Kingdom Hearts II

The Good
The "sophomore slump" is a colloquial term used to describe works in media which do not live up to previous debut work, either in the same franchise, by the same author or artist, and in many cases, both. "Kingdom Hearts II" is a perfect example of the "sophomore slump". It is not as fun, charming, or epic as its predecessor, and in many ways feels like a step back compared to the original "Kingdom Hearts".

"Wait a minute" , I hear you cry, this can't be a sophomore slump because it's the third Kingdom Hearts game. And you are correct: A "bridge" game was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 titled "Chain of Memories", which was meant to link Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. However, COM follows a different style of gameplay compared to the console games, so technically, KH2 is the second game to have the gameplay style of KH1. I would still have to consider it a slump, regardless if it's a sophomore or junior slump.

Anyways, back to the game at hand. Kingdom Hearts II, at first glance, seems like the perfect sequel. You have more characters, new worlds, a brand new story, and even some new gameplay features to spice it all up. However, a closer inspection of all of these elements reveals that they aren't as perfect as you would want them to be, especially if you were a fan of KH1.

Let's get the positives out of the way: the production values are still as good as they were, and in some areas, even better. The graphics are more detailed and fleshed-out this time around, and the game can have much more enemies and characters on-screen than before, as demonstrated by a mid-game battle sequence where you fight 1000 creatures at once. Again, the voice acting and music is as good as it ever was. Finally, I absolutely loved the Lion King themed world. In this world, Sora is, for some reason, transformed into a lion cub and holds the Keyblade in his mouth in order to attack. In lion form, Sora can run EXTREMELY fast, and can even drift around corners as if you were playing an arcade racing title. This is a great twist on standard KH gameplay.

The Bad
Where did this game go wrong? Too many areas, but I'll start.

The story is incredibly confusing. The player doesn't even start off as Sora, they start off as a character named Roxas, who is voiced by the pop star Jesse McCartney (no relation to Paul). In these scenes, you will do such fun things as work random jobs and explore a boring city that's always at sunset. Then, in a "Matrix" style plot twist, you find out that none of what you are playing through is even real, but rather a computer simulation. The reason that you actually were in the computer is too confusing and unsatisfying to even remember. When you go to Hollow Bastion, there's a little town there that wasn't even mentioned in the original game. The game's ending is extremely unsatisfying. The story overall lacks the charm and joy of the original game.I will say, however, that the story did "get" me for one brief moment when it appeared that a major character had accidentally died, but the darkness of that moment soon, and suddenly turned back to light far too quickly.

There's more. For gameplay, a new mechanic called "Reaction Commands" was added. Basically, a Reaction Command is a context-sensitive special attack that is activiated in battle by pressing the Triangle button. You then execute the attack, by watching the cutscene of Sora attacking and pressing the Triangle button when the game tells you to until you are done. Here's the problem: That's all you do. All you are pressing for the entire duration of the event is Triangle. You can't screw up the event by pushing something else, but you can miss the cue and press it too late. Had they programmed the events to where you were forced to press different buttons at the correct points in time, then there would have been an element of risk and strategy involved in using the commands. Instead, you'll end up mashing the triangle button as much as the X button. This "feature" makes the combat almost insultingly easy compared to the first game.

Finally, the level designs have seriously gone downhill. In the first game, the levels were more explorable, and you had to look at the map in order to figure out where you were supposed to go next. Here, however, there's rarely any places where you can branch off of the beaten path and explore on your own. It is essentially a straight shot from beginning to end, and as a consequence, the worlds feel smaller than they were in the first game. This, combined with the combat, makes the game an absolute push-over in the difficulty department. I could probably count the number of times I died playing this game on one hand.

Finally, I absolutely hated the POTC themed world. Not only is it based on a franchise I don't particularly care for, it's based on a live-action movie as well, which causes the visuals in the world to take a dramatic hit compared to the more animated areas in the rest of the game. It's just so uncomfortable to see Jack Sparrow realistically rendered alongside a cartoon Sora and Goofy. There was also a world that consisted entirely of rhythm-based minigames, and while I LOVE rhythm games, the reward for completing this world was pretty useless.

The Bottom Line
KHII ultimately is not as good as the first game. The first title had a freshness about it, a certain "magic", if you will, that this followup, try as it might cannot capture. With its poor level design, easy gameplay, and lackluster story, I'm honestly surprised as to how anyone could see that this sequel is better than the original game.

The Good
For a Disney and Final Fantasy fan, this game caters well to both audiences, and brings those fans into each other's worlds in an epic package that make most big-budget films cringe.

The game addresses the most serious issues from the first game: Namely the clunky Gummi Ship scenes, which were more of a tedious chore, and replaces them with a fast-action shooter that actually makes it worth the time to go through. It also makes the side-quests more appealing to spend the time and complete, as they are fun in their execution.

