"Square's latest and greatest"

Four years ago, a game was released called Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts was unique because of its premise; a game that combined the elements of Square's acclaimed Final Fantasy series with the world of Disney. Despite initial shock on the part of many gamers, Kingdom Hearts was greeted by a positive response from reviewers.

The next four years would be full of theorizing and speculation by fans of Kingdom Hearts. And now, finally, after much anticipation, Kingdom Hearts II has arrived. Some fans may have been hesitant at first, wondering if the sequel could be even better than the first. Is it? You bet.

Story

Stories are often considered to be one of the high-points of RPGs, and Kingdom Hearts II is no exception. Picking up a year after the end of the GBA game Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, you continue to play as Sora, following the adventures of him and his friends Donald and Goofy.

At least, that's how it is for most of the game. But the first several hours of Kingdom Hearts II are actually spend playing as a new character named Roxas. This prologue is very plot-heavy. You'll be introduced to many new characters and creatures. However, the story slows down shortly after this prologue ends. It doesn't really pick up much until about halfway through the game. Then it also slows down a bit until the end of the game. Some may consider the pacing to be a bit of a problem, and this may turn some players off.

When the story is good, though, it's really good. The plot of Kingdom Hearts II is much more complex than the plot of the first game. The plot focuses on a group known as Organization XIII. They're a group of “Nobodies”, the empty shells left over when one with a strong heart becomes a Heartless. There are one or two members of Organization XIII who seem to only be there to provide an intense boss battle. The rest of the members are nicely done. One in particular, named Axel, stands out. Those of you who remember Axel from Chain of Memories can look forward to seeing another, much different side of his character.

A common complaint that you may have heard about the story is that there are a large amount of plotholes. I would like to take this opportunity to rid you of your worries. There are few, if any plotholes in Kingdom Hearts II. The story does, however, require players to read between the lines at parts.

Overall, as mentioned before, the plot of Kingdom Hearts II is much better than the plot of the first Kingdom Hearts. With a more mature storyline and more focus on original characters, much improvement has been made. In addition, most of the Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts II tie in with the bigger plot making them feel purposeful and not just useless filler.

Story Score: 9/10

Gameplay

Just like in the first game, much of your time is spent traveling from Disney world to Disney world, solving problems and, in this game, opening up pathways to other worlds in order to pursue Organization XIII. Most of the worlds have a “world-specific” character that can join your party, but only when you're in that world. When you don't have a world-specific partner with you, you'll usually be fighting alongside Donald and Goofy.

Fighting involves a real-time system. As you walk around, enemies will appear from the ground and attack. You'll find yourself jumping toward Heartless (the common enemies are usually encountered), casting magic, and stringing together combos and finishing moves to defeat them. This isn't very difficult most of the time, especially if you're playing on one of the lower difficulty levels. It is great fun, though, and quite stylish looking. Summons return from the first game, and work the same way. They appear, fight and occasionally heal until time runs out, and then disappear.

One of the interesting new features in this game is Drive. Drive is measured by a gauge at the bottom of the screen that fills up as you attack enemies. Once the Drive gauge has filled up to a certain number, you can select the Drive command on the menu. Doing so will bring up a sub-menu with different “Forms” that you gain throughout the game. By selecting a form, one or both of your party members disappear and Sora's outfit changes, giving him access to new powers. For example, selecting Valor Form causes Goofy to disappear, turns Sora's outfit red, and allows you to use two keyblades while increasing your strength. Selecting Wisdom Form causes Donald to disappear, turns Sora's outfit blue, and increases your magic while allowing Sora to skate around enemies and shoot at them from the keyblade. It should be noted that Summons also utilize the Drive gauge.

The second interesting new feature is Limit. Like magic, Limit uses MP. Limits are essentially combination attacks that can be used with other party members. These attacks tend to be quite powerful. When doing a Limit, the party member not involved disappears from the screen. A Limit gauge appears at the top of the screen, indicating how long the Limit will last. Limits are a very useful feature.

A third prominent new feature is Reaction Commands. Reaction Commands appear in green above the command menu and are used by pressing the triangle button. They can do everything from dodging around an enemy to stunning a foe to beginning a card game against a monster.

