Kingdom Hearts II

"Simply incredible."

Ever since I saw the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts I've waited impatiently for the second game. If I could've imported and read and understood Japanese I would have done that. But the game is finally here on our shores and I tore into it for an entire week and completed one of the most satisfying game journey's I've had ever.
NOTE: To get FULL appreciation for this game I highly recommend you play Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, or at the very least read the game script.

Story:
Kingdom Hearts II starts off a year or so after Chain of Memories and after the Prologue picks up right where that left off. While some may complain that there might be TOO much story(as in too many cut scenes) I welcome it. Better to give me an over abundant of information rather than not enough and leave a bunch of plot holes. Besides it's not Xenosaga bad where you watch for like 15 minutes get enough time to walk through a door and watch another 20 minutes. At the start of the game you start off as a young kid named Roxas in Twighlight Town, Summer Vacation is almost over so he and his friend Hayner, Pence and Olette are trying to get their last bits of fun together in before that's over.

However things start to get a little odd for Roxas in Twighlight Town and I will say no more from there. But wait, fans of the previous 2 KH games might wonder why you don't start the game as Sora? Well you'll just have to play to find out now won't you?

Most if not all of the characters from the first game make a reappearance as well as several new characters(Well completely new and some borrowed characters that are new to the series, including Captain Jack Sparrow, Tron and a certain mischievous trio from FFX-2) you'll have characters you love, characters you'll hate and some you'll just plain adore.

Gameplay:
All I can says is WOW. They've made such a huge leap in improvement for gameplay in this game from the last on. I mean my god, the last KH combat system was pretty solid, I mean they didn't reinvent action RPG's or anything but it was still good. In KHII? Phenomenal. They've redone the way you work your menu in combat to be a bit friendlier and less clunky and combat itself if enjoyable, VERY enjoyable. Instead of mashing the X button like you pretty much did in the last game and firing off a spell or 2 every now and then Sora and Co have so many combos it would make Kratos from God of War blush.

By the end of the game I was getting so many hits in on opponents it almost made me sick, with some well time presses I could get 3 hits on an enemy on the ground knock them in the air get six more hits then finish them off with 3 more hits and that's BASIC stuff. With the insert of reaction commands things get even BETTER, what reaction commands are depending on the enemy and situation using the triangle button will allow Sora the use of special moves, from picking up enemy weapons and using them against enemies, beating Heartless with other heartless, doing a quick go behind maneuver of some people, teleportation attacks and even using a damn CHANDIELER as a battering ram! It's so awesome and fun to watch play out and it makes boss fights INCREDIBLE.

That's not even that half of it, there is a new Drive command that fuses Sora with one of his teammates(Donald or Goofy, sometimes both) that grants him new more powerful abilities, such as dual wielding Keyblades or using his Keyblade like a gun. As well as limit attacks that uses combined attacks with Sora and party members to unleash some pretty cool stuff. One of the earliest you'll experience is with The Beast where and an Sora tear crap up until letting out a roar the decimates everyone around them. Summons from the first game are back and are far more useful this time around and seeing Stitch jump on screen and blast stuff is just gratifying for some reason.

Oh and Gummi travel has been made a lot less boring and is actually *gasp* pretty fun.

Controls
I never had a control problem with this game, everything is tight and responsive. As I said earlier they've streamlined the controls in combat to make things less clunky than the last game. Oh! and they fixed the god awful camera(though it can sometimes still be a little wonky against walls if you have the lock on, on) Camera control is free look style with the right analog stick, while the D-Pad controls the in game menu, but if you prefer it the old way they have that configuration as well. They game largely controls that same as the last so you're good there.

Sounds
Superb. I mean really this is what music should do to a person in game, the music invokes a wide array of emotion through out the game. Some gets you amped for battle, some are just nice to hum while others might may make you a bet sad and all are appropriate for the current situation going on, on screen. As for voice acting it's awesome, All the Disney personalities in this game have their voiceovers done by the actors that played them(James Woods as Hades, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Robin Williams as Genie, they even managed to snag Johnny Depp amazingly enough) and all the Final Fantasy characters voice overs have improved greatly eeeeeexcept for Aeris for some reason, she just sounds......wrong. Sepiroth actually says more than like 3 lines now as well and has a kickass voice over. Seriously Square Enix went all out here.

Presentation & Graphics
Beautiful, though the PS2 is showing it's age as the jagged edges here are painfully apparent. It's just so much more noticeable after playing the Xbox360, but all means that doesn't mean things look pretty it's just that in more than one area you can see the age of the PS2 showing. However in cutscenes that are fully animated are beautifully done, the world's look much different than one another(Looking at Port Royal, Halloween Town compared to say Tron's World or any of the traditional Disney animated world is like playing a whole different game all together) Characters move fluidly sometimes making you forget that none of these people are real. There are also depending on where you are small changes to the combat menu that are a nice touch to immerse you in the difference of worlds.

Closing
In the end Kingdom Hearts II is simply incredible as is the KH series. As an RPG fan even if you're not a fan of Disney you owe it to yourself to play this game. This game to me is the greatest RPG I have played since Final Fantasy VII. I mean god I hate to compare RPGS to that but really this is a game that goes toe to toe with that monster and in some areas towers above it. Everything is solid and the only ding I can really hold against it is that eventually the game has to end. Simply put if you're a fan of Disney, RPGS, Final Fantasy or hell I'll even say Video games you should go out and at LEAST try this game out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Controls: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Graphics: 9/10

Pros:
Simply awesome, top to bottom, beginning to end.

Cons:
PS2 Age is showing
It has to end eventually

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/06/06