Kingdom Hearts

As for the gameplay, it may come as a surprise to learn that it doesn't actually feature, as all the Final Fantasy games do, turn-based combat. Instead it's essentially a scrolling beat-'em-up-cum-platformer with exactly the kind of complicated Square-style knobs you'd expect. The game may be a little shallow, but it's an impressive artistic achievement and to be quite frank any title that allows you to magically summon Bambi out of thin air to attack evil demons of the underworld has got to be worth some sort of recommendation. --David Jenkins

Product Description
Kingdom Hearts: Greatest Hits is a classic role-player for the PS2 -- now rereleased at an affordable price, for those who missed out the first time around! This is the story of Sora, a 14-year-old boy whose world is shattered. When a violent storm hits his island-paradise home, he is separated from his two best friends and goes to look for them. Meanwhile, King Mickey is missing from Disney Castle and Captain Goofy and the court wizard Donald are off to search for him. When Sora, Donald and Goofy meet, they hear about the Heartless: Strange and powerful creatures who caused the terrible storm and kidnapped King Mickey. They'll work together to help each other meet their goals - and have an incredible adventure as they go!

However, as it has many times over, Square has proven the critics wrong. Kingdom Hearts has gorgeous graphics that pushes the PS2 to its limits. Many of the Disney characters look and move as if they were ripped right from their respective cartoons. Disney has also spared no expense on voice acting, in many cases brining back a character's original actor when it came time to give the incredibly large ensemble cast voices

The game also features returning characters from Square's reknowned Final Fantasy series. Specifically, the game will feature Cloud, Aeris, Cid and Yuffie from FF7; Squall from FF8; and Tidus and Wakka from FF10. One of the most interesting scenes from Kingdom Hearts is a scene where Donald Duck and Aeris have a conversation.

Fans of the Secret of Mana will be excited to learn that the battle system is more like it than Final Fantasy. Fighting is done in real time and with little menus. Even spells can be fired off with menu-less ease by linking them to buttons on the control pad. This gives a very interesting feel since many of the spells come from the Final Fantasy series. Summoned Monsters are also used in Kingdom Hearts, but this time around they're Disney characters. Simba, Bambi, Dumbo, and Tinkerbell all come to your aid in battle.

In short, buy this game. Younger fans will enjoy the nearly limitless cast of Disney characters. Older fans and Square veterans will enjoy seeing familiar characters and the type of story that has made Square games the standard for RPGs. The story, while light-hearted at times, can also become incredibly dark. The packaged is rounded out with incredible music, not the least of which is "Light", an English version of Utada Hikaru's song "Hikari". For more info, visit Square's game site...


RPG at it's finest...   December 1, 2002
ShellyMoon (Little River, NC USA)
35 out of 36 found this review helpful

If your just now purchasing a PS2 this is the game to turn you on! I would personally buy a PS2 "just" to play this game.
The incretible graphics in this game are mind-boggling, this game is the first of it's kind and is the most fun I've ever had playing a video game.

You play the lead character "Sora" who is living on Destiny Islands, longing to see far off worlds he and his friends Karai and Riku build a raft to see travle to new worlds on. But you get [pulled] into a new world on your own one stormy night. There you meet up with Goofy and Donald who will be your companions for the rest of the entire game. There are ten different worlds and within most of these worlds you have the advantage to select new characters to your party- such as Aladin, Peter Pan, Ariel- ect. There are 10 worlds and over 100 disney characters to meet, I finished the game in 5 days. That's called "dedication", but it's impossible to put down the controller once you've started playing. You are able to obtain new items, abilities, weapons, as you battle through it- you are able to design and build your own "Gummi Ships" which are what you use to get from one world to another. The more "Munny" you collect in each world/battle the more you can buy! You can even buy news weapons for Donald and Goofy along with posions to heal yourself and much more.

I gave the game 5 stars because there is NOTHING wrong with this game, aside from not being able to open treasure chests during battle, you'll come to think like me the minute you start playing.
Better quality than "ANY" Final Fantasy game I have ever played, and I recommend that you DONT buy the Strategy Guide- I played through the entire game without. All you really need to do is look up a "Walkthrough" to the game on the net whenever you need help.
After the game you'll be begging for more- and if your able able to obtain the "Special Secret" at the end of the game.. well my friend the suspence will eat you alive!

Kingdom Hearts.. the ultimate Disney Game.


