REVIEW: Kingdom Hearts
An action-platform-RPG that delivers the goods? We blame Disney and Square.
Tags: Kingdom Hearts Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Jul 24th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom Hearts (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
Every single preview, every single review I’ve read of this game goes on and on about how unlikely the pairing of Disney and Square was before they greenlighted Kingdom Hearts.
But really, how surprising is it? Disney has universally recognizable, cute animated characters. So, in its own way, does Square.
 |
Disney is a master of film entertainment but their videogames are hit and miss. Square is a master of videogame entertainment but their single film foray — Final Fantasy: The Movie — well, maybe it’s just better we don’t dwell on the negative.
So really, the pairing is a bit inevitable if you think about it. Two entertainment behemoths coming together, one’s strength covering the other’s weakness.
Kingdom Hearts is a perfect blend of the Disney and Final Fantasy universes and while it may not be a turn-based RPG like every other Final Fantasy title, it is a massive and massively enjoyable videogame that plays clean enough for young minds and deep enough for all ages.
Let’s break it down.
I’ve never been a massive fan of action RPGs and my bias in favor of turn-based gems is well-known by now to GamerWeb-Sony readers. Yet Kingdom Hearts is fun enough to challenge my natural biases.
Smartly, the game opens in the most-recent Square universe gamers have spent 80 or so hours in, the Final Fantasy X setting. In a sort of prequel mode, you get to interact as Sora with such FFX luminaries as Tidus and Wakka.
 |
The threat to the universe, in this case, is a hive-style enemy known as The Heartless, a Disneyfied version of Star Trek’s The Borg, in some ways. King Mickey is missing and the opening world exists primarily to plunk Donald and Goofy into Sora’s adventure so the three can move forward through a fantastic journey through an incredibly generous number of Disney worlds recognizable to anyone who’s seen one of their animated musicals over the past 15 years or so, with a healthy dash of classic Disney ’toons tossed in for good measure.
The minor weakness is that the adventure in each of these worlds mirrors the basic plot premise of each of the movies they are based on, but what can you do? Maybe there’ll be a few more surprises in Kingdom Hearts 2 the primary appeal of this initial outing is getting to tromp around interactively in those worlds, not surprising gamers with all-new twists and turns of the plot.
 |
The combat system is significantly dumbed down from Final Fantasy level but still has enough depth to measure up, and even improve upon, other action RPG outings by Square such as Kingdom Hearts’ most obvious predecessors, Brave Fencer Musashi and Threads of Fate.
That’s the advantage the Disney license offers Square; not only are Disney characters wildly popular in Japan, but they are known outside of Japan, unlike Musashi, who is a cultural hero well-known only in the East.
There are reviewers who’ve been saying Kingdom Hearts is ever more gorgeous than FFX. That’s pretty amusing, considering the same basic graphic engine powers both games, although the Kingdom Hearts engine is indeed tweaked a bit.
One of the elements that may be spawning the hyperbole is how seamlessly the designers have integrated the Final Fantasy universe with so many different Disney creations, many of which have styles not only distinct from Final Fantasy but from each other as well.
The main problem is the game camera which in too many cases gets stuck behind objects that completely block your view, albeit temporarily, from the action. Were the combat system more complex, this would really be a major flaw; fortunately (depending on how you look at it) as long as you keep hitting the “X” button you should be fine in most battles, until the camera corrects itself.
 |
From cinemas to in-game graphics, like FFX, there’s really no just cause for complaints in how the game looks. Were it not for the camera problem, we’d be talking about a pretty flawless graphical performance; hopefully, Square’s impresarios will correct these flaws for Kingdom Hearts 2, since they are certainly capable of correcting it.
First of all, David Boreanaz is a hack, an embarrassment, a real — err, wait a second. He’s Angel of Buffy/Angel fame?
Forget what I just said, Boreanaz is tops. Heh!
 |
Levity aside, Boreanaz is perfectly cast as the voice of Squall Leonheart and the rest of the Hollywood talent lined up for the game is the stuff fanboy dreams are made of. Haley Joel “I See Dead People” Osmant is Sora, David “Seventh Heaven” Gallagher is Riku and the list goes on, including Mandy Moore, Lance Bass, Billy Zane, Jodi “The Little Mermaid” Benson, Robby Benson, Brian Blessed, Dan “The Simpsons” Castelleneta, Tony Goldwyn, Gilbert Gottfried, Chris Sarandon, James Woods and more. Kingdom Hearts has more all-star cameos than a Robert Altman film.
The music is Disney-worthy, too, although tossing in a couple signature songs from the flicks might have added an even greater fanboy touch. But that’s just petty nitpicking.
The average gamer who hasn’t picked up Kingdom Hearts yet is probably holding back for one of two reasons. Either the game is sold out at your local retailer, or you’re wondering if the game really lives up to all the hype.
Well, some reviewers do gush unnecessarily and there are some things you should know going in.
First, be aware of the camera problems.
Second, be aware that for some puzzles and sidequests, a hintbook really is required since there’s very little in the way of in-game clues or anything spelled out in the instruction manual. It’s the kind of game that almost necessitates a hint book purchase, which may bug some gamers.
 |
Third, the game is in perfect Final Fantasy style in this respect: common enemies are often WAY easy while the boss fights tend to range from hard to nigh-impossible.
But these are minor warnings at most. The game is way fun, chock full o’ stars and actually a lengthy, deep game that’s appropriate for all ages.
Who knows? If Disney and Square continue to collaborate, we may see two things come to pass:
Disney may release a Final Fantasy movie that works as a movie.
And Square may make PS2 as comfortable a home for young gamers as Nintendo has made their hardware platforms — while still offering way more games for parents to enjoy once the kids are in bed than GameCube ever will.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
--Integration of Square characters into multiple Disney universes --Fun story with a ton of unique worlds |
9.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
--Action-platform style gameplay. Yuck! --Too many puzzles that you need a hint-book to solve. |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| It’s hard to get a 10.0 out of me, so Kingdom Hearts will have to settle for a 9.0. That’s not a diss; the game is great but just flawed enough to fall short of immortality. The concept is outstanding and if it becomes a series, as all sources seem to indicate it will, is bound to improve in sequels. If you’re on the fence about this game get it. Are you kidding? It’s the marriage of Final Fantasy and Disney! Who could ask for more, short of marrying Final Fantasy and the much more street-saavy Warner Brothers characters. I’d give anything to see Bugs give Boreanaz’s Squall a big ol’ kiss-as-insult and say, “What’s up, Doc?” Now THAT would be perfection! | |
[ Post the first comment | View related posts ]
Tags: Kingdom Hearts
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Jul 24th, 2003 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
