Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts 2 as with all Square RPG's, was well made, fun, and enjoyable. The main thing stopping it from getting 5 stars were a few key components that simply detracted tremendously for the game experience.

Anybody who's played the game will tell you that the beginning is perhaps one of the worst in video game history. For the first 2-3 hours, you play as a nondescript character named Roxas, going through what is essentially one long tutorial. There is little fighting, a lot of dialogue, and what's worse, Roxas disappears for the rest of the game. Confusingly, Sora somehow replaces Roxas and the game carries on as if the first few hours never happened. If the rest of the game were like this, it would've gotten 1 star.

Luckily, it's not. The rest of the game is filled with great music, lots of good fights, and diverse areas for you to explore. Graphically, there are nice sparks and waves to accompany your spells and attacks. My only complaints was that they recycled a lot of the environments from the previous game, (however, the new content mostly makes up for it), and that they story was a little convoluted. 

If you look past the awkard opening, you'll get a solid RPG that can be recommended to nearly anyone.

Were to start.. I simply love this game, All of the Disney characters kind of make this game seem like a kids game, But the combat and Final Fantasy aspects say otherwise.

You start out as a teenager named Roxas in a town called Twilight Town, The beginning takes a while to get started, you basicly find out what has happened sense the last kingdom hearts and how Roxas is connected to Sora. So for the first hour or so of the game, you are basicly watching little videos and learning the basics of the story and combat. Its hard trying to give out information without giving out too many plot spoilers. A new Threat entered the world of Kingdom hearts, These things called Nobodies, and Sora is once again called upon to seal up the worlds and defeat the Nobodies.

One of the games strong points are the graphics, down to the the littlest features, this is one of the best looking ps2 games out today. The terrain is rendered beautifully and the character models are very detailed down to the useless zippers on Sora's pants. Every hit you made with the Keyblade emits a nice looking effect depending on what Keyblade you are using, From little moons too dark little vortexes.

By far the best part of the game is the storyline, Mostly due to the fact that 60% of the game is cutscenes but unlike in most cases, This isn't a bad thing, If you were to take just one cutscene out of the game, You would be lost. Every aspect of the scenes is vital, so make sure your paying attention. The game has so many twists in the storyline, what you would expect from a SquareEnix game. One thing that takes you away from the Story is the cutesy little Disney characters in it... One minute your seeing a badass looking guy slashing a million heartless, Then the next minute you see Goofy or Donald making a joke that only a 6 year old would find remotely funny.

Sound is done perfectly, Like the little hit effects mentioned earlier, every Keyblade makes a different sound and every footstep makes a different noise depending on what environment your at. Dialogue is done extremely well, hard to tell if Jack Sparrow was actually played by Johnny Depp or not. Not to mention Goofys and Donalds voices are right on.

I would say this game is defiantly worth checking out, and now that its on the Greatest Hits list, Its even easier to recommend. Look forward to a captivating and enriching storyline along with an awesome combat system and movie like effects. The beginning takes some time to get into, so dont expect a "Pick up and play" type of game, Reserve time for this game because once you start playing, Its hard to stop.

I am A Real Kingdom Hearts Fan and I've waited for years for the second one to come out....
And I'm still playing, the game is perfect except for one thing....LOADING TIMES!!!!!
Most of the time your screen is black or white between two cutscenes. The gameplay improved a lot, the graphics too. A long but useful tutorial of three ours with Roxas helps too. The camera is really good if you know how to use it, not like Kingdom Hearts 1.And what about the Gummi Ship you say? I hated the first game Gummi's parts but now it's fun to play.

Conclusion? A little bit expensive and the loading times are annoying but everything else is superb. A breath taking adventure that will never take you down and after a while you will get used to the loading times trust me!

A good 9.6 to this must have game.

