Kingdom Hearts

aka: KH, Wangguo zhi Xin
Moby ID: 7341
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Description official descriptions

Sora's world is shattered when a violent storm hits his home, and he is separated from his two closest friends. The storm scatters the three to unknown worlds. At the same time, there is turmoil in the Disney Castle. King Mickey is missing, and Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy are out to find him. On their travels they meet Sora, on his own search for his lost friends. The three are told of ominous creatures called Heartless, being without hearts derived from an unknown dimension and are the ones responsible for the devastating storm.

The Disney villains, enticed by the power of darkness, manipulate the Darkness to help them gather the princesses of heart, who are needed to open a mysterious final door. Upon discovering the link between the Heartless, the storm, and the disappearance of King Mickey, Sora, Donald, and Goofy join forces and help familiar Disney heroes to save their worlds from the Heartless.

In Kingdom Hearts players step into the very large shoes of Sora, wielder of the keyblade. Sora can attack with the blade, and as he levels up he will gain more attacks that are automatically chained together. Sora can learn magic and put healing items into a quick menu, and both can only be used in real time. Donald and Goofy (as well as an additional character exclusive to each world/disney movie) will follow Sora. Their equipment and AI can be adjusted, but they can not be directly controlled. Defeated enemies will drop many kinds of items including synthesis materials. Sora can take these to the Synthesis shop in Twilight Town to turn them into usable items, accessories, and weapons.

Traveling between each world requires Sora's party to fly through space in a Gummi Ship. The Gummi Ship can be completely customized, from speed and armor to weapons and shape, out of parts picked up from destroyed Gummi Ships, found in worlds, or bought from a store. Larger, more complex ships can be built as the game progresses, and plans can be found from destroyed enemies or from an NPC that will automatically build a Gummi Ship of specific specifications.

Spellings

  • キングダムハーツ - Japanese spelling
  • 王国之心 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
  • 王國之心 - Chinese spelling (traditional)

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

555 People (485 developers, 70 thanks) · View all

Theme Song (Simple and Clean)
Cast (Japanese)
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 84% (based on 40 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 145 ratings with 14 reviews)

Simple and Clean

The Good
Two points share the upper hand in the applause section, and that is of music and graphic. Graphical elements are like hardly ever seen in such detail on PlayStation 2 or any other platform for that matter. Dynamic backgrounds will constantly keep you at the edge of reality whereas carefully chosen textures will make you believe the unbelievable. Looking at the character movements, ocean waves, sun rayed sandy beach, or swinging palms circled by a seagulls can easily make you wanna be at that place, feeling exact essence of nature Sora does. And graphic really has the strong effect to make you closer to the game so you won't feel yet that far away.

Worlds are taken to extreme detail level, and all Disney 'toons are so well balanced that you will eagerly anticipate the next one to come. Worlds aren't too small and will provide you with what you'll expect from this game, in a vast wave at that. Don't take the graphic lightly as it can by no means be compared to childish, as a matter of fact it can easily leave superb graphic such as of Final Fantasy X or Silent Hill 2 pretty far behind. So no, this is a not just a whacky idea for a cartoon, this is every player's experience.

Soundtrack if so great that every worlds has its own theme, and so unique at that. Each song is so different from another, each one is so full of feelings and ambience towards the place it's played at, it is by far one of the finest soundtracks to listen during gameplay, and I believe, as an audio compact disc just as well. Utada Hikaru's song "Simple and Clean" is awesome, and techno beat for the intro is really perfect to fit the opening cinematic. However, the original Japanese version, "Hikari" (also by Utada Hikaru, duh) is much nicer for an ending song. They are both alike, but something's lost within translation, and instrumental version wouldn't sound that much same. If you can manage to get ahold on both, that would be achievement.

