Kingdom Hearts II

The first Kingdom Hearts was a game that surprised a ton of people in the video game world.  When the first game was announced I honestly thought that Square was losing it and there was no way the game would be any good.  It seems I wasn’t the only one in the gaming press that thought the same thing but we all ate crow once the game came out.  Instead of being a quick cash in on the Disney license, Square (the king of RPGs) had made a solid and entertaining RPG that impressed not only the hardcore RPG fans but also Disney fans all over the world.  I heard more comments from people that would never play an RPG that were hooked on Kingdom Hearts which proved to me that Square Enix had a hit on their hands.   

With Kingdom Hearts II the world is treated to the third KH game.  The first game was released on the PS2 while the 2^nd game in the series was released on the Game Boy Advance (so all you KH fans make sure to check the GBA game).  This latest version continues several years after the first game and promises to include even more Disney characters.  Square Enix wouldn’t name the exact number of new Disney characters that would be in the game and said we need to wait until it’s released.  One character that is being included is Jack Sparrow, the pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean.  Unfortunately this character wasn’t playable at E3 but the staple characters from the first game were still included.

The first thing that should be noted is the game is a real time action game instead of a turn based RPG.  The game controls similar to a hack-n-slash game where you run around and attack the enemies.  The combat is very simple to get adjusted to for anyone that has played an action game.  You press the X button to attack and can then press other buttons to perform other moves.  For example the game includes a special attack button (the triangle button) that can be used to unleash a special attack.  During a battle the screen will show a green triangle around a creature.  When you press the triangle button you can then perform a special attack.  The demo on display at E3 had me grabbing a hold of bats flying through a stage and then attacking while I was hanging from a bat.  The special moves will vary depending on the enemies present.  The game also allows you to select special attacks during battles to turn your character into a more powerful version for a short time period.  This feature is called the Drive feature and can be done at any time as long as you have enough ability points to use the feature.  Your character turns into a dual wielding, key holding, son of gun that kicks major booty. 

Square mentioned that all of the voice actors from the Disney stable and previous games will be back for the sequel.  Unfortunately we don’t know when that will happen since Square will only quote a time frame of Winter.  That could be this year or early next or whenever (meaning when it’s done).  The graphics were outstanding and the sound effects & music were excellent.  Fans of the first game will be in for a treat but at the same time might be disappointed that the gameplay has changed to an action RPG.  I’m sure this was done to let more players into the game but sometimes RPG fans can be picky.  But I don’t think there is any reason for anyone to be disappointed with Kingdom Hearts II.

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