"Great game for kids... not so good for a challenge"

This is my first review on gamefaqs, so I'm kinda new at this, but who cares right, everyone's got to start somewhere. Anyways, this game was great, I have already played the first Kingdom Hearts, and this was an improvement. They even made Sora less goofy, and they reduced the size of his gigantic feet. Basically, this game is about a teenage kid who is saving the world from total darkness brought about by the mysterious and ominous Organization XIII, with the help of a keyblade, an abnormally large key that is swung around like a sword, and his two friends, Donald and Goofy. As you travel through many different worlds, you meet up with several Disney characters, and old friends from the original KH, some of which are allies which help you in battle, there are also many different side quests which help longevity of the game, if you are someone like me who has to perfect a game before they can stop playing it.

Game Play: 9/10

Lets get this show on the road, I gave the game play for KH II a 10, because lets face it, this was the games strongest point, who doesn't enjoy killing bad guys with a giant key? Then there is always the memorable Disney and Final Fantasy characters which give the game a nostalgic twist. KH II wasn't very challenging, but the bosses were original, and most of the enemies were unique also. The valor form, wisdom form, etc. were also a great added bonus, but I think the best add-on in this game was the support abilities like the quick-run, glide, double jump, etc. There are also a lot more worlds to visit in this sequel than in the first KH. All in all, the game play was much better than I think anyone expected, except for the fact that the game was so simple.

Longevity: 10/10

My next category I rated this game in was its longevity. This was a definite 10, it took me days to finish this game. First of all, some of the bosses are extremely difficult to defeat if you are at a weak level, so you must first train Sora to a higher level before attempting to challenge them. Even after you beat the game, you still have several optional bosses, and side quests waiting for you, take Sephiroth for example that silver haired bastard took me days to beat, I still have nightmares about him *whimper* *whimper*, but fear not, once you perfect the game and have all the goodies, you achieve a sense of pride that stays with you for about an hour. Then once the “one winged angel” of evil and destruction is destroyed, and you have nothing else to do, you can always try to beat your old records on the various mini games that were entertaining for a surprisingly long time.

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics in KH II are some of the best graphics I have ever seen in a video game. The cut scenes were so realistic that it made the final fantasy games seem amateur, and the in-game graphics were also excellent. The scenery is very detailed, and seems as if it is real. All of the different worlds you must visit have a unique and interesting background. In one of the worlds you visit the world takes on an old-fashioned demeanor. The black and white landscape of this world may seem a bit annoying to some people, but I think that it was a great way to show the history of Disney and how long it has been around. Taking a totally different approach KH II also had a world with a futuristic appearance, there were blinking lights and computers everywhere. The fight scenes in the game were really cool and exciting, so I give the graphics part of this game a 10.

Price: 8/10

KH II is currently priced at $49.99, which in my opinion is kind of expensive, but the game just came out pretty recently, and it is a great game, so if you don't have it yet I would run to the store and buy it. Though if it is too much money for you to buy right now, the price will probably drop down in the next couple of months or so, and it will probably be in stores for quite a while, so there is no rush.

Replay Value: 7/10

I only gave this game a 7 for replay value, because it is so long, and once you've beaten the game once you really don't want to waste you're time beating the whole game again. Unless you are really obsessed with the KH games, or just haven't played them in a very long time, I don't think that you will ever try to complete all of the various and frustrating quests again. There were a few parts in this game that would be fun to replay, like the thousand heartless fight, but to get to these parts you first have to beat all the things that come before it, and that isn't very enjoyable.

Music: 7/10

The music in KH II is very repetitive and monotonous, yet still kind of catchy and invigorating. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but its true. Most of the music in the game is taken from the prequel, so if you have already played Kingdom Hearts, the music will sound really familiar. Although you're probably thinking that for games that are sequels it is better to get an entirely new soundtrack for the game, but KH II is an exception. I love the original Kingdom Heart's soundtrack, but the new songs that are in KH II are nothing special in comparison to the original Kingdom Hearts. For the music rating I gave KH II most of its points for the music that was already in the first KH. I also deducted points from the music rating, because the theme song for the game was terrible, and I think I could have composed a better song on Apple's “Garage band”. With all of this in consideration I gave KH II a music rating of 7/10, this will also be a large part of the overall rating, because music is a key part of every game, because it sets the mood.

Reliability (glitches and screw-ups in the game): 10/10

From what I could tell while I was playing the game ran really smoothly and I did not encounter a single glitch the entire time. I know that this is expected of all new games, but I have bought several games recently that froze up on me after I finished a frustrating and difficult boss fight grrr..., and that has to be the ultimate pet peeve. This game is different though, it was obviously programmed well, and you have nothing to worry about.

Story: 7/10

The story was mildly entertaining, when I read the reviews about this game before it was released in America I was really excited, I couldn't wait to see what the different worlds, like Tron's world, Steamboat Willy, and Pirates of the Caribbean, but once I played the worlds out, they were all kind of boring, I do admit they were different, but they were still boring. I didn't fully comprehend the storyline though, because it played off the fact that Organization XIII is evil, when from what I understood, they were just trying to get their hearts back, and what is evil about that? Another disappointment in the storyline of KHII is that you start out playing as Roxas, who is Sora's counterpart, and that whole part of the game was incredibly boring, all you do is run around the town doing simple tasks that are meaningless to the rest of the game.

Control: 5/10

KH II, like its prequel is truly a button masher, and they Square Enix made it even worse by adding in a little thing called reaction commands. In the first Kingdom Hearts, there were some enemies that only had one vulnerable spot, and you would have to run around them to get to that spot before you could hurt them, but in KH II they've made it even easier. Now all you have to do is press triangle, and you will automatically kill all your opponents, cool right? Wrong! It takes a lot of fun out of the game, you no longer have to do anything to defeat your enemies. These reaction commands also apply to combos, and to just about everything else. I think for most of it KH II could be beaten by a 6 year old, there are some parts that are kind of hard to get past, but the puzzles are fairly simple, and all the treasure chests are right in front of you just laying around in plain sight. So, if you're looking for a challenge look somewhere else, unless you intend to continually fight Sephiroth over and over.

Rent/Buy/Ignore

As I have mentioned several times before, this is a great game, buy, buy, buy!!! This is not a game that you would like to rent, because you would never be able to finish it before the return date. Another con to renting KH II would be that even if you somehow miraculously beat the game within a week by pulling all-nighters and obsessively playing the game during the day, you could never fully appreciate the greatness of the game. I would not suggest for you to buy this game if you are over 15 years old though, because as I have also mentioned before, it is very simple, and isn't much of a challenge.

Overall Rating: 7/10 (this is not an average)

The biggest disappointment in KH II in my opinion is that it is fairly easy to beat, although it is very time consuming, and that is not a very good combination. The game play was the biggest pro in KH II's case, because at least for younger players, which is what I believe this game is targeted to, beating the crap out of monsters is really fun. Another con in this game was the music, it was all unoriginal, and most of it was dreadful. The storyline of KH II was also a disappointment, it didn't really make sense, and it was all thrown off by the main villains not being evil. Overall, I think if you enjoy tuned down violence, and great graphics, go with this KH II.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/06