Review Statistics

Times Read

1,141

Comments

5

Reviews

Tv, Game

Plot Synopsis

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 & Playability

Square-Enix has done it again. Made a game with the wild imagination and a totally clueless plot. I must say they've really outdone themselves this time. The story is basically saying,"Find where the King is with the help of disney characters", oh, and did I mention this game revolves around Disney Characters? There's a bunch of crap in the game that I find truly meaningless and makes no sense whatsoever. "Reality becomes a dream". It's catchy. It's mysterious. It's not relating to the game whatsoever. Reality is not a dream. They only mention this in the trailer and at like, the beginning of the game, but it's not mentioned later at all and doesn't relate. Wait till you play the second game, NOW we're talking about non-relations! I'm not saying the plot is ENTIRELY senseless, but only a portion of it. The rest is quite okay and some parts are pretty clever.

Everything...revolves...around...HEARTS! Yes, it's the title, but the title makes not much sense either.Every other emotional scene, they mention "wisdom" about hearts. Like, oh no, there are more to hearts than just darkness...
What the hell? "There are more to hearts than just darkness?" First of all, that makes no sense. Second of all, the only people that like, DO have hearts and are mentioned in the game are the ones WITHOUT darkness. So that's pretty pointless.

Character Reviews
-Riku:Pretty deep, mysterious, a bit iffy on the eyes. Not a bad character. What-up with the silver do? Buff on the arms, the legs are iffy as well. Looks kind of like a girl. Realistic-ish...

-Sora:Young, immature, Weird shoes. Weird pants. Hair that defies gravity. Makes no sense his hair should stay up, they have no hair gel. Lazy-ass personality. Cut the hair and he could be pretty realistic.

-Kairi: Hair, Pink or Scarlet? Big head. Porportions are a tiny bit off. Nice character. Realistic. Big head, though...

Other than that stuff, the rest is pretty straightforeward and I do not have anymore complaints.

Rating

5 (moderate)

Graphics

Beauty is only skin deep. Despite all the faults in the plot, the art is actually pretty okay. Not fantastic. But still okay. I noticed the producers mainly put most of their attention to the beginning and end of Kingdom hearts. The middle is...uncertain. It feels like they did it, just did it. But it should be just as good as the beginning and end(Not the realistic faces, but the scenes and whatnot...)Some of the settings are splendid, while others....not so splendid.

Scene art ratings:
-Hundred Acre Wood:When you step into the book, you have nowhere to roam, and the graphics are poorly constructed.When you go within each area, the theme fits eh, okay, but often loses that Winnie-the-Pooh touch. 1.5/5 stars
-Destiny Islands:It's small, yet still sophisticated and constructive. Nicely done to the image of kids living on it, yet parts are still edgy and need some work. 3.5 /5 stars
-Disney Castle:It's...okay. Fits the image of a castle well, just looks...small on the outside. 4/5 stars
-Traverse town:Another place SE might've forgotten? It's functional, I'll give it that much...2/5 stars
-Wonderland:I'm suspecting they put more effort on Wonderland. I quite enjoyed the scenery, it fit nice to the "rabbit hole" type image.4/5 stars
-Deep Jungle:Very spacious area with lots of places. Not bad, I just noticed the vines and grass and leaves looked very fake and looked like stamps stuck to a wall. 2.5/5 stars
-Olympus Colisseum:I'm guessing SE either meant for it to be 2 roomed, or they just felt lazy. The stadium looks pretty good, fits the Hercules, theme, the outside looks okay, but the middle room? Looks like a waiting room at a Doctor's Hospital checkup.Again, the bricks look very fake. 3/5 stars
-Halloween Town:Spacious, the houses are designed well, along with the fountain as the centerpiece. The cemetery is designed well, and I have no complaints. 5/5 stars.
-Monstro:The focus was somehow lost, the design of the inside did not look at all like the inside of a whale, the colorful spots belong on somebody's dress, and it looks totally fake and without much effort. 1.5/5 stars
-Agrabah:It fits the theme of Aladdin very well, and everything looks pretty real. Except there were some things they overlooked...Also, the gold in the chamber rooms look fake.3/5 stars
-Neverland:It's not even a place. It's a clocktower. It's a ship. It's a whatever you call it. The clocktower's centerpiece, the clock, was constructed nicely, but the patterns and decorations are blurry, and the details are amiss. 2.5/5 stars
-Atlantica:Fits the underwater theme quite nicely, except I felt that some places within had no effort, they just added some seaweed and a few heartless. And bam. 3/5 stars

Whew, enough with the settings! Onto Character design!
Character design:
I felt that most of the characters were designed exceptionally, but the clothes looked like they were stamped onto the body, and Sora's pants are like...how should I put this...vases. They don't move, have no flow...And Sora's hair has no flow. What keeps bugging me is his damn hair! It's not possible for something like that to stay up!