There's so much to cover in the game: The beautifully rendered CG intro which recaps the elements of the first two games, is definitely important to understanding where this game begins, as the beginning hours of this game are played with an unexpected twist. When Sora does make his appearance, the game begins to really take off.

The worlds in this game are stunning. The new worlds add so much life and depth to the stages that you can't help but feel like you're walking on a virtual set of the movies.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" was a surprise world, but works with the story it lays out. Same for worlds like "Steamboat Willie", which is utterly charming in presenting itself as a 1920's cartoon, complete with mono sound. And "Tron" is simply the game that you always wanted to come out when the movie first appeared. It captures the essence of that world so well, that I spent a great amount of time just staring at how pretty the world was.

The same could be said for other new worlds, like "Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast". And even the revisited worlds are by no means rehashes of the original game. New areas, new missions, new story... familiar characters. And the reunions between Sora and the inhabitants of that worlds generate a feeling of sincere familiarity. Long-time players of the series will be pleased.

The story is larger than ever, and finally, a lot of the questions from the last few games are answered. The plot never keeps dropping surprise twist and turns until after the final battle, but it doesn't come off as forced or contrived. It's a smartly written story, and it's interesting to see characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy handled with a sense of maturity, but never losing any of their personality traits in the process.

The Heartless return, and so do many of the Disney Villains, but the Nobodies add something extra to the mix. A deeper exploration into the abilities of the heart. The Kingdom Heart series main story point is that nothing can match the power or strength of what comes from the heart.

Sound is a no-brainer. The game makes more use of the music from the films, and a staggering amount of the movie voice casts return to reprise their respective roles. Some like the "Pirates" crew are missing, but the sound-alikes are decent.

The game build up to a very long climax and the ending uses the strong story-telling pull of Square's writers combined with the emotional pull of Disney films that provides.... The ending rewards the players who became so emotionally invested in Sora and company. The ending itself is long, but the final moments are satisfyingly simple, and memorable.

The Bad
I've read comments that players do not need to complete the Game Boy Advance Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories to understand the story. To save you the trouble, that is the biggest falsehood you can ever be told about this game.

The GBA interquel introduces so many characters and certain plot points throughout this tile, there will be times that you will be utterly lost if you don't know that story. Without the GBA game, you will only get about 80% of what is going on, and even less if you never attempted or completed the first game. The three games in the series are too intertwined. You have to play it as one, as they act more like chapters of a much larger story. The recap at the intro will only give you so much background.

The character of Roxas is a mixed view for me. One one hand, he does have his part to play in the story. On the other hand, I wanted to get through his parts to see the continuation of Sora's story. In a lot of ways, Roxas' part plays like a very long tutorial, and his story only becomes relevant when Sora becomes prominent again.

I was sorry to see that the "Tarzan" "Pinocchio" and "Alice in Wonderland" worlds were gone. Tarzan seems lost due to possible licensing issues, but it would have been interesting to visit all the worlds again. The new worlds introduced, however, were more than satisfying.

The "Little Mermaid" world was a bit of a disappointment. It has changed from a fully playable world, to a series of rhythm/music games similar to Bust-A-Groove. It wasn't horrible, but certainly not as entertaining.

Also, combat has been perhaps a little too simplified. Pressing "X" will get you through just about any battle, and as long as you are powered up, you aren't going to have any issues.

The Bottom Line
I was skeptical about "Kingdom Hearts" as a whole when it was first mentioned. I enjoy Disney Animation, and I enjoy Final Fantasy titles, but how could the two work together and be a serious title. Then again, with Square's work on Super Mario RPG, I knew they were capable of making an effective crossover.

The game still reigns as my Top Game of 2006. It is a virtual Disneyland, where players can visit their favorite characters and ride their favorite rides, and it makes for a stunning package.

The biggest flaws from the first game are cleared up in this title, and so many of the things you wanted to do in the first game but couldn't... you definitely can now. And for the characters that were taken away this time, Square and Disney added more than a fair share of new and familiar faces.

Kingdom Hearts 2 makes for a satisfying conclusion to a four-year old series... with hints that the story may not yet be over. If the story does continue on, fans should expect something no less than magical.

The game is as good as it gets. Recommended.

The Good
Like the first game, there is an ensemble cast that includes singer Jesse McCartney, actor Christopher Lee, and Haley Joel Osment returning as Sora. There are many Final Fantasy characters including Cloud, Sephiroth, and Auron. Many of the Disney characters from the first game also return, and some new ones make their video game debut. Again, there were many hidden secrets which made me want to replay the game.

The Bad
Kingdom Hearts II has the same ending problem as the first, with the completion of the game being unsavable. I also didn't like idea of playing as Roxas for the first part of the game. I also wasn't happy with the completely redesigned Hallow Bastion (a level from the first game).

The Bottom Line
Kingdom Hearts II is a great game, but is inferior to the first one.