Kingdom Hearts II

Though we never entirely lose interest in it, my wife and I need to occassionally take a break from World of Warcraft along the lines of conventional “too much of a good thing” wisdom. So, on one of our rare free weekends, we decided to pop by the store and pick up this little gem of a game. I admit that I was curious, having played the original Kingdom Hearts, but it was my wife who actually picked up the controller and played it through.

From what I saw, Kingdom Hearts II lived up to its predecessor. It has beautiful graphics and a fast-paced play style that keeps you hooked the whole way through. The story, while somewhat more confusing with the advent of the Nobodys, is nonetheless compelling. All together, the game makes for several days worth of solid entertainment.

There were, however, a few criticisms that I had. First, the initial segment of Kingdom Hearts II has you collecting Munny from mini-games in order to proceed. I watched my wife play through this and get increasingly frustrated. Granted, the skills you master in these mini-games help you deal with the rest of the game in very direct ways. Nonetheless, it’s important to hook players from the very beginning for them to want to keep playing the game at all.

Secondly, the game was too easy. My wife played all the way up to the final boss, eventually losing and offering me a chance to give him a go. Having never played the game at all up to that point, I beat the final boss on my second attempt. And, as much as I would like to claim that I’m just that good, I know this would never happen in a typical RPG. This echoes sentiments from other reviews, as I’ve read several complaints that you can go through Kingdom Hearts II repeatedly pressing the attack button and expect to succeed. Perhaps I’m missing something, but if you integrate any degree of complexity into the gameplay, why make it unnecessary to winning?

Still, the merits of Kingdom Hearts II far outweigh its few flaws. As a mix of the Final Fantasy and Disney genres, you won’t find another RPG out there with such a unique and varied gaming experience. Like most RPGs, of course, there isn’t a lot of replay value, so I recommend renting it for a weekend of fun at a minimum of expense.