Ever wondered what would happen if the worlds of Final Fantasy and Disney collided? It’s an odd concept to be sure, but from the most schizophrenic of acorns the mighty gaming oak of Kingdom Hearts has grown. Legendary role-playing game makers Square have been given unprecedented liberties with the entire Disney universe and have created a game featuring everything from The Nightmare Before Christmas to The Little Mermaid. This is odd enough in itself when you have characters as disparate as Tarzan and Donald Duck teaming up, but becomes majorly freaky when Square thrown in a variety of their own characters such as Cloud, Squall, and Aeris from the various Final Fantasy games. But this incongruity has one side benefit in that the storyline behind the game is by necessity rather vague, which seems to have stopped Square from filling three CDs full of their usual New Age whining about Mother Earth. Instead they’ve spent even more time on the graphics, and the end result is a quite stunning 3-D cartoon.
As for the gameplay, it may come as a surprise to learn that it doesn’t actually feature, as all the Final Fantasy games do, turn-based combat. Instead it's essentially a scrolling beat-'em-up-cum-platformer with exactly the kind of complicated Square-style knobs you’d expect. The game may be a little shallow, but it’s an impressive artistic achievement and to be quite frank any title that allows you to magically summon Bambi out of thin air to attack evil demons of the underworld has got to be worth some sort of recommendation.
AWESOME!!! You start with something simple and then it becomes more and more complex, the moves, the abilities and above all: THE STORY
another GREAT game from Square Enix, this truly is a MUST HAVE if you have a PS2!!!!!
Perfect for Christmas or Birthdays I know i can't write the most amazing review as i completed this game in 2003, but regardless, this is the perfect game for Walt Disney fans, or if you have a daughter, Kingdom hearts is fairly popular amongst the female fans, because of the "male" characters that you see, and the one you play as.
Anyway, the concept is that Sora, Riku, Kairi, etc all live on Destiny Island, some stuff happens, Sora becomes the Key blade bearer, and your adventure starts.
So whilst journeying around with Goofy, Donald, and the like, you can visit lots of walt disney worlds, flying in your gummi ship to get there no less
At the time this game was, fun, brilliant and a whole bunch magical to play, however now that we are dawning on the age of "next gen" machines it may feel a little dated, but honestly, don't mind that
I don't believe this game has an age limit set in stone to play, it by no means is childish, if you think it is too easy or will be just set the difficulty higher, as long as you love Walt Disney, love the concept of fighting the darkness(heartless) and finding a whole bunch of new stuff out about your favourite disney characters then look no further
with christmas coming, this would make a good gift for someone who has a USA ps2
Also, we see a few cameo appearances of final fantasy characters, if i spoiled that youd all hate me, but look forward to what you'l see, and with kingdom hearts 2 taking place after this, you can play to experience the whole story
mr.videogame95(4) on 24, Sep. 2007 02:45 (HKT)
the second to worst game this is the second to worst game i ever play the only worser game is kh com so use your money for the final mix version insted.
teresa.palomino(1) on 09, Aug. 2006 20:45 (HKT)
becareful get final mix instead its awsome
Axersia(10) on 02, Jul. 2006 07:34 (HKT)
Get a different version Since it's KH it automatically gets 5 stars from me but this is probably the worst version you can get no matter what language you speak. The only reason I can think of that you'd want this is that you REALLY want you play the game with Japanese voices (like I did). If you don't want that get the English or Final Mix version and if you do but don't know Japanese play one of those first.
Incredible The gameplay itself is enough to give this game five stars! Give it the graphics, the sounds, the dialogue, the story... And you have something that CANNOT be rated on a 5-star rank!
If this was this good, KH2 will be a god among games!
Masterpiece Kingdom Hearts is honestly one of the best. Squaresofts final words before it became Square-Enix... The battle system is almost overly enjoyable, with a nice difficulty level. The music is enchanting, with some songs that will leave you tapping your foot and humming along, and some that will make you cry. It has a cast of characters who you will either love or hate; it all depends on your opinion. A must-buy! Don't let disney get you down!
More on the Way I think it was a great game and Kingdom Hearts 2 will be even better. The fighting sytle is not a Turn base its more of a action. You can run around a use items and magic while you run around and jump. I also think that more of the Final Fantasy games should be more like this.
