Kingdom Hearts, a cross between Final Fantasy and the best of Disney, can be fun for both adults and children alike. The story line is often very comedic, one can even say that it is laugh-out-loud funny at times. Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy's banter lighten the dubious situation in which they find themselves and adds a great deal of lightheartedness to the game; as if a game with Disney characters isn't naturally lighthearted. The Final Fantasy characters, on the other hand, add a darker element into the mix. While the villains from Disney cause their fair share of trouble the main bad guys of the game are referred to as the heartless. The heartless are exactly what their name suggests, creatures without a heart. They are endowed with an immense amount of dark power that is being used to wreak havoc upon the worlds. As a character named Sora you will explore each world looking for your lost friends and in the process set the worlds free from evil. Sora is a fourteen year old boy that has been living in a virtual paradise all of his life, his home is called Destiny Island. In this world people live day to day without fear and want for nothing, unless you are a child longing for adventure. Sora and his friends dream of going to other worlds, exploring new and, in their minds, more exciting places. Then suddenly a horrendous storm hits Sora's world and he finds himself embarking on the adventure that he has always dreamed of, but with one problem, he has lost his friends. Sora travels from one world to the next looking for his friends Riku and Kairi, desperately hoping to find them, but coming up short every time. Sora begins his journey in a place called Traverse Town, this is a place where travelers and traders frequent often. In this town one could find almost anything that they needed to buy. Throughout the game you will find yourself coming here a lot. Sora has a keyblade that he uses as a weapon, he may not need to use it yet, but he has a sneaking suspicion that he will. This keyblade is the reason that his path crossed and intertwined with Donald and Goofy's. Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy live in Disney Castle which is secretly protected by King Mickey. Unfortunately King Mickey has come up missing and the only clue to his disappearance is a note that was left for the two people that he trusted the most, Donald and Goofy. The note only said to find the holder of the keyblade which is how they came to team up with Sora. Sora, Donald, and Goofy travel to the different worlds together; Sora searching for his friends; Donald and Goofy searching for King Mickey. Along the way they make some new friends together that help them with their search, some of them just help in that world, but others travel to the other worlds with them. Of course these worlds are coursing with bad guys too that try to lead them astray and even try to eliminate them, they must be on their guard at all times. Your characters will gain special abilities that will make them more efficient fighters as the game progresses, but at the beginning of the game they are fairly weak in battle. They also learn magic spells throughout the game which is really the heart of all the fighting. For the summoning spells Disney characters such as Bambi and Tinkerbell are called upon to help you fight. More importantly though are the spells that restore your life, these can be precious when in a battle with a particularly difficult boss character. Make sure you evenly distribute the life potions between the three characters because if you fail to notice that your life is low either Goofy or Donald will restore your life with one of their potions. Donald and Goofy will help you by fighting your enemies, but for the most part you want to keep them around to direct the enemies attention away from you. The different theme worlds are the best part of the game and you will find yourself hurrying to beat one level just so you can get to the next world to scope it out. While there is no shortage in the different wolds when they come to an end you might feel a little bit disappointed to find that one of your favorite Disney stories was left out, but most of them appear in one form or another even if it is so minute. Each world has a special feel to it that often brings back intimate memories of childhood fairy tales and warms the heart. This would be an excellent game to share with your children. The different worlds that you have to look forward to are Wonderland which holds some of the most intriguing characters like the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit; Deep Jungle where you will team up with Tarzan and swing on vines; Halloween Town which depicts to perfection The Nightmare Before Christmas; Monstro who is a giant whale that swallows you like he did to Pinocheo; Agrabah where you will take a ride on a flying carpet and meet the great Genie; Neverland where you will learn how to fly; Atlantica that is ruled by King Tritan; and then there is the Olympus Coliseum where you will battle evil. While you are traveling from world to world there will be some mini missions that you will be asked to complete. One of the missions has to do with helping the Dalmatians find their lost puppies, with each puppy you bring back to them they will reward you with a gift. Another mission is jumping into the book called Hundred Acre Wood about Winnie the Pooh and his friends where you will be asked to set things right. All of these side missions are mildly entertaining and distract you from all the monotony of saving world after world. Kingdom Hearts is a tough game to criticize because it is a well thought out and thoroughly enjoyable game. There are some minor camera problems that could be mildly irritating; such as getting stuck inside scenery and the way the camera can jump around gave me a little nausea at times. While the anticipation for each new world is great after actually getting there it could be a bit of a let down and then you're just ready once again to go to another world. All of the heartless just keep coming after you in an endless supply that makes it very difficult to just admire all of the details of the scenery. Many of the boss characters are too easy to defeat and their routine moves are too predictable. However, these things did not take much, if any, enjoyment away from the game, the camera and the endless bad guys may have been distracting and a little irritating at times, but never in a way that threatened the satisfaction you got from the game itself. Kingdom Hearts is an action packed, lighthearted, fun-filled game full of all kinds of surprises. The story line is a little campy and sometimes even confusing, but who needs a story in a video game with this much personality. The side games include everything from building your own gummy ship then flying to each new world to jumping inside a book and helping out Pooh. This game requires more hours to finish than most games and even when your finished you can still come back to play your side missions. Kingdom Hearts may be a good game to keep rather than selling it back to the store because you never know when you might wish you had it around again. |
