Gaming has been a thing of history; it is now engrained into our society, known throughout the entire world. Over the many years since the early eighties, games have evolved into original and imaginative titles of entertainment that are constantly having to change and shape into the future of today. During its existence, developers have tried many weird combinations, especially of late; we have seen titles such as Super Monkey Ball, Pikmin, Ape Escape and even Kung Fu Chaos, all of which are creations that have never been done. Some of these bizarre ideas are just that but sometimes, when salt is put with sugar, it can create a game that will sell four million copies worldwide.
Kingdom Hearts was that title. Sony, since the appearance of the Playstation, is renowned for the series that have come about through their consoles. The Final Fantasy series, for one, is still going strong, with more titles starting creation with each year that passes. Square Enix have also produced many other amazing games and series, all of which have been combined together with the other half of this ‘ridiculous’ mix. It seems from the dawn of time itself that Disney has always been a part of our human existence and from the countless cartoons they have created, it is impossible to list them all off of the top of my head---so I will not even try. The most loved of them all, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, became the main characters to join up with Sora and his group.
Now they are all back in a whole new adventure!
The first title was a sure success and it did sell over four million copies worldwide. It was not only due to the characters involved, although that was a vital attraction, but it was also because of the in depth story and twists that made the game a great RPG.
Now, Kingdom Hearts II looks to be no different. In this sequel, the group have come together once again but there are some slight changes. Now Mickey has donned a rather dark looking outfit, Sora’s companions do not seem to be present, as yet but Donald and Goofy at still at his side. Featuring in the new title are new characters, all of which are still from Square Enix or Disney Interactive creations. Again there are many Final Fantasy characters and from Disney there are Aladdin, Peter Pan, Ariel, the evil sea biscuit Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Hercules, Belle and the Beast.
As always with an epic adventure, there is an evil that the heroes must face and although the main mission of Kingdom Hearts is to battle against the Heartless, they now face up to a new tyrannical enemy. This new threat has come from unknown lands, a mummy wrapped up in bandages, as they always are, has started to cause trouble within the various new Disney themed worlds to explore. Not much is all too certain about the story itself but from what has been revealed through trailers and screens, it looks to be another major success.
New features have also been added to the battle system. The creators have stated that there have been improvements made to the system but a new move that has been spoken of uses a “Transformation Bar”. When this is filled, you will be able to merge one character with another so that you can have more strength, speed or magic ability. This type of fighting mode has been done in other RPGs before, Breath of Fire being one of them, but when pulled off, it is a very good and enjoyable mode to enhance the battle system and variety of play, especially with all of the many characters available.
With each new title that is released on the Playstation 2, the graphics seem to get better and better. With Kingdom Hearts II it is no different. At times, people believe that a graphics improvement is just smoother character frames, sharper colours or clearer picture quality but it is not simply that. With this new title, it looks as though a lot more has gone into the design of each of the characters, worlds and spells that are used. A lot more attention has been paid to each of them, with smaller things to notice that all add up to make the vast and explorative game that Kingdom Hearts II looks to be.
Kingdom Hearts was a very strange mix. At the time, even I, a lover of RPGs, saw it, I thought straight away that things could not get any worse and that they might has well invent a game where a bowl of jelly goes around and saves the world from a giant toy hamster! (Who knows, it could happen!) But the game was a huge success. People talked about it amongst one another, marvelling at the quirky designs of integrated Final Fantasy characters and I can never remember Disney ever being so cool in all of my life!
Kingdom Hearts II hopes to achieve the same success, if not more! They want to show that no matter what ingredients you have, that you can make one heck of an RPG and game that will grip everyone worldwide. With it's new characters, worlds, battle system and story to answer open ended questions from the first and to throw a few more twists into the plot, Kingdom Hearts II is set to steal the hearts of many and lock them away within the dreams of Square Enix and Disney Interactive. TR