Controls are well balanced and the real fun will start when player gets ahold of some party abilities such as floating on the air, jumping higher, or flying. The hole manual versus auto-targetting system rocks and is perfect just the way it is. But controls won't be just for walking mode, there is a mode when you get to dive (think Little Mermaid) or fly (think peter Pan) where you get whole new set of controls, and might become easier (flying) or complicated (diving) until you get ahold of controls. Perfect thing is how all three main characters (Sora, Goofy and Donald) change outfit according to any new world they visit, either get a fish tail for water world, scary outfit if in halloween town, or whatever comes with a certain world theme.

Voice-acting is no less but equivalent to the soundtrack. Although there will be equal use of text-only as voice-overs, English version fits perfectly for every single character. Donald and Goofy even sound as in cartoons (be lucky to have subtitles all the way when listening to those two, lol), Sora's voice is joy to listen (although I didn't think it'll be that good when I saw who's the voice-actor), and Kairi is a music to ears. Not to mention that all the villains are pretty much as you may hear them in their original roles.

The game has many surprises, and that is one of its stronger side, it keeps you going from one story to another, never know who to expect next, never know what evils to fight next, and you get to have a journal all along the way. It gives a details on how many which types of enemies you perished, who did you meet on your journey, and when and where did they appear first time on screen. It was really fun to read as how they wrote something about everyone.

Story is a typical one where you must prove the darkness that light in our hearts can be seen in any dark corner, and as such it cannot be dimmed. The characters are so cut and likeable that you cannot imagine to start hating even the bad ones. More to the point you always win over them, and that in case you loose some fight, you don't have to reload way back but usually start from very near place of conflict. The way how your party members help you all the way is brilliant, and they do help you a lot sometimes. 'Tis a game which you simply get to like, it gets you and gets you until you say 'okie'.

The Bad
Knowing SquareSoft and how they must make extra-tough battles against villains, I expected they will make it a bit softer to the fact this game came out after Final Fantasy X which didn't trouble you that much when compared to all of its prequels. Well, this thing is, there are countless boss battles in this one, but none of it that hard. Well, none of it that hard so you won't be able to pass it after 3000-5000 times, bust still. Certain fights were simply hard, and although you could always get into position of status-quo where nemesis wouldn't be able to do much harm, nor could you. Sometimes you could only depend upon your companions, and that was kinda too hard. Also, since this battle system cannot compare to those of other Square's RPGs, this requires constant care and precisement from player's coordination. Sometimes there was simply pay-attention strategy which usually lasted for like half-an-hour, and pressing pause button was a constant consideration.

Being more action game that requires reflexes as much as it requires well planned strategy may come to my advantage, but the end battle which consists of only too many in a row was not light at all and I cannot even begin to think of replaying it again. Took me 2+ hours to pass countless bosses and what all not, yet I didn't even get the opportunity to see the ending cinematic whenever I wish after passing all that. Square always stays Square, and they will never make you see something unless you either replay it and have a hard time again, or know how to extract the prise. The game had only too many beautiful scenes, and form what the ending presented, this seems like a game split in half, and this, of course, if the first half. That sounds already fine if the sequel's coming, but kinda leaves you sort of 'empty' in the ending of it all, with only extremely cute ending cinematic with great background song.

The Bottom Line
To say Disney can come up with something so wonderful (yeah yeah, I'm talking beyond the limits of contents for kids and other fans) and to make me proclaim that I like this game so much is definitely beyond my limits of belief. Square and Disney, Disney and Square... tsk tsk tsk, somehow it always tended towards sounding as hilarious attempt to make something which is only meant to catch a failure. Creating a worlds so distinctive and bringing them to life by a merge of their inhabitants, on one side Square's characters from well known Final Fantasy game series, and on the other Disney's characters from numerous of cartoons from Little Mermaid to Tarzan.

Seems like many people were sort of skeptical towards this idea of joining the best of both worlds, on one side western giant, Disney with their art, and on another eastern giant, SquareSoft with anime art. But just as many people mistrusted that idea in general, they sought to try it and see how much they can laugh at all this. The thing is, they were all sort of converted with completely altered final thought upon the grand finale. This mix doesn't just seem nice, but really and undoubtedly perfect with no range left for errors. This is a very good step towards creating something that might attract sub of all fans, both of Disney and SquareSoft.

