Back in 2004, my blossoming and eager young mind was bombarded by the things that happen to a boy of that age. I bought a PS2 with some birthday money. Instead of dedicating my brain to learning, it was instead fascinated by my access to a new library of games. One of the games that I came across was Kingdom Hearts. It combined Final Fantasy character and Disney characters into the same universe as an action rpg. Well that sounds awesome! I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that opening animation sequence is all it took to hook me. I’d never seen anything quite like it, and as bizarre as the concept was, it worked!
Not too long of a wait after that was Kindom Hearts II. I remember dedicating so much time reading about the game in magazines, watching trailers, and counting down the days to the release. I made sure everyone around me knew I wanted the game for my birthday, as it came out about two weeks prior to me turning 15. As soon as I got my hands on a copy I flew through it, it consumed my life. I think it may have been the reason I got a C in one of my classes instead of a B. I played through it, and then immediately started over and played it again! Wasn’t long after that I started discussions about when the third game was going to come out. If only I had known it would take this long… Finally after years of waiting, its here. The release of Kingdom Hearts III is just days away. I wanted to take a look at the series and share memories of my time with this series.
I was pretty excited when they started releasing updated HD versions of the series. This gave current fans a brand new way to experience these games. It also provided an opportunity for new players to not feel completely lost when the third game comes out. While I intended to get hem on PS3 it never happened. Well, luckily that paid off when they released both collections together in one big collection for PS4. This collection boasting more stability and even better graphics! Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 or “The Story so Far” (which adds the HD 2.8 collection to it all), is the best way to experience this series to prepare for Kingdom Hearts III.
Fans of the series have been waiting since 2005 for this. We are looking at and on the precipice of the long awaited Third main entry. Kingdom Hearts actually boasts a total of eleven games across multiple platforms. (brought together to PS4 for ease of access in the aforementioned collection) The purpose of this article is to give a brief overview of the games in the series I’ve played. I’ll focus on the main entries and a follow up of the other games. If you’re curious about the Kingdom Hearts series and want to know a little about what’s up before considering Kingdom Hearts III this will be a good quick way to get somewhat caught up without getting lost in a wikipedia rabbit hole. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts, the one that started this beautiful hot mess. Introducing Sora, Kairi, and Riku, a trio of friends yearning to see and experience more than their world can offer. They plan for this by building a raft, and gathering supplies. Their wish is shortly answered as their world is attacked scattering them into the cosmos. Unfortunately, they are not together and must seek each other out. Sora finds himself in Twilight Town. Enter Donald and Goofy, who are trying to find the missing King Mickey who ran off on a mysterious mission. They decide to join up with Sora to help each other find their missing friends. Sora also finds himself the wielder of a sword like weapon called the Keyblade. Shaped like a key, Sora swings this into the enemies called heartless. The heartless are born from the darkness inside a persons heart. The keyblade also has the ability to lock and unlock chests and doors, particularly closing the doorways between worlds that are allowing the heartless to invade the various worlds Sora and company will be traveling to in search of his friends and King Mickey. The keyblade can also be upgraded through equipping different keychains that drastically change how the game looks (heavily influenced by the world it is gained in) and stats. You get a few glimpses into what is happening with Riku, as he becomes manipulated by the classic memorable Disney villain Maleficent. That pretty much covers the first couple hours of the game and sets up the rest of the story of traveling between the various worlds, solving local problems all the while seeking out King Mickey, Kairi, and Riku. It doesn’t take long to uncover that there is a cohort of Disney Villains teaming up to kidnap the “Princesses of Heart” which are of course the famous classic Disney Princesses, plus Kairi. Add rescue them, to the long list of things to do.
