Kingdom Hearts

The Good
How "Kingdom Hearts" ever got past its initial boardroom pitch is beyond me. Whoever came up with the idea of combining Final Fantasy with Disney should have been laughed out of the room for such a ridiculous idea. Fortunately for us, the absurd pitch worked, and the result is one heck of an enjoyable game.

The powerhouses of Disney and Squaresoft meant a huge budget for this baby, and it shows. The graphics, music and voice acting (by an A minus cast of Hollywood actors and Disney voiceover artists) are flawless and simply breathtaking.

This game's been out for a good while now so I'll rush through the plot. You play a kid by the name of Sora who, with the aid of (ahem) Donald Duck and Goofy must set out to defeat a shadowy bunch of monsters called the Heartless. The Heartless have teamed up with just about every Disney villain there is and have taken over the, er, wonderful world of Disney. So our trio of heroes must set out through various beautifully rendered Disney worlds (Neverland, Atlantica, 100 acre Wood etc) and banish the Heartless.

It all sounds a bit childish and it is, but it's great fun. My kids adore this game and it's interesting enough to keep me playing it with them.

Plenty of hack and slash, puzzle solving and a whole lot of jumping keep things moving along nicely, and the FMV and aforementioned music and voices make "Kingdom Hearts" a hugely enjoyable gaming experience.

And any game with James Woods in it is alright by me.

Oh, and Goofy gets to kick some serious ass. Yes, you read that right.

The Bad
The camera can be a bit annoying, particularly on some of the tougher jumping levels.

Boss battles are probably too tough for the young uns.

The Bottom Line
What is there to say? It's already a PS2 classic and you already own it, don't you? You don't? You should.