Kingdom Hearts II Reviews

Nintendo_Tom64

9.7
superb

One of the greatest RPG's ever created? Maybe so...

  • Posted Dec 10, 2006 5:50 pm GMT
  • Recommended by 2 of 2 users.
Gameplay
9
Graphics
10
Sound
10
Value
10
Tilt
10
Difficulty:
Hard
Learning Curve:
30 to 60 Minutes
Time Spent:
20 to 40 Hours
The Bottom Line:
"Worth the wait"
If like me and you are a fan of nostalgia, you will have played the first Kingdom Hearts. Despite being an amazing game, it had it's flaws - most noticeably the camera and in-game combat. Kingdom Hearts 2 rectifies these problems, and takes to series to a a level of near-perfection.

The Story:
Although Sora's story, you start the game as a teenager named Roxas - a kid in the middle of his summer vacation. The tutorial takes place over 6 'days' and teaches you the basic movements and controls - as well as starting off events that will chain together later in the game. After the 6 days of trying to unravel the mysteries of Twilight Town as Roxas, the player perspective switches back to Sora (who you will be your character for the rest of the game) .

A strange group of beings known as 'Nobodies' have started to appear. Nobodies are beings of nothingness - created when someone with a strong heart loses their heart to the darkness. The body and soul that are left behind begin to act with a will of it's own. The strongest of these beings have retained their human form, and formed together to create Organisation XIII - a group hell bent on collecting hearts for unknown reasons.

Join Sora, Donald and Goofy as they search for Riku (Sora's friend who disappeared at the end of the first game) and try to bring down Organisation XIII.

Gameplay:
The combat in the game has improved DRAMATICALLY. Gone is the simple hack and slash from the first game - in comes crazy areal moves, dazzling magic spells and awesome new summons (such as Stitch, from the Disney movie 'Lilo and Stitch' ). The triangle button is finally put to good use, with you being able to perform context-based actions in certain situations (like in Resident Evil 4) . For example, when you are fighting Cerberus in the Underworld, he will attempt to clamp his jaws on you. The triangle button prompt will appear. Press it, and Sora will jam his keyblade between his jaws, before ripping it out, whacking the other heads and being sent flying into the air. To finish this special 'reaction command', press triangle again when prompted - and Sora will come crashing down, dazing Cerberus for a limited time. Lastly, new moves called 'Limits' are available to use with either Goofy, Donald or any of the guest characters you partner up with in each of the worlds. Again, for example, in the Underworld, where Final Fantasy X's character Auron is your partner, activate the Limit command and the two of you will do a special sword combo, before finishing off by spiraling their swords together - creating a whirlwind which sucks enemies in and damages them. Another new addition to the game is the mini-games that are availible, such as the Light Cycles in Tron's world (Space Paranoids) .

Sound:
As is typical with both Final Fantasy and Disney - the music is incredible. Each Disney world has it's theme or music from it's respective movie (my personal favourite music being the Pirates of the Caribbean's world 'Port Royal' ) and it makes the game that much more immersive. The voice acting is simply astounding - with almost all of the original voice actors from their respective Disney movies being present. Even the few that couldn't voice their characters (such as Johnny Depp, the guy who played Sebastian in 'The Little Mermaid' etc.) have replacement voice actors that are so good that you'd fail to notice it wasn't the original people doing it if you weren't told so.

Value: This game is epic and i do mean EPIC. A solid 25-30 games, with hours more of extras to be found. The real experience come from playing the game on its hardest setting - 'Proud mode' . Apart from being the fastest way to unlock the game's true ending - this is the mode that you can truly brag to your friends that you beat. This game would feature well in any RPG or action game fan's collection - play it now!

Overall score - 9.7
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More Player Reviews

  • SfGiants11

    Square Enix delivers 100% on a game that I had set almost impossibly high expectations on. An absolute masterpiece. Continue »

    • 1 out of 2 users agrees with this review
    • Posted Dec 10, 2006 6:50 pm GMT
    9.6
    superb

  • Jornathorn

    A wonderful continuation of an eipc series that I just can't seem to get over. Continue »

    • Posted Dec 9, 2006 10:27 pm GMT
    9.7
    superb

  • death919

    Kingdom Hearts 2 puts the first game to shame. A true masterpiece. Continue »

    • 1 user agrees with this review
    • Posted Dec 8, 2006 6:06 pm GMT
    10
    perfect

  • norman69

    Somewhat too linear, but still a priceless journey. Continue »

    • Posted Dec 8, 2006 3:05 pm GMT
    8.8
    great

  • CoRiNi

    Kingdom Hearts 2 is a great game....a way better than the first one....... Continue »

    • 2 users agree with this review
    • Posted Dec 7, 2006 11:29 am GMT
    9.4
    superb

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