Kingdom Hearts II starts off very promising. From the amazing opening music video style intro to the long as hell character introductions and back story (Took me about 4 hours) the game doesn't falter too much. The voice acting is good new characters aren't annoying or dull. Thats just the beginning though. Then you start to get into the real game. The Disney stuff starts to pick up and things start to dive. Unlike the first game where the Disney aspects helped the game. In KHII Disney pulls the game back. The animations and voice work (for the most part) are amazing. There is no denying that. However, they try far to hard to sell a silly half-hearted message in each world you visit. If each world was a full on 1 hour movie it would work out ok. However they have less than 20 minutes of characters moments, so in the end you just don't care what anyone has to say. All this time you are hoping for the Sora story to come back into focus. What's really sad is that Sora's story is also handled poorly. From terrible jokes to awkward pauses the drama that is trying to get through just doesn't work. It's as if the game trying to be cute in some way. It's possible that something was lost in translation. After all Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children had the same problems.

Now onto the gameplay. Like the first game KH has always been an almost mindless button masher. However with the sequel they have added new battle options like Limits, Drives and context sensitive sequences similar to God of War and Resident Evil 4 into combat. While all it is is pressing triangle over and over I was still able to find it as a worthwhile addition. Another aspect improved has been the camera system. In a no-brainer move you can control the camera with the right analog stick (thank god!). Sadly when compared with the first game the levels are far too linear. Most worlds are just battlegrounds. You go from one loading screen to another encountering cutscenes after cutscene (I love cutscenes normally) battling enemies one after the other until you are done. Then onto the next world. There is basically zero exploration. Which for some I suppose could be a good thing. I will say that the game seems more focused as a result.

In what might be a surprise considering all the negative above I actually had a good amount of fun. Even though I felt like I was going through something familiar I didn't ever want to stop. I wanted to know what happened next. Despite the way I feel about the Disney stuff I enjoyed the Pooh Bear section (now he's actually cute), and it was fun to see black & white Mickey, Tron, and Pirates. It's just too bad that the cutscenes were for the most part boring. Give me some of that disney charm and I will love them. While aesthetically pleasing worked for the first game it just doesn't cut it here. If SquareEnix wants to please me (and it seems many fans too) Kingdom Hearts 3 is going to need to change things up a bit. In what seems fitting to say a cutscene can only go on so long without a heart before it becomes nothing.

PROS
+ Love the intro video and music
+ Amazing graphics and animations
+ A fairly lengthy game
+ Good choices in unique Disney worlds

CONS
- Disney stuff just isn't working this time around
- Story is pretty full of itself
- A little too linear
- Plenty of awkward cutscenes

If you haven't gotten this game, get it. Many of the flaws of the old game were fixed and what wasn't broken got a cementing and some new features to further richen the experience. It just feels like this generation's Final Fantasy VII in every way, save graphics and gameplay, the latter being better than the Playstation RPG.

One of the most noticeable parts of the game is the gameplay. Like most Square Enix games, you'll embark on a perilous quest to in the end save the world. Along the way recruit new characters (automatically, sad to say) and watch them grow and develop before you. However, this game is a little more about game than story. You'll battle in real time without a special little area secluded just for battle as in so many RPG's before it (including this game's prequel). It includes most of the remains of the last game's system, including the greatly integrated abilities and menus (yes, menus). However, almost nothing from the last game is carried over except select skills. The summons you knew before work more like the limits I'll explain later. Although this is a nice new feature, it's sad to see that so little summons and you'll probably hate Stitch and Chicken Little. The magic also gets a sad overhaul, destroying the earlier spells from before. While the spells sound good on paper, they do very little. Plus if ever the time comes that you run out of magic, it regenerates automatically instead of with hits, letting you cast as many spells as possible without having to earn it really. In fact, the spells are more supplementary than integral to the battles.

