Released by Disney and Square Enix in 2002

"The closer you get to the light, the larger your shadow becomes"

When stars start disappearing and 14-year-old Sora's home, Destiny Islands, is engulfed in a freak storm, he must journey across worlds to find his friends, Riku and Kairi. As master of the mysterious Keyblade, Sora (voiced by the Sixth Sense's Haley Joel Osmet) must battle the soul-eating Heartless and discover where true strength lies.

Kingdom Hearts is the first collaboration between powerhouses of animation and gaming, Disney and Square. A fun, light-entertainment role-playing game featuring cameos by a plethora of familiar characters, from Cloud Strife and Sephiroth to Hades, Tinkerbell, Jack Skellington and Maleficent.

Story & Characters

Kingdom Hearts is a one-player RPG with recognizable characters from Final Fantasy and various Disney movies. In the game you follow a 14-year old boy, Sora, his friends, and his dreams of escaping his isolated island to multiple worlds with multiple adventures. After meeting Donald and Goofy in Traverse Town, Sora discovers he is the chosen KeyBlade Master and must seal the doors of all the worlds to defeat the Heartless, creatures that feed off of the evil in people’s hearts.

With Sora, Donald, and Goofy you travel to various worlds like the 100 Acre Wood (Winnie the Pooh), Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland), the Deep Jungle (Tarzan), Agrabah (Aladdin), Neverland (Peter Pan), Halloween Town (The Night Before Christmas), and Atlantica (The Little Mermaid).

While traveling to these many worlds a great story plot develops. Riku, one of Sora’s friends, believes Sora has forgotten Kairi, Sora’s other friend. He joins the Heartless in a desperate attempt to save Kairi who has lost her soul. Sora must fight Riku and turn him back to good.

During the game you also learn of Ansem, the discoverer of the Heartless. Another part of your mission is to find him, so you can learn about the Heartless, but it would seem that darkness has consumed his heart. You must also fight him.

Rating: 10

Art

Kingdom Hearts is one of the games created by Square Enix (creators of Final Fantasy), so you know it will have great graphics. The graphics while you're controlling the characters aren't as good as the ones that are show when you are watching the story unfold.

The best graphics are found at the beginning and end of the game during the music videos to Simple and Clean. The graphics are clear and complex. Everything looks real and it makes you want to touch it.

Rating: 9

Sound

The woices of the characters come out clear and audible in this game. The background music is good, but you won't be paying attention to that when you're fighting the Heartless. The best sound you'll get is during the music videos. The song is really catchy! That's basically all the sound you'll hear. Oh!. The crashes and hits make a great sound too except. They sound quite real. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. : )

Rating: 10

Presentation

This is a great game to play. Once you start you won't want to stop. At the beginning it is slow but the story quickly picks up I promise. Once you beat the game you'll be itching for Kingdom Hearts II which comes out in September 2005 (I think).

It's not a difficult game, but those bosses can pack quite a punch especially towards te end of the game. You might want to think about buying a strategy guide so you can unlock all the hidden features, and so you can get out of any tough puzzles. But if you just want to get through the game a strategy guide isn't needed. The locals provide you with enough infomation so you can solve the puzzles and reach the boss. I don't think any of the bosses have any special powers to look out for, so they won't be too much of a surprise. Don't get me wrong this game will take some time to figure out.

A hint is to examine everything and I mean everything. !SPOILER WARNING!Also the second time you fight Riku is a whole lot tougher compared to the first time!

Rating: 10

Final Verdict

9.83 (excellent)

Reviewed by AthrunsPal, Dec 24, 2004

Zerochan | Anime Wallpapers | Anime Galleries | Anime Lyrics | Advanced Anime | Anime Online
DA! | Watch Anime Online | Anime Stocks | DigitalArt | VNDB | Anime Wallpapers

© 2004-2009 Minitokyo - About | FAQ | Policy | Privacy