship to go to Traverse Town, where Sora is. They decide to team up and travel together in order to find Mickey and Sora's friends.
Kingdom Hearts is greatly influenced by its parent franchise, Final Fantasy, by taking the core elements and blending them with a new unique style. The main party consists of three characters: Sora, Donald, and Goofy (the latter two can be replaced by a guest character). The player will only control Sora, while the other members are AI driven. Players can alter the AI's behavior through customization in the pause menu. As you progress through worlds, Sora will gain new Keyblades, spells, and summons (which calls forth a Disney character to do special attacks or buffs).
To fight the Heartless, the main enemies of the game, players have a menu to choose actions from. Sora has a basic attack, which is a few combos strung together (which can be altered with new skills and abilities learned). There is also magic, which can also be put onto a quick select rather than going through the menu, summons, and items. Each party member has a green and blue bar, which measure their health and magic respectively. The one thing that can disrupt the flow of battle, or even world exploration, is the camera. It can be really difficult at times to get the camera just where you want it, and even then it seems to fight you. It takes a while to get a hold of, and become overlookable, but when you're just starting it's rather annoying.
Similar to traditional RPGs, Kingdom Hearts has an experience system that helps to unlock new abilities, both active and passive. Unlike other games at the time, Kingdom Hearts allowed players a certain level of character customization. From the very beginning of the game, players are given a choice to choose between a sword, shield, or staff. Chosing one of these allows players to focus on one of three attributes, strength, defense, and magic. Players will choose one to focus primarily on, and one to lack in. Doing this manipulates how Sora can learn his abilities and grow his stats. Donald, Goofy, or any other party member have specific areas of strengths too: Donald exceeds in magic, and Goofy is great in strength and special attacks.
The game has a linear story, though they can choose which Disney inspired world they would like to explore next (some have higher difficulties than others). To travel to each world you will embark on what's known as a Gummi Ship. Every time players travel between the worlds they will find themselves playing a rail shooter. There are obstacles to fly around and enemies to shoot, which when destroyed sometimes will drop items for ship customization. The Gummi Ship can be customized by adding and removing parts to make it faster, take more damage, or up its fire rate. While adding different parts, players can also customize the design of their ship to fit their liking in Chip and Dale's menu. After some time, players can warp their way to worlds so they do not have to do the rail shooting mini game each time.
While the camera mechanics certainly have not aged well, the rest of the game is a classic gem. The game isn't perfect by any means, but any negative there is to say about the game can be easily overlooked by the charm this game radiates. There is so much customization you can do, like create the ultimate weapon, and the party's skills. Each world you visit allows Sora and company to change their outfits to match their surroundings (like Sora becoming a merman in Atlantis, or being a ghoulish devil in Halloween Town). Players can also fall in love with the plot, but it can get confusing really fast for any casual player.
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