Kingdom Hearts is a fascinating and bizarre concept of a game. It was an action game that relies heavily on RPG elements. Attacking, blocking, dodging, and casting magic and summons all make sense and respond well and satisfying to inputs. I remember being ridiculously excited every time I got to see a new world. I enjoyed seeing how Sora, Donald, and Goofy would interact with the characters that lived there. I distinctly remember being excited about being able to run around Agrabah with Aladdin. Halloween Town was a huge and pleasant surprise. Especially as the main trio gained appropriate scary costumes to wear while they ran around with Jack Skellington. Getting new and awesome keyblades was a satisfying and visual way to feel progression. The level design, with a few exceptions, is really well done. Even years later I still remember where to go with little to no trouble. While sometimes claustrophobic the small areas are well filled with obstacles, characters, and other assets to help fill them out. A part of this is the music, hearing the soundtrack brings back pleasant nostalgia and matches each world. Tackling each worlds signature villains and new heartless helps instill gives a sense of heroism. It’s fun to see what would happen if the Disney villains created their own Legion of Doom They interact with one another in ways that fit their personality. Its great watching a number of your favorite villain’s butt heads. Their arrogance prevails and slowly plays a big role in the demise of their tenuous alliance. Can you really imagine Jafar or Hades really taking orders from anyone for very long?
While the later on the story in Kingdom Hearts gets a little whacky, it is easy enough to follow. Rescue princesses, make friends, beat bad guys, close the doorways between worlds, save Riku from himself, and uncover what is really going on behind the scenes. It all culminates in a memorable epic over the top boss fight and the strong hint at a sequel.
I’ve played Kingdom Hearts the most times of any of the games. After my initial playthrough, I didn’t play it again until my early 20’s. Playing my PS2 copy after suddenly finding in my friends garage when he had borrowed it many years prior. My memory of the game was pretty solid. The beginning is slow and takes a bit to pick up speed. I knew exactly where to go in nearly every world. Which is a testament to the quality of the level design. The major difference was realizing how bad I was the first time I played this game. While my original playthrough of this game was well over sixty hours, this time was closer to twenty-five. What was I doing all that time I have no idea but I was nearly forty hours fewer and twenty levels lower than that original playthrough. I played through it again with the PS4 HD collection, and thoroughly enjoyed the additional content and visual upgrade.
While some things even in HD look a little funny and is clearly a game from an earlier era. My one major criticism in this game is the camera, which frequently can get in the way of gameplay. The combat can feel slow, clunky, and repetitive, but is still overall satisfying. The story holds some really great character development and moments, but others can fall a little flat. The music, particularly the main theme is great, as is the voice acting. While a bit dated, still holds up as a classic game, particularly of the era. It’s a fantastic first entry to a wonderfully charming and unique series.
Kingdom Hearts: 8.5/10
Kingdom Hearts II
I was pretty pumped to not have to wait very long before the release of Kingdom Hearts II. I remember getting pumped when getting the issue of Game Informer featuring the game leading up to the street date. The first game was fresh in my mind, and I couldn’t wait to get more of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Boasting better animation and graphics, a bigger story, more worlds, and more intense combat, I couldn’t wait!
Upon firing up Kingdom Hearts II I found myself in control of Roxas. This was a bit of a disappointment because I was so ready to get back into the fray with Sora. It doesn’t take long however to discover that Roxas isn’t exactly just an entirely new character. As Roxas’s story unfolds memories of Sora are unlocked, and once they are completely recovered Roxas disappears and Sora is rip roarin and ready to go, as soon as he gets an outfit that fits a bit better. Reunited with Donald and Goofy, the trio finds themselves continuing their quest to find King Mickey, find Kairi, and rescue Riku from the events from the end of Kingdom Hearts. Heartless are back invading worlds, along with a new enemy type, Nobodies. Nobodies are the body and soul of those left behind when they lose their hearts when a heartless is created. There are some mysterious figures in black cloaks lurking about but initially, things start out relatively similar to the first. Sora reunites with friends made from the first game and sets out to reclosing the doorways between the worlds allowing the heartless and nobodies to enter. It doesn’t take long to uncover a plot by the black cloaked figures calling themselves Organization XIII. Throughout most of the game the story is pretty straightforward. Uncover the plans of Organization XIII, rescue each world from the threat of heartless and nobodies, and rescue your friends. The last quarter of the game is where things seem to go a bit off the rails. Surprise twist revealing more surprise twist reveals, the multiple people who aren’t who they say they are, and the number of people sharing the same name, multiple factions and plots of baddies working against you and each other, it all kind of results in overlapping threads that can be a bit confusing if you aren’t paying attention.