Square/Disney collaboration has a lot of heart   September 30, 2002
phimseto (Chestnut Hill, MA United States)
30 out of 32 found this review helpful

"Adaptation" and "reimagining" are words that frighten the heart of any purist, but occasionally, such projects move forward and are handled with care, respect, and a firm understanding and application of the source material. In "Kingdom Hearts", a wildly ambitious collaboration between Disney Interactive and Squaresoft, iconic characters from Disney's vast array of animated features and Square's penultimate series "Final Fantasy" are paired together in an action-rpg. Square has gone a somewhat similar route before, tackling "Super Mario RPG" for Nintendo, but that was a stand-alone game world only incorporating Mario characters, who do not exactly have much depth of personality or back story to begin with. "Kingdom Hearts", on the other hand, takes childhood favorites from just about every generation alive today and dares to incorporate them in a story beyond the individual movies that gave life to them. As ambitious as the game is, "Kingdom Hearts" has equal potential to go very, very wrong in so many ways.

Thankfully, it does not. Every aspect of the game bears the mark of A-grade production value. The storyline is imaginative and clever, and the incorporation of characters and familiar Disney locations is executed with such reverence, that even the most hard-bitten cynic would be won over. From the streets of Agrabah ("Aladdin") to the deck of Captain Hook's ship ("Peter Pan"), each Disney location is recreated in a way that captures the spirit of the original films. Completing the effect is the fact that, for the most part, Disney and Square hired the original voice actors of all Disney characters or at least the people who currently voice certain characters for recent releases. It is hard not to be won over when hearing Jodi Benson reprise her role as Ariel or John Fiedler doing Piglet. Speaking of Piglet, the appearance of Winnie the Pooh and the 100-acre Wood sequences are some of the finest moments in any game ever, and capture just how Square and Disney shot for the moon and hit it.

The gameplay itself is simple, having much in common with the later "Zelda" games and comparable Playstation 2 releases such as "Jak and Daxter". While the fighting can sometimes get repetitive, there are so many bonus features included in this game that revolve around items found in combat and reaching high character advancement levels, that the more you seek to get out of the game, the less obtrustive all the combat seems.

Though the game itself is nothing revolutionary, it is a perfectly executed effort. Considering the outrageousness of its concept and its success in achieving it, "Kingdom Hearts" gets superlative marks in every regard. Though the game can be enjoyed by anyone with only a cursory interest or knowledge of Disney or Square lore, anyone with a child's familiarity with Disney's films or a gamer's passion for Square's series will find themselves in a game experience unlike any other. A true victory for audacious daring.


The most eagerly anticipated action rpg in history   September 15, 2002
25 out of 27 found this review helpful

Hey everyone, I pre-ordered directly from Squaresoft, and was lucky to receive the game a full week before its street release! Kingdom Hearts is definitely worth the wait and anticipation. It brilliantly mixes the dark sensibilities of Square's work with Disney's well-known brand of layered humor. There are over 100 Disney cameos in the game, and only around a dozen from Final Fantasy. While the various Disney characters fill their roles to perfection, this is NOT a kids game! Beloved Disney characters die, both onscreen and off. Through the brilliant writing and impeccable voice acting, there are several scenes that WILL bring a tear to your eye, the most poignant for me being Sora's first meeting with a very lonely and confused Winnie the Pooh. The story centers around Sora (voiced wonderfully by Haley Joel Osment), an ordinary boy thrust into an extraordinary adventure. He is joined by Goofy and Donald Duck, which are pure perfection, like the rest of the cast. In each world (save for three), you have the option of recruiting famous Disney heroes/heroines into your party. Notable party guests include Ariel, Jack Skellington and Beast, who packs a punch with powerful melee-based moves. The villains fulfill their roles with unabashed glee, with notable performances going to Maleficent (whose voice actress sounds remarkably like the original actress from Sleeping Beauty) and Hades (who is once again voiced by James Woods). Only the camera (which can get downright evil in certain areas) and the length of the game itself otherwise marr this breathtaking title. Please, enjoy this game, because I know I am!


Best RPG Since Final Fantasy   November 18, 2002
26 out of 30 found this review helpful

This game is the best. Every Part of it is great. Sora the main character gets zapped away from his home along with with his friends Rikku and Kari. Also on the island are Tidus and Wakka from FFX along with Selphine from FFVIII. Sora then meets Goofy and Donald and gets his key blade. A sword that can defeat the heartless. Donald and Goofy are on their own quest. You use a ship called the Gummi to travel to different Disney worlds. Other disney characters like Tarzan and The Little Mermade can get on your team.

*Downsides- Well I really don't want to say anything bad about this game but the camra angles sometimes go near a wall and you can't see Sora. It can be fixed. Also you can't open chests while you are fighting so if you find a rare chest and then a heartless knocks you down and you die. Well no game is perfect.