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Saturday 9 February, 2008
GAMEPLAY
I like the mix of having a vaguely RPG-style battle menu with a hack-n-slash. More potential for interesting attack combos, skill variety, and even a form of Limit Breaks (more boringly called ‘reaction commands’). Sora’s ‘Drive’ form is like turning him into a Super Saiyan with all the associated destruction, and please ignore the middle-school-otaku-nerdiness there. It does get a little annoying, however, when you rack up the Equipped skills and they seem to cancel one another out, or be relatively useless when combined with the rest.
(There are some hilariously suggestive scenes. I think Squeenix has a thing for spiky-headed boys being told to beg on their knees. And the villain’s name could be considered an anagram for the word ‘mansex.’)
DESIGN
From what I remember of the first Kingdom Hearts, there are several improvements. Camera angles are more malleable, and honestly I think KH2 has one of the better camera systems I’ve seen. The Gummi ship battles in the first were boring and tedious, but the second time around became something that will make me go through the same obstacle course two or three times just for the hell of it.
Enemies are customized for every world you go to, making them feel ‘native’ rather than blatantly out-of-place, and a fair amount of detail went into making each world unique. There are a few non-battle obstacles besides the Gummi ships, like having to steer Aladdin’s carpet through a sandstorm while hitting certain attack combos, and other like puzzles that were obviously made for a slightly younger audience than myself *cough* but still keep a strict routine from settling in too comfortably.
Nomura’s biggest mistake was putting in the world of the Little Mermaid. It’s mundane, utterly stupid, and irrelevant to the rest of the game. Personal preference says the same of a few other worlds, but Atlantica was BY FAR the worst. Also, the cameo appearances of characters like Cloud, Squall, and Sephiroth go unexplained and largely unneeded, which was a big disappointment for me. Some of the so-called ‘features’ of this game felt like they were just thrown in for novelty rather than any real purpose, a sort of SNL-style “Look what I can do!” thing.
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