However, the rest is pretty well pulled off. You still bash away at the Heartless (and Nobodies this time around), but there's a bit more strategy thanks to the reaction commands. Coincidentally, this new system feels much like Resident Evil 4's similar system, the only difference being that you only use ▲ and that there's a lot more variety. They can be as simple and rudimentary as Reversal (sliding around to the Dusk's backside) to difficult and highly involved (like the ones in the final boss fight). Along with this is the new limit command carried over from the parent series Final Fantasy. It sucks up your magic for a devastating attack that requires the use of a partner in your party. It's pretty well implemented, except for the Limit Gauge that doesn't really do anything but clutter up the screen. You can also use something called Drive Form in which you exchange a party member (always Donald and/or Goofy). Fortunately, this feature is well implemented unlike the magic. The game will customize itself to whatever form you use the most. So if you're a slick shooter (Wisdom) or a crazy button masher (particularly Valor), there's something here for you. Gummi ships this time around feel a bit more intergrated into the whole game. They're still not at the level of not feeling like a side note, but the missions this time are like a cute Star Fox. You can create your own ship (but don't, it's cumbersome and confusing) and unlock new missions and ships. The game can also be played in first person, but don't bother. The fact that you can't see your Keyblade is a bit of an oddity, the constant spins in battle seem disorienting and you can't lock on while in this mode. However, despite how all this wraps up majestically, it doesn't make for a long game. In fact, it seems like you're sprinting from cutscene to cutscene.

The graphics are a vivid change from the dark and grim games making up the populous of the game world. Each world is a great cavalcade of color, like a Mario game with a boost of Disney. However, the graphics sometimes seem PS1-era flat (like when the camera zooms in on Axel when you first fight him) and the sprited mouth movements don't line up with the words and will continue to speak in between the gaps of words and sentences.

The music in this game is on par with Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Dragon Warrior and other RPG's. It features carefully orchestrated pieces of delight. The voice acting is also pretty good, although while some voices are the best in this industry (Leon, all Disney characters), some of them suck because of the acting (Cid) or the voice of the person (Aerith's emotionless performance in particular). All in all, the music is OK but the voice acting is where it excels.

But what Square Enix game wouldn't be complete without a tear jerking story? Fortunately, Kingdom Hearts II up the ante in story. If you haven't played the first 2 games, then don't worry. The game's intro and prologue will bring you up to speed (and 1 mile faster). The story itself is much more complex with many more plot twists. It also feels much darker due to the main villain. Whereas this game's villain is a group of brooding cloaked superfreaks longing for true existence, the original's was a Disney villain (albeit an evil one) and then, briefly, an evil doppelgänger/Heartless creator. And just like I said before, it has a Final Fantasy VII feel to it. Evil villain you pity and transforms into a biblical sized leviathan? Check! Death of a character that moves you to the point of tears? Check! Complex side story about revenge? Check!

If you're looking for a good game to last some good amount of time, look past the kiddy Disney layer that was slightly peeled away and get Kingdom Hearts II.

Don't let my review fool you, I did enjoy Kingdom Hearts II, but there was to much about it that annoyed me. They tried to make the game more complex, in the end it was still a button masher. The story was interesting, but it was completely slowed down by all the side worlds. The game was shorter than the first and not even as fun. I rarely had to use magic and I didn't even use a Summon once. The first game just had more charm overall and better boss battles.

----------Battle System----------
Kingdom Hearts II is a 3rd person Action RPG. There really isn't much of a difference between the two games, so I'll try to point them out in this review. The biggest difference in the game is the addition of a "Reaction" button, which is always the Triangle button. This Reaction button can be used during battle to change the tide of the fight, mostly used against boss fights. The Reaction will pop up during certain points of a battle. Some Reactions will happen if you get close to an enemy (usually the normal level enemies). Say you get close to a Nobody and click the Triangle button when it pops up, you will get a reversal move on it and can strike it from behind. While this Reaction is pretty useful against normal enemies, it just slows down the boss fights and removes all levels of strategy for me. It doesn't take skill or brain power to hit a button when it pops up, atleast in the other Kingdom Hearts the boss battles were interesting. There was a couple good ones on this one (my favorite was the Dragon the 2nd time through Mulan's stage) but the game was seriously lacking.

One thing that annoyed me was that Munny was really hard to gather. They balanced this with the lack of decent things to buy though, there's more shops in this game than there was the first, but alot less items to buy and get excited for.

There's also a Form mode in this game. The Form mode is a when Sora can be joined by Goofy or Donald to form one person, this increases Soras status effects for a short amount of time. The Form mode can be used during anytime in battle when you have your "gauge" full. You fill your guage when enemies drop form pellets after you kill them. These pellets look similar to Mummy but they're kinda highlighted.

