Way too many people here getting all up in arms over any KH game. Time to bring some truth!
So, the latest Kingdom Hearts installment and the second portable game finally came. With being able to play both English and Japanese games, I think I get the general feel of the game plus some. Time for my review.
First off, what's the name? Some say "358 divided by 2" or "358 over 2". I perfer tree hunted and dirty apes over to days.
Anyway, the general summary of the game is that: Good, classic, tested and proven gameplay haunted by some poor design choices. Is it fun? Yes. Is it something you'll be glad you purchased *cough* downloaded *cough*? Yes. Is it the best DS game ever or the best Kingdom Hearts game ever? Nope, not at all.
Anyway, KH (as I'll refer to it from now) follows the story of Roxas, Sora's Nobody, during the time Sora's having fun in Comaland. If you didn't get any of that, then odds are you'll be lost the whole game's story. On that note, the story isn't nearly as well presented as the original Hearts game. You'll be sent on random, often nonsensical missions segmented with random cutscenes. I personally don't think KH stories are "gripping" at all, but at least they're presented well. The cutscenes are good, but when sporadically shot in between missions, it loses a lot of its affect. It still, however, gives a semi-coherent story that will give those wondering more about Organization XIII or the events bridging Hearts 1 and 2 (outside of Chain of Memories), you'll enjoy the story or at least learn something from it.
As for the gameplay, it's a good formula combined with poor choices. The gameplay doesn't go by the frustrating and mediocre formula from Chain of Memories, Hearts last portable venture, but plays a lot like the first game, which really shows that the DS can pull off console-quality games. You'll hack and slash, use magic, potions, etc, in much of the manor you would in the original. The game also introduces the panel system, which works quite well. Basically, every single upgrade in the game is represented as a panel. This includes weapons, magic, potions, special moves, and even levels. You can also chain certain panels together to get bigger benefits. It works pretty well and it's quite easy to create a functional panel. With all these plus sides, though, KH comes with one overwhelming disappointment; repetition. The worlds aren't exactly vast, which isn't something the DS could handle well, and they aren't too plentiful either. You can expect going to the same worlds a lot, through the same passages and corridors, over and over again. The missions will be different every time, but in the end they feel the same. Either it's check out this, talk to this, kill this. Over and over again. Bosses also seem to be a repeating, with only a few unique ones in the game. It can get old quickly. Another problem is your teammates. They have some excellent AI, but the lack of a customizable team, which you saw in the original game (while it was pretty limited to Donald, Goofy, and some world-exclusive characters, it was still there) really can be annoying. Sometimes you'll be sent with your buds Xion or Axel, sometimes you'll be thrown with some of the other black hoodies, or you'll be fed to the wolves and sent alone.
Graphically and audio wise, the game is nice. The graphics are console-quality, and some of the best for the DS. The buildings lack some texture, but that's expected with the limits of the handheld. As for the audio, it keeps the famous, excellent voice over work from Hearts games, although voice overs are few and most of the dialogue is done via text and grunts, like Zelda games. The soundtrack is pretty classic "Disney with a twist" sounding music, which is done quite well. Hacking, grunts, and yells are also good.
For lasting appeal, the story mode is rather lengthy and quite a few hours, although it can get boring at times. After that (or even before that) you've got the Mission Mode, which introduces multiplayer for the first time in Hearts games. You can earn upgrades in the Mission Mode which can be used in Story Mode, and visa versa. You also get to play as any of the members of Organization XIII, not to mention a few special characters like Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey. The multiplayer is done well, being a combination of competitive and cooperative gameplay. You'll basically complete missions and try to score as many points as possible from beating baddies and occasionally stealing some points from some "friendly fire". The large number of play styles per characters adds a lot of much needed spice to this soup, but missions are still repetitive. The lack of online play also hurts, being limited to only cart-to-cart local play, no download play. You can play the Mission Mode alone if you want, but it's not nearly as fun.
So, overall impressions? It's a good game, that's for sure. It's not the best and has some pretty obvious problems, but definitely worth your time.
Presentation: 6: Seemingly random and pointless missions strung together by random cutscenes. You'll get an overall sense of the story and the cutscenes are done well, but seem spasmodic.
Graphics: 9: Very nice models and scenery, and cutscenes are well done. Lack of world variety hurts, but it's easily trumped by the sheer proof of the power of the DS graphical quality.
Gameplay: 7: The proved-to-work hacking and slashing forumla of the original game is there and done well, and the panel system is welcome, but everything is hindered by boring objectives and repetitive levels.
Lasting Appeal: 8: Again, level variety hurts how much fun you'll get off from it, but the story line is long and you'll have Mission Mode as well. Lack of online play hurts, though.
