You ever play a Squaresoft RPG and think to yourself, "I really enjoyed this, but ya know what this game could have used? Disney characters." No? Fair enough, but someone clearly did. Kingdom Hearts was one of the more memorable games released on the PS2, combining original, Squaresoft-y elements with classic Disney characters and worlds. Now a bit removed, and with Kingdom Hearts III on the horizon, it seemed like a good time to revisit the original game and see how it stands up.
The graphics are a bit dated, but actually don't look too bad. This is largely because of the stylized world everything takes place in. It's cartoonish and unique, foregoing realism for more of a Disney aesthetic. You control Sora, a young boy stuck on an island with his best friends Riku and Kairi, where everyone dreams of visiting other worlds. One night, the island is attacked by mysterious dark beings called "Heartless," and before you know it, you're exploring other worlds.
Kingdom Hearts has a fairly complex story in all, but for most of this game, it's pretty straight forward. A group of Disney villains are trying to steal the hearts of each world so they can open the door to the darkness. Teamed up with King Mickey's noble (and annoying) knights Donald and Goofy, you go to each world to lock their hearts up with your keyblade (a sword that is just a giant key - you have to be ok with silliness going into this game). Yadda yadda princesses are the key to opening the door. Yadda yadda, you have to save the princesses. Yadda yadda, you're strong because your heart is good.
The strength of the game is not its narrative, really. It's the worlds you visit. Most of the worlds you visit are from Disney movies. There's Wonderland and Atlantis and Halloween Town and more. Each world allows you to team up with a character as well. In Neverland, for example, you can team up with Peter Pan. In Agrabah, you team up with Aladdin. There ultimately isn't that much diversity though, as each character it pairs you with tends to lean more toward the physical power side. Some worlds even have their own unique dynamics, such as Atlantis allowing you to ascend and descend on top of your typical forward/back, left/right movements, or Neverland allows you to fly around as well.
Not all the worlds are great. Atlantis is such a drag, and if your television isn't that great, Halloween Town is pretty dark. Still, most of the worlds are as colorful and fun as their film counterparts. What's cool is that for a PS2 game, it feels fairly big. Ultimately, each world is small, but you don't just go from corridor to corridor. Sometimes, things connect. When you fall off a balcony that took you several screens to get to, you wind up where you landed. It doesn't often go through load screens to bring you back. As annoying as it can get to keep falling off of higher areas, it is pretty cool to see that these "screens" are connected in-game.
As for the game play, it's pretty much your general hack and slash kind of RPG. The combat is fun, and most bosses are designed well so that you develop skill (you won't be able to just overpower yourself and then hack away mindlessly to victory). It takes a little getting used to using magic and items and special attacks though. It's still a menu-based system, which is kind of strange. X isn't the "attack button." It just selects the Attack option from your menu. To use other skills, like magic, you have to select a different menu option using the right analog stick or the arrow keys. It's mostly fine, but when you're engaged in a battle against tons of Heartless, it can get tricky to run around, move the camera, and select a new menu item all at the same time.
Really though, the only part of the game play I found to be incredibly irritating was the camera and lock-on function. You control the camera with R2 and L2, which feels a bit clunky by today's standards, but it's mostly fine. It just gets kind of hectic when in the middle of a big battle with a number of enemies. Accuracy seems a bit off too. Often, enemies will somehow avoid your attack, even when they seem dead to sight. Locking on doesn't seem to increase your aim much, and often causes the camera to tweak. All of that could be ironed out a bit, but it rarely gets to the point where you feel overwhelmingly frustrated.
Overall, the game is fun and visually interesting. The only thing that ever starts to become unbearable is Donald's voice. The level and boss designs are pretty great, and the story is just intriguing enough to keep driving you. It's maybe less incredible than some people make it out to be, but it's still good.
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