Another similar mode is Limit breaks. You can use these in battle when your MP is maxed out with the Triangle button. The Limit will team you up with any character that has a Limit break to form a short blast of combo moves.

There's no team abilities in this one. You don't learn stuff like Glide and such. This was completely disappointing. There’s no Trinity limits either, this gives you no reason to backtrack. I enjoyed backtracking in the first one since you can level up really easily, but I never had to backtrack in this game. The Jiminy's Journal is a huge improvement though, he tracks just about everything in the game including each and every treasure. Treasures on the other hand are always in plain view, and easy to find. They also rarely contain anything worth getting.

You don't exclusively team up with Disney characters in this one, so that’s a good thing. You'll occasionally be joined by Final Fantasy characters in some spots, and even Riku. This is one of the better things about the game.

----------Characters / Story----------
The story picks up where the first Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories left off. The story is alot more complex than the first game, but it takes a while for it to get interesting. The first 3 hours or so you spend with Roxas is important to the plot, then nothing happens for 20 hours and then the game finally picks up when they met up with the King. Each level you visit have their own little storylines that rarely tie into the main plot. That's the one thing that bugged me was there was no purpose to travel to each land, and each time they ALWAYS run into Pete. The only reason I think was given was "because a new path opened" or "we're looking for Riku and Kairi".. blah. In the first game he was searching for each keyhole and saving the princess', THAT is a purpose.

The storyline between each levels are to similar to their movie counterparts. The dialog is even cheesier in this game than the last too. So much about this game was contrived. The Final Fantasy characters are spread across 3 worlds this time around, but they still take a backseat when it comes to the Disney stuff.

----------Graphics----------
The graphics are a slight improvement, in a flashy way, but not in the level design area. The areas in the game are about twice the size as the ones in the original, but that's its downfall, there's just alot of empty space and a dull level design. Nothing about the levels show any real character like the ones did in the first game. While the level areas were larger, the actual full blown levels seemed shorter. I blew by each level in the game in about 30 minutes, not counting cutscenes. You eventually got back to each level for a second time, but it's even shorter than your first visit.

The cutscenes are roughly the same as before in a real-time game engine mixed with pre-rendered cutscenes for the start and end of the game. They're longer but since the story was slow until the end of the game I felt bored with it. There was to many repeating levels from the first game. While they're all completely changed or added upon it still felt a little cheap.

----------Sound----------
Cid sounds like an elderly old man (and looks like it), Aerith's voice is grating, and Vivi's voice is the worst of them all. The music is roughly the same as the last game. Other than these complaints, everything in the sound department is solid enough.

----------World Map----------
The world map is a huge improvement over the last game. After Sora locks a keyhole, a new path opens to another world, sometimes two different worlds. To reach the new worlds they have to fly their Gummi Ship through more astreal plans. The traveling is a huge graphical bump, but the gameplay is alot less Star Fox and more railshooter. It trys to be big and flashy but it's still just as easy as before. After you unlock the road you can travel between worlds without ever worrying about doing it again. You can actually play all the Gummi levels that are available in a row so you won't have to worry about them later. That's what I did when there was more than one up at a time. Once that's all clear you can travel to the new world in real time, no more dot-to-dot mess anymore.


----------Time to Complete Game (first run through, last save before final boss)----------

30:02

Sora, Goofy and Donald are back on yet another perilous journey which takes them far into the world of Disney, and this time around, they do it in style. Kingdom Hearts 2 is arguably the best RPG ever made.

Every aspect of KH has improved, graphics and sound are much more smother, the game is lengthier than before but still manages to prevent the missions from being too repetitive. Great voice casting and tutorial are the big improvements in the game along with some new additions.

• Firstly, reaction commands. These come in many forms depending on the situation the gamer is in. Whenever a treasure chest is in close range, the reaction command sets it to ‘open’. Similarly during battles, the reaction command takes various forms, to manipulate your opponents and unleash a wide range of maneuvers, and so on.
  