Well, Kairi and Riku were designed nicly, their hair is the same as Sora, never moving...display-look. Their faces look cut-out, though. Kairi looks a bit older than Sora, but still looks way too young for her age. Riku looks pretty young for his age. Sora looks like he's 8 years old instead of 14. Probably anorexic.
The Disney Characters were very well done. Outstanding. Except, the issue with the clothes being stuck onto the body...*shudders*
Heartless were designed very well. Good Job SE.

Weapons are the same, well designed, though the details are amiss, once again...

The magic is constructed nicely, but doesn't every game have that?
The summons and NPCs are designed well, I think designed better than some of the characters are...Except Simba's hair looks glued together.

Rating

7 (above average)

Sound

I bet all they were thinking is,"Hey, let's rip off the sounds from the original Disney classics and put together a catchy themesong that makes no sense, and we're good to go!"

We all love to hear Disney classics, such as "Under the Sea", but they really should try to create some new sounds. I applaud them for doing the Agrabah and Halloween Town theme songs. Catchy and original.

Well, voice dialogue is nice and blends in well with the characters personalities and the scenario. I just think Riku's voice(David Gallagher) has really no emotion, nothing to give us a hint of what he's thinking. Kairi(Hayden Panettiere) was done very well.

The NPCs and such have nice short phrases, so nothing much there...

The sound effects of the spellcasting, attacking, blocking, it is all, you know, pretty exceptional. Except I felt that some sounds should have been switched with another.

Ah, the theme song of KH. Let me play a section of the lyrics for you:

When you walk away
You don't hear me say please
Oh baby, don't go
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go

You're giving me too many things
Lately you're all I need
You smiled at me and said,

Don't get me wrong I love you
But does that mean I have to meet your father?
When we are older you'll understand
What I meant when I said "No,
I don't think life is quite that simple"

"When you walk away, you don't hear me say please oh baby don't go". I applaud Utadah Hikaru for attempting to understand the American language and style. But she didn't do a very good job. "Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight, it's hard to let it go" Hm. Well, it's hard to let go of the fact that someone is making you feel clean inside, and you don't want to say baby don't go? What the hell is that person thinking.

Okay, this just bursts me off my knockers each time:

Don't get me wrong I love you
But does that mean I have to meet your father?
When we are older you'll understand

This sounds like something a boyfriend would say to his girlfriend if she suggested they would go meet her parents. And, uh, "When we are older you'll understand, I don't think life's quite that simple"? Okay, first off, understand....what? That you're a weenie for not meeting her father? Dude. Was this theme song made for KH or Meet the Fockers? I thought Sora, Riku, and Kairi are orphans, and thus have no fathers?

Catchy tune. All the wrong words. Song rating:2/5 stars

Rating

7 (above average)

Fun

Kingdom Hearts isn't a failure. I can't say it's a home runner either. It's simply an idea gone wrong and certain turns. Or it's just an idea that made sense on paper, but producer's eyes were covered with a blindfold. SE didn't see anything beyond a catchy tune, a plot that sounds nice, and Disney characters.

Personally, I got addicted when I first got the game, and then it got unaddictive right after I finished it(About 2 days, and usually it should be close to a week or so before the game is finished)
It's about 48 hours of gameplay(If you skip through all the worlds pretty quickly), but if you are a perfectionist, then it would probably take about a week to get everything. And you know what? AFTER YOU GET EVERYTHING, THE GAME IS POINTLESS TO PLAY. After you've beaten all the bosses, synthesized every single weapon, obtained all summons, beat all worlds to the deepest corners, the game is so unaddictive you feel like throwing it away. And first time's the charm.

Oh boy, Kingdom Hearts could be a SPECTACULAR game if you put them with the right hands and the right imagination. I weep for Kingdom Heart's future. But why don't we just enjoy it now, for what it is? Because it wouldn't feel really like Kingdom Hearts if it was anything else.

Rating

6 (average)

Final Verdict

6.00 (average)

Reviewed by ninasun100, 1y 1wk ago