Game Card
Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
- Publisher:
- Square Enix
- Developer:
- Square Enix
- US Release:
- 28.03.2006
- EU Release:
- n/a
- Number of players:
- n/a
- Type:
- Action Adventure
- Reality Factor:
- Fantasy
- Perspective:
- Third-Person
- Blood Level:
- Low Blood
Review
We play Kingdom Hearts II...
Part 2 of Square-Enix’s Disney mash-up series offers more of what you’ve come to expect – blistering action RPG battles, plenty of familiar faces, and all the “Sora! Donald! Goofy!” action you can handle.
Never one to sit on a profitable franchise for too long, Square-Enix are back on the Kingdom Hearts bandwagon. The game picks up not from the end of the first title, but from the storyline of the Game Boy Advance title, Chain of Memories. In some ways, this is one of the game’s biggest problems; for anyone unfamiliar with what’s gone on previously, Kingdom Hearts II is somewhat confusing.
While to some degree it is an effective immersive technique, the fact that the player is dropped into the game with only a confusing intro song makes the first few hours of the game a little hard to follow. The story starts in Twilight Town, which was first seen in the GBA game, with the player cast as Roxas, who seems, to begin with at least, to be a young boy hanging out with his friends on his last week of vacation.
It quickly becomes clear that this isn’t the case though, as Roxas begins to dream memories that don’t belong to him, but rather to Sora, the protagonist of the first two games. Eventually, it begins to look like even Twilight Town, with its strange driverless trains that seem to go nowhere, is not entirely what it appears to be.
For those who’ve played the first game, it’s a little easier to pick up on – there are a few familiar faces here and there – but the relatively dismal sales of the GBA game should have meant that Kingdom Hearts II would be easier to pick up. It all becomes clearer eventually, and Sora, Donald and Goofy once again take over as main characters, but it’s a rough ride for series newcomers for the first four or so hours. It’s undoubtedly a brave move, narratively speaking, but it seems like one that could have used a bit more thought.
That’s not to say that the game’s beginning is unenjoyable – far from it. Kingdom Hearts II shows that Square-Enix has learnt much from the criticism levelled at the first game, and this is immediately clear. The pacing of the gameplay is, for much of the game, absolutely faultless; just as things begin to seem tiresome or repetitive, the player is pushed into a task, battle or mini-game that seems fresh, and rekindles interest in the title.
One of the best new features introduced into the game are the context sensitive reaction commands, much like those seen in God of War and Resident Evil 4. For the most part, these are only used in battle, and allow Sora to use enemies’ weaknesses against them, and add a little variety to an element of the gameplay that was heavily criticised in the first game.
Much of the action has been vastly improved, and though the battles start off a little clunky, with some practice and the odd bit of levelling up, Sora will soon be spinning and slashing right across the screen in a pleasingly graceful fashion.
Graphically, it’s as polished and well animated as you would expect from Square-Enix and Disney – some of the mouth movements are somewhat stilted, and the shading is often a little lacking, but it’s hard to find fault with a game that looks this good on aging hardware like the PS2. Pre-rendered cut scenes are as glossy and attractive as anything Square-Enix has done before it, and even the in-game cinematics stand head and shoulders above work from most other developers on the system – some of the hair movement in-game is astonishing, and it’s this kind of attention to detail that makes Kingdom Hearts II such a joy to look at.
Yoko Shimomura’s music is, as with the graphics, up to the standard one would expect from Square-Enix, and, indeed, Shimomura herself. She is probably best remembered for her work on Capcom’s Breath of Fire, and Square’s Parasite Eve, as well as the first Kingdom Hearts title, and uses many of the same themes explored in the first game, though reworks them with somewhat darker tones.
The voice acting is also top quality, with original, or current, voice actors used for many of the characters – Bill Farmer plays Goofy, Zach Braff makes an appearance as Chicken Little, Matt McKenzie returns as Final Fantasy X’s Auron and Gilbert Gottfried, who has the world’s most annoying voice, is back is Aladdin’s parrot companion Iago. The times when original actors aren’t used, most notable for those involved in Pirates of the Caribbean, is somewhat less jarring than would be imagined, with some very passable attempts at Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom in particular.
The game’s biggest issues, however, are much the same as those in the first title – sometimes, the mash-up of Square-Enix characters and Disney characters doesn’t quite seem to fit properly, and the game can tend to feel a bit stilted because of that. Things seem very smooth when characters like The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jack Skellington or even the cast from Aladdin and Tron are involved, but characters from lesser Disney films, like Mulan or Hercules just seem out of place, and, more often than not, rather uninteresting.
Oddly, the game hits its peak when it’s dealing with Disney’s original work; Timeless River, the area based on 1928’s Steamboat Willy is, without doubt, the best moment of Kingdom Hearts II. With all the characters and scenery in black and white, and the main characters “de-evolved” to their original designs, it’s hard not to feel charmed, but it’s even harder not to wish that it had lasted a lot longer than it does – especially when it comes just after putting up with almost 2 hours of Hercules’ world.
Still, even if things do feel a little contrived at times, Kingdom Hearts II remains a high point in the action RPG genre – the exceptionally high production values and intensely complex story assure that much. Similarly, the sheer volume of things to do and places to see are astounding, and keep the game from getting stale, and make for a fascinating and very worthy play experience.
If you’re having troubles with the game then you might want to pick up a copy of Piggyback Interactive complete guide for Kingdom Hearts II which contains many pages of useful information to help you through the game. They have detailed information on the characters, levels and a great walkthrough for the cheap price of £11, it helped me in a few places that I got stuck on.