Kingdom Hearts II looks better than the first title in almost every way. Updated looks for characters, better textures, and models for nearly everything, and more fluid animation. Even the little flourish Sora does when opening a chest is a welcome addition. It shows a more confident and commanding Sora from before where he would somewhat timidly tap the chest to open it. Better utilization of the hardware allowed for bigger worlds. The various areas of each world did in fact feel bigger. Unfortunately, they weren’t filled with much more stuff than the previous game leaving a lot of empty space. This is a bit of a nitpick though, as it still looks great and is more of a sign of the time Kingdom Hearts II was released in. Compared to modern titles this is much more apparent. Games like Witcher 3, Horizon Zero Dawn, Breath of the Wild, have revolutionized how to build and fill massive worlds to the brim with characters, environment pieces, and things to do. Not every area can have Sora facing down 1000 enemies at once in the day of the PS2.
The combat in Kingdom Hearts II offers more depth with the drive gauge which allowed for Sora to take on new forms. Combining himself with Donald, Goofy, or both gave him new abilities with a specific focus. My favorite of these are the two forms that allowed Sora to wield two keyblades at once. These powerful forms helped keep the combat from getting stale. Some things that should be explained or spelled out, aren’t. Like gaining access to one of the first game most useful abilities, the dodge roll, is locked behind something I didn’t do till well past the game’s halfway point, which was level up one of the Drive Forms mentioned earlier to a certain point.
I remember specifically being super stoked when getting to the Pirates of the Caribbean, Lion King, and Steam Boat Willie worlds. Pirates was a movie I had a bit of an unhealthy obsession with in my early teens. To be able to run around and take out zombie pirates and heartless with Jack Sparrow was a treat! Though admittedly this world in particular has aged the poorest graphically due to its more realistic style. Lion King was the first movie I ever saw in theaters and still stands today as one of the best movies of all time. I love this movie so much that I even have my Blu-ray copy signed by the director! Actually being able to explore the pride lands with Sora was a significant upgrade to Simba being just a summon in the first Kingdom Hearts. Seeing the crew as animal versions of themselves was hilarious, especially considering Goofy and Donald are already animals. Sora as a lion cub, Goofy as a tortoise, and Donald as a Hornbill is a nice change of pace from the rest of the game. Then there is the Steam Boat Willie stage, which may very well be my favorite Kingdom Hearts world so far. Inspired by the classic original Mickey Mouse cartoon everything is designed to reflect that old vintage cartoon style and is black and white. Even to this day, there isn’t much in gaming that resembles what is seen here.
Overall Kingdom Hearts II is almost everything someone could want out of a sequel. Everything is built upon. Some things are built upon better than others, the growing story and more depth to the combat and graphical upgrades are welcome additions. However, the overall empty feeling of the worlds and certain abilities being locked behind specific fights and milestones without hinting that is the case hold it back from being what it could be. While the story is bigger than the first, it can get overly convoluted at times and be confusing if one isn’t paying attention.
Kingdom Hearts II 8.5/10
Other games
As I stated there are eleven games in this series and yet only two main entries. From mobile phones, GBA, to psp, to ds, and 3ds, Kingdom Hearts has continuously released side games from the beginning. I haven’t played all of them, but I’ll briefly go over the ones that I have.
Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was originally a GBA game that was later rebuilt for PS2, known as Re: Chain of Memories, which is included in the PS4 collection. My only experience with this game is the GBA version. Even among the vast library for the little handheld KH: CoM stands out as a pretty solid strategy action game. Trading in the traditional combat from the core games for some card collecting and deck building concepts. Draw the card that’s the attack/ability you’ll be able to do. Different bosses and areas require different strategies meaning you’ll be collecting cards and regularly swapping out the cards in your deck.
(Venom)-30.png)
The game is presented in some really wonderful sprite work and is a side perspective action combat platformer. It was a really great first side game to be able to play Kingdom Hearts on the go. Though the change from the series regular combat to the card based system was well implemented but not necessarily a step in the right direction.
A few years later they completely rebuilt the game to more closely resemble the main games into fully 3D experience. Keeping the deck building aspect, it came out hoping to reach a bigger audience for those who were looking to help fill in the story that bridged KH and KH II. That story involves Sora navigating a mysterious castle that upon entering had his memories manipulated. Sora must get to the bottom of the mystery behind the “The Organization” and continues to seek his friends Riku and Kairi. The game also features a parallel story featuring Riku, who is making his way through the basement levels of the castle, while Sora aims to climb it.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories 7/10
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep came to the psp and is a prequel to the entire series. Showing how the events of Kingdom Hearts came to be. Featuring three protagonists with separate and overlapping stories. KH: BBS brilliantly used the limitations of the hardware to perhaps have fewer worlds but to experience each world in different ways as each character. The combat went back to more familiar territory and felt much more like the experiences on the main numbered entries.
Birth By Sleep follows the story of Ventus, Terra, and Aqua as they prepare for their Mark of Mastery exam. It also shows the origin of the major antagonist of the series as he manipulates the young pupils to bring out the darkness of their hearts. Each of the playable characters have their own unique and clear motives and flaws. Their stories are for the most part separate from one another coming together in the end for one of the most epic and emotional finales the series has produced so far.
Birth by Sleep looks amazing too. Coming later in the PSPs life cycle by then Square Enix really knew how to get the most out of it. Each of the three main characters have a unique gameplay style that helps keep the combat, and enemies from getting stale. Utilizing each of their strengths in different ways to tackle similar problems was engaging.
All of this is woven into a narrative that is told through some of the best voice acting the series seen. It stands well as a prequel and leads into the events of Kingdom Hearts without feeling too forced. One of the best games on the PSP and features some basic multiplayer allowing for friends to team up and take on heartless together. I have not yet played the HD version included in the PS4 collection. I anticipate that it is just as fun, but perhaps not quite as good looking as the main entries.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep 8/10
Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance
Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance came to the 3DS in 2012. You can tell it is a 3DS game because its name is made of three “D” words. This game is a little difficult to pin down because overall it is a good game at its core. Its the stuff they tacked on top of that core and then forced players to use that I didn’t enjoy. Before heading into the next chapter of the story the two of them must face a test called the Mark of Mastery exam to see if they will become Keyblade Masters. The story is split. Sora and Riku must each face their own trial. Progress through the game involves switching between the two narratives
At first glance, it plays and feels very similar to Birth by Sleep which is great! However, the addition to the “flowmotion” system and “Dream Eaters” was a huge drawback for me. Flowmotion is a system added on top of the core combat. This helps make it all flashier by allowing players to dodge and counter attack quickly. Spinning around poles, shooting along walls, and around enemies are a few things added to the combat. It’s a system that greatly needed improvement. It feels control was sacrificed in the addition of flowmotion. I found myself rarely going in the direction I intended or alternatively not doing anything at all. I see the potential in it as when it did work, it was a good experience. Usually, I found to be combat to be mostly a random affair of jumping around all over the place hoping to strike a hit. While it does look cool and flashy, I would prefer a more solid and controlled action experience. The dream eaters are a new creature type introduced to the series. They are collected and raised throughout the game like pokemon to aid you in combat. Unlike in previous games where companions were usually well recognized Disney characters with unique and charming characteristics, Dream Drop Distance uses the dreameaters.