• Next is the addition of ‘forms’. Sora can now fuse with Donald or Goofy (or even both) to change into a being and unleash devastating attacks. All the forms, except Wisdom, can have 2 keyblades which really makes this new feature…….cool!. Of course, these new features along with many more comes at the expense of the difficulty of the game. Sure the game is long, but it’s just too easy. This could possibly be the only con in KH2. Other than that, everything is brilliant. All the worlds are now easily accessible via the gummiship (which has also changed a lot). Some of the new worlds are the Land of the Dragon (Mulan), Port Royal (Pirates of the Caribbean) and the Pride Lands (The Lion King). All the worlds are interesting with nice and intriguing storylines.

KH2 is a brilliant follow-up of KH with many of its likeable features still intact. All that has to be said is, if KH2 does not leave you stunned and wanting for more, then you’ve got problems.

 

 

Story: In Kingdom Hearts 2 you play as Roxas, a boy with his summer vacation winding down. Lately, Roxas has been having strange dreams and he can not explain what they mean. Soon enough you take control of Sora (the hero from Kingdom Hearts 1), Donald, and Goofy and continue your quest on eradicating the evil heartless and the nobodies. You are also still in search of your friends Rikku and Kairi. Also scheming is a group called organization 13. They are draped in black robes and are a form of nobodies. They are lead by there leader Xemnas who is the nobody of Xehanort. Sora will fight through over 15 worlds and fight alongside dozens of Disney and Final Fantasy characters.

 

Sound: Utada returns with her amazing song sanctuary made specifically for the game. She also sang in the original kingdom hearts with her song simple and clean. Fighting sounds and voice work are also on par. There was some dialog in the game that was questionable (we totally smoked you lamers), but that does not detract from the overall sound experience.

 

Gameplay: I clocked in over 36 hours of gameplay and that was without going through all the side quests. Later I completed Jimminy’s journal and leveled up enough to fight and defeat sephiroth. After all that I had completed the game lasted about 45 hours. And the amazing thing is I still went back and completed proud (hardest) mode. The game is that awesome. Gameplay is solid with a myriad of different upgrades for the characters. You can even tweak how often players use magic and what types to use. Sora’s movements are fluid and string nicely together. I found that it did rely a lot on button mashing at times and the overuse of only the x button was noticeable, but it didn’t detract from the experience. Later in the game you can also use the square button to fight too. The button mashing was also made up by the overall length of the game. Also at times I felt kind of weird playing a game with Disney characters in it. Its kind of embarrassing when your brother walks down and Donald and Goofy are hugging Sora. Lol. But if you can look past some of the ‘kiddy’ qualities of the game you will find no better story and fighting mechanics. The leveling and upgrading skill set really sets this game apart. You are given a plethora of moves and spells that you have the option to equip. It plays very nicely into some hard battles. For example: The battle with sephiroth. I looked at a guide and realized I was still lacking a ton of abilities that were needed to beat him. Not only that, but many of the weapons and skills I had equipped were completely useless towards defeating him. So I equipped all the items that I had, grinded out a couple levels and obtained a couple new skill sets. These two skills totally transformed the game for me. It made everything easier and they were really cool attacks. So I went to face old Sephiroth and after a couple of tries I finally beat him. I know it’s hard to understand, but things like this really make the gameplay unique.

 

Summary/Overall:  Overall I gave this game a 10 because it’s just a perfect game. Even though it has minor flaws it is masked by the sum of its parts. What I mean is that you can nitpick at look at all its downfalls or you can recognize all of its crowning achievements. The story and the message the game provides you with are so heartfelt and leave you wanting more. The gameplay is satisfying and also keeps you coming back for more. Overall the nostalgia factor is reason enough to play this game. I grew up with these movies and to see them again implemented so well in this square universe is truly something to behold.  Please do not dismiss this review just because I gave it a 10. It truly is that good. And I do recall GS giving THPS 3 a 10 so it can be done. When a game gives you chills you know it is a great game. It gave me chill of joy. It is so good; I can’t stress enough to you that you have to play this game. There is so much to do and so much to explore. Disney and square have done it again with a perfect game. I hope you enjoyed the review even though it was lengthy but I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this game.