When something surprises you so much like this game, it is only fair to take one step back and acknowledge thy own mistake, embracing the world of Kingdom Hearts with both hands opened, 'cos, who knows how soon can we hope to encounter such a well thought combination like this one.

PlayStation 2 · by MAT (240759) · 2012

An epic crossover

The Good
Kingdom Hearts was one of the first "epic" games I ever got to play. It's high production values, interesting (if confusing) storyline, and gameplay really stood out to me. As one of the first PS2 games I ever got, it was the first game I played on the system that strongly convinced me that upgrading from the PS1 to the 2 was the correct decision.

I was, and will always be, a fan of Disney. I loved most of their movies, and would spend hours as a kid watching the shorts with Mickey and his friends, including my favorite, Donald Duck. When I saw there was a game that allowed you to fight with and against many of the iconic Disney characters, I was skeptical, but I went ahead and bought it anyway. What followed was one of the strongest memories I had for the PS2.

The storyline involved an anime-ish character named Sora travelling through different worlds with Goofy and Donald in an attempt to find his own friends and return back to his own world. Incidentally, Goofy and Donald are looking to find Mickey, who oddly enough is never seen for the entirety of the game. Weird, huh?

Each world played out like a mini story in and of themselves. Some of the worlds, such as Traverse Town, were created exclusively for the purposes of the game, but most were based on Disney films. The stories in each world loosely followed the plots of the films they were based on, and allowed the player to interact with the various characters they had only previously seen on film. One world, Atlantica, based on " The Little Mermaid" has Sora transformed into a human-dolphin hybrid, which offered an interesting twist on the gameplay by forcing the player to swim around instead of jump on platforms.

The gameplay plays out like an action platform game with RPG elements. Yes, most of the time you will be mindlessly mashing the X button, but the addition of magic and items, along with the verticality of the levels, makes for an interesting and fun style of gameplay. In addition, there are also on-rails shooting levels in the style of "Starfox" or "Iridion 3D" where the goal is to shoot your way to the end while avoiding obstacles. The game gives you the option of building something called a "Gummi Ship" by using a needlessly complicated interface to do so. Thankfully, you will only need to play through the shooting sections once for each new world that you come across, as purchasing a key part for the Gummi Ship will allow you to warp across worlds you've already been to.

The graphics are outstanding. The characters resemble their animated counterparts so closely that somethime's you'll swear you are watching a Disney animated movie instead of a game cutscene. The framerate stays pretty consistent throughout, and the battle sequences and backgrounds offer plenty of eyecandy to gawk at. Simply put, one of the best looking games on the system.

The sound is great too. You'll hear classic Disney tunes as well as fully orchestrated original music, which complements the familiar stuff well. There's even a pop song with lyrics sung by Japanese singer Utada Hikaru, that's quite difficult to get out of your head. Sometimes the music can be a little "MIDI"-ish in some spots, but overall, it's quite well done.

As a story driven game, the voice acting here also deserves mention. The voices for the Disney characters sound exactly like their original voices. I bet more than a few of them ARE the original voices. As for the non-Disney ones, they picked a surprisingly recognizable cast there as well. Haley Joel Osmont voices the main character Sora, while Hayden Panetierre voices Kairi, and David Gallagher voices Riku. Other popular voices, such as Mandy Moore, Christy Carlson Romano, and Lance Bass, also put in appearances as characters from the developer's other key series, Final Fantasy, that were thrown into the mix as well. Their harsher, Teen-rated edges have been toned down slightly for this particular release, however.

The Bad
While the graphics are stunning, there was one major problem I had with them, one that's bitterly ironic given the theme of the game: They're too dark! There were at least a couple of instances where I literally couldn't see anything BUT Sora and lost my way as a result of the visuals being too dark. I was stuck for at least a couple days on the storm sequence because I couldn't see where I was supposed to go very clearly. That was especially painful because I would have to play from the very beginning of the game due to the lack of save points until past the storm. Getting to Merlin's house was pure torture because I couldn't see the rocks that you were supposed to jump on to get there. Brightening the tv did help, but I wish the developers brightened the darker areas of this game up a little more so that such adjustments wouldn't be necessary.

