Have you ever wanted to take Mickey Mouse and see if he could kick Sephiroth’s ass in a sword fight? Well, now you can…sort of. Kingdom Hearts blends two of the most interesting and polar-opposite franchises and actually does it well. Who would have guessed that anyone could pull off a game that effortlessly transitions from Peter Pan to Final Fantasy VII? Well, apparently Squaresoft and Disney Interactive can! Kingdom Hearts for the Playstation 2, despite what you may think, is a very good game. Though the story can be a little childish and corny at times, deep down, it’s a pure Final Fantasy game, filled with all the spiky hair and androgynous characters you’ve come to expect from Squaresoft. You play as Sora, a young boy who’s got ambition and isn’t afraid to speak his mind. As the game progresses, Sora receives a mysterious key that is also a sword…hold on, back up. I could have sworn I just said “a key that is also a sword. Oh well, it’s probably just my imagination…or the morphine’s finally kicking in. In any case, you travel to various destinations, meeting up with beloved Disney characters, Donald and Goofy, along with a range of Final Fantasy characters such as Squall, Yuffie, Cid, Cloud, and Aerith. Yes, that’s four characters from FFVII and only one from VIII. Spread it out, Square-Enix!
Your journey will take you to many places, from Alice in Wonderland to the familiar world of the Nightmare Before Christmas, meeting many of Disney’s most famous characters:
The infinite quirkiness of Disney will engulf you as you move through the game, and at times, you’ll get so lost in all the animated antics, that you lose sight of the fact that there is actually an unfolding story here! Maleficent and her groupies are collecting Princesses who somehow hold the key to opening a door to infinite darkness, and you’re the only 14 year old, careless, who knows if you’re a guy or a girl – kid who can stop them!
As far as gameplay goes, it can get pretty repetitive after the first hour. All you do is slam the X button to the point where it will probably break if you play this game for too long at one time.