Top Game Moment: Meeting up with Black Pete and Mickey’s 1928 counterparts in Timeless River is joyful and hilarious, and should really be explored further in the next title.
 |
 |
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| The game’s numerous secrets and hidden challenges make longevity a given. | Original character design is uniformly excellent. |
Never one to sit on a profitable franchise for too long, Square-Enix are back on the Kingdom Hearts bandwagon. The game picks up not from the end of the first title, but from the storyline of the Game Boy Advance title, Chain of Memories. In some ways, this is one of the game’s biggest problems; for anyone unfamiliar with what’s gone on previously, Kingdom Hearts II is somewhat confusing.
While to some degree it is an effective immersive technique, the fact that the player is dropped into the game with only a confusing intro song makes the first few hours of the game a little hard to follow. The story starts in Twilight Town, which was first seen in the GBA game, with the player cast as Roxas, who seems, to begin with at least, to be a young boy hanging out with his friends on his last week of vacation.
It quickly becomes clear that this isn’t the case though, as Roxas begins to dream memories that don’t belong to him, but rather to Sora, the protagonist of the first two games. Eventually, it begins to look like even Twilight Town, with its strange driverless trains that seem to go nowhere, is not entirely what it appears to be.
For those who’ve played the first game, it’s a little easier to pick up on – there are a few familiar faces here and there – but the relatively dismal sales of the GBA game should have meant that Kingdom Hearts II would be easier to pick up. It all becomes clearer eventually, and Sora, Donald and Goofy once again take over as main characters, but it’s a rough ride for series newcomers for the first four or so hours. It’s undoubtedly a brave move, narratively speaking, but it seems like one that could have used a bit more thought.
That’s not to say that the game’s beginning is unenjoyable – far from it. Kingdom Hearts II shows that Square-Enix has learnt much from the criticism levelled at the first game, and this is immediately clear. The pacing of the gameplay is, for much of the game, absolutely faultless; just as things begin to seem tiresome or repetitive, the player is pushed into a task, battle or mini-game that seems fresh, and rekindles interest in the title.
 |
 |
|
| The game is at its best when embracing Disney’s distant past, rather than their underwhelming recent efforts. | How appropriate, Jack Sparrow, you fight like a cow. |
One of the best new features introduced into the game are the context sensitive reaction commands, much like those seen in God of War and Resident Evil 4. For the most part, these are only used in battle, and allow Sora to use enemies’ weaknesses against them, and add a little variety to an element of the gameplay that was heavily criticised in the first game.
Much of the action has been vastly improved, and though the battles start off a little clunky, with some practice and the odd bit of levelling up, Sora will soon be spinning and slashing right across the screen in a pleasingly graceful fashion.
Graphically, it’s as polished and well animated as you would expect from Square-Enix and Disney – some of the mouth movements are somewhat stilted, and the shading is often a little lacking, but it’s hard to find fault with a game that looks this good on aging hardware like the PS2. Pre-rendered cut scenes are as glossy and attractive as anything Square-Enix has done before it, and even the in-game cinematics stand head and shoulders above work from most other developers on the system – some of the hair movement in-game is astonishing, and it’s this kind of attention to detail that makes Kingdom Hearts II such a joy to look at.
Yoko Shimomura’s music is, as with the graphics, up to the standard one would expect from Square-Enix, and, indeed, Shimomura herself. She is probably best remembered for her work on Capcom’s Breath of Fire, and Square’s Parasite Eve, as well as the first Kingdom Hearts title, and uses many of the same themes explored in the first game, though reworks them with somewhat darker tones.
The voice acting is also top quality, with original, or current, voice actors used for many of the characters – Bill Farmer plays Goofy, Zach Braff makes an appearance as Chicken Little, Matt McKenzie returns as Final Fantasy X’s Auron and Gilbert Gottfried, who has the world’s most annoying voice, is back is Aladdin’s parrot companion Iago. The times when original actors aren’t used, most notable for those involved in Pirates of the Caribbean, is somewhat less jarring than would be imagined, with some very passable attempts at Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom in particular.
The game’s biggest issues, however, are much the same as those in the first title – sometimes, the mash-up of Square-Enix characters and Disney characters doesn’t quite seem to fit properly, and the game can tend to feel a bit stilted because of that. Things seem very smooth when characters like The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jack Skellington or even the cast from Aladdin and Tron are involved, but characters from lesser Disney films, like Mulan or Hercules just seem out of place, and, more often than not, rather uninteresting.
Oddly, the game hits its peak when it’s dealing with Disney’s original work; Timeless River, the area based on 1928’s Steamboat Willy is, without doubt, the best moment of Kingdom Hearts II. With all the characters and scenery in black and white, and the main characters “de-evolved” to their original designs, it’s hard not to feel charmed, but it’s even harder not to wish that it had lasted a lot longer than it does – especially when it comes just after putting up with almost 2 hours of Hercules’ world.
Still, even if things do feel a little contrived at times, Kingdom Hearts II remains a high point in the action RPG genre – the exceptionally high production values and intensely complex story assure that much. Similarly, the sheer volume of things to do and places to see are astounding, and keep the game from getting stale, and make for a fascinating and very worthy play experience.
 |
 |
|
| Enemies are varied in number and design, and make for some interesting battles. | Faces may be familiar, but that doesn’t mean they’re always interesting. |
If you’re having troubles with the game then you might want to pick up a copy of Piggyback Interactive complete guide for Kingdom Hearts II which contains many pages of useful information to help you through the game. They have detailed information on the characters, levels and a great walkthrough for the cheap price of £11, it helped me in a few places that I got stuck on.
Top Game Moment: Meeting up with Black Pete and Mickey’s 1928 counterparts in Timeless River is joyful and hilarious, and should really be explored further in the next title.
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Movie Trailer
Posted 05.04.07
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