The cutscenes were not skippable. Although it makes sense as a more story-driven game to force the player to watch the cutscenes, some of them were very long and led to difficult boss fights thereafter, especially near the end of the game. I nearly gave up fighting Riku in Hollow Bastion because the cutscene before hand was about five minutes long and I would keep dying soon after. This would thankfully be rectified in the second game.

Finally, my biggest complaint for the game: It's too hard. it took me five years to beat this game because I gave up at a certain, overly frustrating boss fight near the end of the game. Only after having a friend finish it for me was I able to continue and defeat the final boss. Just about every boss in this game was hard in some way, so only dedicated gamers need apply. Casual fans of Disney and videogames will absolutely struggle to get through this one.

The Bottom Line
This is, to me, the best game in the Kingdom Hearts series to date. Subsequent games would tone down the difficulty of gameplay while ramping up the difficulty of following their storylines. Some of them, like the disappointing "Chain of Memories", would even change the gameplay entirely. But this is the one to play, if you must play any KH game at all. It is an epic, visually stunning journey, through a surprising universe you thought you would never see, and most ages can come along for the ride, which is always a plus in my book. A real PS2 gem.

PlayStation 2 · by krisko6 (814) · 2011

I KNEW this would be a good game...

The Good
Holy f*ck! They had Sephiroth! And Donald! You don't see a combo like that everyday, that's for sure. I only got this game not too long ago, Christmas to be exact, and I couldn't put it down after I started.

The battle system was great. Hack-and-slash is a lot of fun, and the graphics really brought it to life.

Though I hate H. J. Osment with a passion, I think the voices were wonderful, ranging from Lance Bass (Sephiroth) to Billy Zane (Ansem) and everyone else in between.

The Disney worlds were great. Atlantica was fun. Neverland was fun. Basically, any place where you could move on an upward plane was great.

The characters are very original, as is the plot. It isn't your basic 'prince saves princess', it goes incredibly deep to explain everything that happens. And leaves a lot of questions.

The Bad
THAT STUPID CAMERA!!!! Ugh! I hated it! It made things so hard... It took me 6 tries to glide out on a very small island and get a chest with some puppies in it because of the retard camera. Other than that, I cannot complain about this game.

The Bottom Line
FUN. FUN. FUN. If you don't have it, get it or I'll inflict major pain. Everyone needs this game. There's no way someone could play it and say, 'that sucked.' Disney and Squaresoft--a match made in Hell-- have come together with a large success. All I can say is: I can't wait for KH2.

PlayStation 2 · by Helen Wilson (2) · 2004

[ View all 14 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Kingdom Hearts appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Characters

Aside from Disney characters that are not surprise to encounter, you will also encounter several other characters from SquareSoft other games, such as Squall (main protagonist from Final Fantasy VIII), Selphie (a party character from Final Fantasy VIII), Tidus (main protagonist from Final Fantasy X), Wakka (party character from Final Fantasy X), Aerith (from Final Fantasy VII), Cloud (main protagonist of Final Fantasy VII), Sephiroth (nemesis in Final Fantasy VII), and other.

Contest

The secret boss Kurt Zisa in the US version is named after the winner of a contest held by Squaresoft to promote the game.

Theme song

The theme song, Simple and Clean (English) and Hikari meaning "light" (Japanese version), is written and performed by Japan's pop artist Utada Hikaru. After the release of the game's original Japanese version, Hikari was released separately and, according to IGN, sold about 860.000 copies.

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2002 – Best Use of License of the Year (PS2)

Information also contributed by monkeyislandgirl and Sciere

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by vism.

Additional contributors: MAT, Unicorn Lynx, Apogee IV, Guy Chapman, monkeyislandgirl, Solid Flamingo, DreinIX, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added October 2, 2002. Last modified January 16, 2024.