The plot of Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance takes place in dreams. This makes the plot kind of feel unimportant, as it doesn’t really seem to be actually happening or pertinent to the overall story of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. It feels like a side story, and by the end I was no longer all that invested in the outcome because it didn’t feel like it mattered.
Again the Kingdom Hearts series delivers in Dream Drop Distance visually and in the voice acting department. The game looks absolutely fantastic on the 3DS hardware, and as someone who prefers the 3D on, I found it to be one of the best looking games on the 3DS. Voice acting is top notch and I usually wore headphones to help experience the best quality of what the actors were putting forth.
Dream Drop Distance introduces some new things that just fall flat for me. While not a bad game, it was disappointing. Sporting some amazing visuals, but a lackluster story. I will add my reaction and views of Dream Drop Distance does not reflect the opinion of other reviewers as the game overall was received highly by critics and fans. I’ll also admit that after some time away a revisit would change some of my opinion, but I don’t anticipate that happening soon with the release of 3.
Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance 6.5/10
Kingdom Hearts Unchained/Union X
A mobile Kingdom Hearts game came to smart devices. Featuring 2D graphics and an isometric environment perspective, players control a customized avatar around a variety of maps and world in a hack and slash dungeon crawler style game. It controls well, and as far as mobile games go it is easily the one I’ve spent the most time playing. The association with Kingdom Hearts certainly didn’t hurt my interest. As you make progress tokens representing the extremely large cast the inhabits the Kingdom Hearts series. Equipping these tokens grant various boosts and powers.
Unchained, later rebranded as Union X, boasts a fairly impressively long story mode for a mobile game. Taking place well before even the prequel game Birth By Sleep. While it’s length gives plenty of content to play through, it is lacking in both depth and overall quality of writing. Players navigate each chapter earning tokens and in game currency used to upgrade tokens and costumes and other assets. Microtransactions allow for the use of real currency to do these tasks as well and to purchase packs of character tokens.
Union X utilizes touch controls well, and the implementation of some basic multiplayer in the form of powerful Raid bosses is a welcome addition to the Kingdom Hearts series. It stands out as a mobile game, being much better than I expected it to be. Compared to other games the story lacks unfortunately. If you are looking for a decent mobile game and want Kingdom Hearts on the go, this is a pretty decent option. Even more so if you get a couple friends playing it with you!
Kingdom Hearts Union X – 6/10
In Conclusion
Of the Kingdom Hearts titles that I’ve played I’ve overall had an extremely enjoyable time with this series. It’s a strange combination of things that just ended up working so much greater than expected. Try explaining Kingdom Hearts to someone and it just sounds so weird, but in practice it just works! It’s in the same boat as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Ghostbusters in that regard.
The games I haven’t played I’ve heard good things about. So the 3D version of Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, and Re: Coded I recommend checking out other reviews for and looking into on your own!
Kingdom Hearts has enjoyed a well received expansive lore and series of games. With two solid core games and a collection of side games to fill in the gaps. It’s blend of RPG and action on top of a unique combination of beloved franchises from Square-Enix and Disney. Luckily in leading up to the release of Kingdom Hearts III, Square-Enix has made it easy to get caught up with the collected HD editions of these game, at least for PS4 owners anyway. For those who are interested in playing every single game though original copies of 358/2 days and Re: Coded will be required as they only exist as story recaps and cutscenes on the HD collections. For those looking to jump into Kingdom Hearts 3 right away upon release I hope this gave a little history and perspective of the series so far. Kingdom Hearts holds a special place in gaming history, and in the hearts of gamers. There’s a reason why Kingdom Hearts 3 has been one of the most anticipated games ever. With that hanging over it, Kingdom Hearts 3 has some very big expectations to fill, and we will very soon find out if it succeeds in fulfilling those or not.
What are you most excited for in Kingdom Hearts 3? What are some of your fondest memories of playing the Kingdom Hearts games? Let us know in the comments!