 

Edit: This is an old Gamespot review of the game. Sorry if some of it is written poorly and sort of incoherent. At the time I was trying to convey a sense of happiness the game provides but my review kind of fumbles that incentive. I still feel the same way about the game, its just I could have written it out better and not have been lazy. I could redo the review but again I am way too lazy. Anyway I gave it a 10 back in the day, so now that translates into 5. I truly think this is a must play game and if you can look past the kiddy aspect of the game it does have some groundbreaking story telling and game play. Thanks for reading.

Kingdom Hearts 2 is an action role-playing game for the PS2. It was developed and published by Square Enix and Buena Vista Games (which is now Disney Interactive Studios) in 2005. Kingdom Hearts 2 is a sequel to the 2002 Kingdom Hearts which had Disney and Square Enix characters into an action RPG.

Gameplay:
The gameplay to Kingdom Hearts 2 is a little similar to the first Kingdom Hearts game. The player controls Sora from a third-person angle, though you can play in fist-person as well. Alot of the gameplay takes place in the interconnected field maps where battles takes place. Like many traditional RPG's, Kingdom Hearts 2 features an experience system which shows character development. As you defeat enemies, you gain experience which culminates in a level up, where Sora and the gang grows stronger and gains the ability to learn new magic and such. Drive Gauge is a new system to Kingdom Hearts 2. Unlike HP and MP, your Drive Gauge will not recharge at a save point. The Drive Gauge has 2 features to it: to transform into "Drive Form" or to summon a special character. Like in the first KH game, Sora can summon a Disney character to help him in battle.


Setting:
Each level in Kingdom Hearts 2 is considered as a "world". As in the first KH game, KH2 allows the player to travel to different Disney worlds like Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mulan etc. Some of the worlds in KH return to KH2, but with different areas to explore.

Characters:
The 3 main charcaters in KH2 are Sora, a fifteen year old boy who the keyblade chosen as the master: Donald, the court magician in Disney castles, he is also very powerful in the magic department: and Goofy, the captain of the Disney Castle guard. Both Donal and Goofy were ordered to protect and guard the Keyblade. They started becoming friends with Sora in Kingdom Hearts and they grow strengh from this friendship. Other charcters that are also friends with Sora are Riku and Kairi.

Storyline:
Kingdom Hearts 2 starts one year later after Kingdom Hearts Chains of Memory. The 3, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, were asleep for the past year to regain their memories. In the meantime Roxas is trapped in a virtual stimulation of Twilight Town so that Roxas may merge with his original self to restore Sora's power. Sora travels to many DIsney worlds, both new and old to fix the problems caused by Organiztion Xlll.

Back in 2002, a revolutionary video game came out to the Sony Playstation. A game that not many gamers had high expectations for. A game that saw the unlikely combination of Disney and Square Enix. A game that is know one of PS2's top ten selling games ever. This is the games sequel. Kingdom Hearts 2 has certainly lived up to the hype it has been getting as of late. It takes every element from the original game and improves on it two-fold. Though the gaming experience isn't quite as challenging as the original, this game deserves a spot in your most cherished RPG's.

The game play is quite enjoyable this time around. The Camera system has been tweaked and is know better. Many new features has been added to make gameplay smoother. With the reaction commands, you truly feel as if you are Sora in this game. Everything you wished he could do in the past two games he can do now. The Reaction Commands is also a welcome knew feature. Though it adds power to Sora, it's truly a double-edged sword, with the fact that you lose an additional party member. You'll also run the risk of going into anti-form (heartless form), for abusing drive form. Gameplay does suffer however because it's not quite as challenging as the first game. The boss battles can also prove to be fairly challenging this time around, especially the Organization battles. While Proud mode will test your skills, standard is a little to much on the easy side. To those who decide not to master the new system, can also get through by simply button mashing. One of the biggest approvements goes to the gummi ships. What was a waste of a couple of minutes last game is now an enjoyable journey. In the end the gameplay remain a gem.