Overall, the gameplay is superb. It's simply fun, a trait that many RPGs lack. The battle system is fast, fun, and stylish. It's not very difficult most of the time, but you'll be having so much fun that you won't mind.

Gameplay Score: 9.5/10

Minigames

Minigames are a common distraction in RPGs, and Kingdom Hearts II is no exception. The battle tournaments from the first game return, but this time you'll be fighting in the Underworld of Olympus Coliseum. Different tournaments have different rules; in one you may not be allowed to use Drive, while in another you may be forced to fight alone. Tournaments don't give any Experience. However, you can get prizes by beating them. Some of these tournaments are quite difficult. In particular, the Paradox Hades Cup will challenge even players who have reached level 99.

The Hundred Acre Wood is also back. Just like the first game, you'll be finding Torn Pages that each restore a part of the Hundred Acre Wood. The minigames here are surprisingly entertaining. One, which involves finding honey for Pooh, is especially clever.

The last main distraction comes in the form of Atlantica. If you played the first Kingdom Hearts, you may be unhappy to hear this. After all, Atlantica is generally not considered to have been the best world in Kingdom Hearts. But fear not. Atlantica has been completely revamped. Now, instead of fighting Heartless, it's all about minigames. In Atlantica, the minigames are all “singing” games. Ariel, Sora, Donald, Goofy and the other denizens of Atlantica will dance to and sing songs from The Little Mermaid and some other original songs. Sound cheesy? It is. But it's entertaining cheesiness. After all, who doesn't want to hear Donald sing?

Besides these, most worlds have several minigames within them. For example, in Halloween Town you can make presents and in Space Paranoids you can ride Light Cycles from the movie Tron. There's also a good amount of minigames in Twilight Town, an original world. None of these are very complex or deep, but they're a fun way to take a break from the main game.

Minigame Score: 9/10

Graphics

The graphics are beautiful. They look good from a technical standpoint, of course. But looking technically good can only do so much. Thankfully, Kingdom Hearts II excels in more than just the technical field. Each Disney world perfectly captures the movie. Two notable worlds are Port Royal (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Timeless River (Steamboat Willie). Port Royal has a dark, realistic look to it, resulting in an interesting contrast between the bright and cartoony Donald Duck and the life-like Jack Sparrow. Timeless River is notable because the whole world is in black and white. Sora, Donald, and Goofy also go black and white when they enter the world. Even more, Donald and Goofy revert to their original, old fashioned designs while Sora too changes to a look more befitting of the world. It looks fantastic and really makes you feel like you're in a twenties cartoon.

Graphics Score: 10/10

Sound

As usual for a Square game, everything sounds great. The main musical theme is a song written by J-Pop star Utada Hikaru entitled Sanctuary. Just as good as Simple and Clean from the first game, the lyrics of Sanctuary connect well to the plot of Kingdom Hearts II. My only complaint about this song is that there's some backwards lyrics before the line “My heart's a battleground” that are rather bizarre and unpleasant sounding. Besides that, Sanctuary is a great song. The rest of the music is just as good. Of particular note is the theme for Twilight Town, a very pretty and relaxing song.

The voice acting, for the most part, is fantastic. All of the Disney characters sound just as you would expect them too. The same applies to most of the Final Fantasy characters. Haley Joel Osment returns to voice Sora. His voice has deepened and gives Sora a more mature, serious sound. In fact, the only voice actor that is really worth complaining about is Mena Suvari as Aerith. I don't know why Mandy Moore didn't reprise her role as Aerith, but it's a shame, because Mena Suvari is pretty bad. Aerith now sound like an emotionless robot. I got used to the voice eventually, but it's still far from good.

One neat sound effect that I have to mention is in Timeless River. As Timeless River is the world of Steamboat Willie, a twenties cartoon, the player can hear the crackling in the background that was common back then. This is a very nice touch, and increases the immersiveness of the world.

Sound Score: 9.8/10

Final Thoughts

Kingdom Hearts II is a game that's simply a joy to play. Running through the Pride Lands with Simba or collecting honey with Pooh just puts a smile on one's face. If you liked Kingdom Hearts, then you'll love Kingdom Hearts II.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/06