Overall: 7.5
So, the latest Kingdom Hearts installment and the second portable game finally came. With being able to play both English and Japanese games, I think I get the general feel of the game plus some. Time for my review.
First off, what's the name? Some say "358 divided by 2" or "358 over 2". I perfer tree hunted and dirty apes over to days.
Anyway, the general summary of the game is that: Good, classic, tested and proven gameplay haunted by some poor design choices. Is it fun? Yes. Is it something you'll be glad you purchased *cough* downloaded *cough*? Yes. Is it the best DS game ever or the best Kingdom Hearts game ever? Nope, not at all.
Anyway, KH (as I'll refer to it from now) follows the story of Roxas, Sora's Nobody, during the time Sora's having fun in Comaland. If you didn't get any of that, then odds are you'll be lost the whole game's story. On that note, the story isn't nearly as well presented as the original Hearts game. You'll be sent on random, often nonsensical missions segmented with random cutscenes. I personally don't think KH stories are "gripping" at all, but at least they're presented well. The cutscenes are good, but when sporadically shot in between missions, it loses a lot of its affect. It still, however, gives a semi-coherent story that will give those wondering more about Organization XIII or the events bridging Hearts 1 and 2 (outside of Chain of Memories), you'll enjoy the story or at least learn something from it.
As for the gameplay, it's a good formula combined with poor choices. The gameplay doesn't go by the frustrating and mediocre formula from Chain of Memories, Hearts last portable venture, but plays a lot like the first game, which really shows that the DS can pull off console-quality games. You'll hack and slash, use magic, potions, etc, in much of the manor you would in the original. The game also introduces the panel system, which works quite well. Basically, every single upgrade in the game is represented as a panel. This includes weapons, magic, potions, special moves, and even levels. You can also chain certain panels together to get bigger benefits. It works pretty well and it's quite easy to create a functional panel. With all these plus sides, though, KH comes with one overwhelming disappointment; repetition. The worlds aren't exactly vast, which isn't something the DS could handle well, and they aren't too plentiful either. You can expect going to the same worlds a lot, through the same passages and corridors, over and over again. The missions will be different every time, but in the end they feel the same. Either it's check out this, talk to this, kill this. Over and over again. Bosses also seem to be a repeating, with only a few unique ones in the game. It can get old quickly. Another problem is your teammates. They have some excellent AI, but the lack of a customizable team, which you saw in the original game (while it was pretty limited to Donald, Goofy, and some world-exclusive characters, it was still there) really can be annoying. Sometimes you'll be sent with your buds Xion or Axel, sometimes you'll be thrown with some of the other black hoodies, or you'll be fed to the wolves and sent alone.
Graphically and audio wise, the game is nice. The graphics are console-quality, and some of the best for the DS. The buildings lack some texture, but that's expected with the limits of the handheld. As for the audio, it keeps the famous, excellent voice over work from Hearts games, although voice overs are few and most of the dialogue is done via text and grunts, like Zelda games. The soundtrack is pretty classic "Disney with a twist" sounding music, which is done quite well. Hacking, grunts, and yells are also good.
For lasting appeal, the story mode is rather lengthy and quite a few hours, although it can get boring at times. After that (or even before that) you've got the Mission Mode, which introduces multiplayer for the first time in Hearts games. You can earn upgrades in the Mission Mode which can be used in Story Mode, and visa versa. You also get to play as any of the members of Organization XIII, not to mention a few special characters like Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey. The multiplayer is done well, being a combination of competitive and cooperative gameplay. You'll basically complete missions and try to score as many points as possible from beating baddies and occasionally stealing some points from some "friendly fire". The large number of play styles per characters adds a lot of much needed spice to this soup, but missions are still repetitive. The lack of online play also hurts, being limited to only cart-to-cart local play, no download play. You can play the Mission Mode alone if you want, but it's not nearly as fun.
So, overall impressions? It's a good game, that's for sure. It's not the best and has some pretty obvious problems, but definitely worth your time.
Presentation: 6: Seemingly random and pointless missions strung together by random cutscenes. You'll get an overall sense of the story and the cutscenes are done well, but seem spasmodic.
Graphics: 9: Very nice models and scenery, and cutscenes are well done. Lack of world variety hurts, but it's easily trumped by the sheer proof of the power of the DS graphical quality.
Gameplay: 7: The proved-to-work hacking and slashing forumla of the original game is there and done well, and the panel system is welcome, but everything is hindered by boring objectives and repetitive levels.
Lasting Appeal: 8: Again, level variety hurts how much fun you'll get off from it, but the story line is long and you'll have Mission Mode as well. Lack of online play hurts, though.
Overall: 7.5