This game is simply a master piece. Just watching the intro movie has my heart pounding. This games graphics pushes the PS2 to it's limits. At the momment, it's probably the best graphical game on the PS2. The facial expressions of the characters are perfect. The graphics is a true jewel for this game. The voice acting is simply amazing. Majority of the original cast returns to reprise their roles. The voice acting this time around is top notch and the dialouge is more modernize (diffinitely since KH1's dialouge was pretty plain). The dialouge stay true to both the Disney and Final Fantasy characters (Seifer keeps his chickwuss insult). While not all of the voices are to be desired (Aerith's and Rai's), this voice actors did a tremendous job.

The main story will give you around 30 hours of gameplay. Like the original game there are a lot of side quest and minigames to be played. There's a load of mini games this time around, including a more challenging set of tournaments, Gummi ships missions, Struggle battles, and much more. The only hidden boss this time around is Sephiroth. He is a lot more challenging this time around. The mini games this time around are actually enjoyable. There are mini games to be played in the various worlds, such as the magic carpet challenge or the present challenge. With all of this Like the previous their are multiple modes of difficulty, but with standard mode being easy, proud will be the only one to give you a challenge. In the end, you'll have a good 60 hours to look foward to.

What more can I say? After waiting for four years for the title, it gets top honors

As someone who was extremely disappointed with Kingdom Hearts, I wasn't expecting much with this sequel.  I expected more of the same--poorly voiced FF characters combined with Disney characters and worlds, in a mess of a story.  Thankfully, Square-Enix redeemed itself by creating a sequel with brilliant gameplay improvements.  Almost every single problem from the original Kingdom Hearts was fixed.  For me, playing the original Kingdom Hearts was more of a chore than a fun experience, but this sequel completely surpassed my expectations.  Everything from the story to the gameplay is well-done.

 

A common complaint among reviewers of the original Kingdom Hearts was that the camera was a mess.  The camera made certain boss fights excruciatingly difficult, and sometimes caused you to plummet off the edge of a cliff, while fighting enemies.  Thankfully, Square-Enix dealt with this problem, and the game is much more enjoyable because of it.  I never realized what an accomplishment companies such as Nintendo achieved with their camera systems until I played Kingdom Hearts.  KH2 plays great just like titles such as Zelda and Mario.  Enemies are easy to track, and when you attack enemies, you will no longer jump off the edge of the cliff like lemmings.  It also helped that many of the annoying boss fights from the previous game, where you had to switch spells on the fly and target multiple parts were removed. 

 

The improved camera makes fighting battles a breeze.  There are many new moves to perform: limits, magic, regular attacks, and summons.  I never really felt the need to use magic during the game; it was easy enough on normal difficulty where I used regular attacks for the most part.  The limits and summons were fairly useful, however, when fighting bosses or powerful enemies.  The combat system is repetitive and requires little strategy, but it is a huge improvement over the first Kingdom Hearts.  Maybe Square-Enix could take a page from Namco Bandai's Tales series and include learnable special moves that are executed through button combinations.  Still, I look at combat as more of a means to an end in an RPG, and what is here could use improvement, but overall it isn't bad.

 

One area in which Kingdom Hearts II makes a vast improvement over its predecessor is in its story.  Despite the unique pairing of Disney and Final Fantasy in the first Kingdom Hearts, the story never held my interest.  It felt disjointed and awkward.  I mainly completed the game to find out what I was getting into before I played its heavily hyped sequel.  Kingdom Hearts II starts out a little slow, but it hooks you soon enough.  In a surprise twist, you begin the game as Roxas instead of Sora.  You begin the game by completing menial tasks, and you are fed bits and pieces about Roxas, Sora, and other Kingdom Hearts characters.  Eventually, you are back in control of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and you find yourself up against (surprise!) the Heartless, and a mysterious group called Organization XIII.  Much of the story is predictable, but there are always enough interesting things going to keep you interested.  Also, the game feels much more cohesive than the original.  It feels like the idea of mixing Final Fantasy and Disney actually does work.

 

Kingdom Hearts II brings back some Final Fantasy characters that were featured in the first one, but it also adds fan favorites including a cocky gambler, a dead guardian, and a shy black mage.  Squall's nemesis also makes an appearance, and uses classic lines like "chicken-wuss".  The Final Fantasy characters' voices were fairly disappointing, as in the first Kingdom Hearts, but nostalgia definitely kicks in when you see them.

 

Besides meeting Final Fantasy characters, you'll also traverse a variety of Disney worlds, as in the first game.  The Disney worlds feel like they have a higher level of polish than the first game, and the characters that inhabit these worlds are expertly voiced.  KHII has you traveling to new worlds such as Mulan, Tron, and Pirates of the Carribbean, and all of them are faithful to the movies.  In addition to these new worlds, most of the worlds from the first Kingdom Hearts return.  You would expect these repeat worlds to be boring, but many of them feature new areas, and one of them, Atlantica (from The Little Mermaid), features a music mini-game that you complete part-by-part after you've completed certain sections of the game.  The old worlds feel much more authentic than their counterparts in the first game.  In the first KH, I was disappointed to see that Hercules wasn't voiced by his voice actor in the movie, but in KHII, you get the real thing.  You also get to explore the depths of the underworld, and optional coliseums make a repeat appearance.

 

One issue which may divide Kingdom Hearts fans is the linear nature of the game.  Most of the game is very straightforward, and it is difficult to get lost.  Some fans may complain that it is too linear in comparison to the first game, but personally I liked it.  After getting lost in the first KH multiple times, I resorted to online FAQs, because I didn't want to waste my time exploring aimlessly, or fulfilling some random objective.  Thankfully, KHII plays out in a linear fashion, but it still gives you the choice of when you want to tackle certain worlds.  Most of my time spent in the various worlds of KHII was a thrill, because I didn't have to worry about getting lost; it allowed me to breathe in the various Disney environs.

 

Not only does KHII have beautifully crafted worlds and characters, but it is accompanied by an excellent soundtrack.  The tragic original score and the classic Disney songs provide an impactful experience.  The score really makes you feel for certain heroes and even villains as the story is told.

 

I was expecting KHII to be another one of my least favorite PS2 RPGs, but I was pleasantly surprised.  If companies want to know how to do a sequel right--this is the game to look at.  The camera and story were the biggest issues that needed fixing, and Square-Enix did a marvelous job solving these issues.  With its amazing environments, plot, and music score, KHII will keep you hooked to the end.  Here's hoping for a great part three.

For my Video Review, go to, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuK4OF7zGr8

Kingdom Hearts 2 will go down as one of my favorite ps2 games. It is of course the follow up to kingdom hearts one, sort of, its more like a sequel to the gba game chain of memories, but that aside, lets get into the game.

In Kingdom Hearts 2, you begin as a character named Roxas, A.K.A, Jesse Mccartney, as Roxas you will play through three game days, which equals out to about 3 hours, in this time you will be given what is basically an extended tutorial as to how to play the game. You will also learn back story from the first kingdom hearts, this is useful for those ten people who didn't play the first game. Soon enough you take control of Sora after his long nap, and after some jumping around with Donald and Goofy, their journey begins anew, the heartless are back, as well as two new foes, the Nobodies, and Organization 13, and on top of that, Sora has to track down Kairi and Riku, AGAIN. Needless to say, Sora's plate is full of things to get done.

Kingdom Hearts 2's gameplay is similar to that of the first game, at least the basics of combat remain the same. Although new additions were added to combat, the two main ones are new quick time events during battle, and new drive forms for Sora to transform into by fusing with two party members. And while this is all cool and stuff, one can't help but feel that the game has taken the route of more of an action game, rather than an rpg.

Kingdom Hearts 2 features a noticeable graphical update, characters and backgrounds are nice and colorful, and all move fairly fluently. And the sound design of Kingdom Hearts 2 is also impressive, all your favorite Disney worlds themes are faithfully recreated, and sound wonderful.

On a whole, Kingdom Hearts 2 is an impressive rpg, and while its not without its flaws, and its hardly perfect, its still an enjoyable experience that's worth playing if you still have your ps2, im going to give Kingdom Hearts 2, a 9/10.