Posted

Nov 4th 2009

Mood

Successful

Music

KH2 Soundtrack

First an appology, this journal was written whilst my computer was burning a video DVD and is occasionally having trouble keeping up with the speed of my typing, there may be a lot of spelling mistakes beause of this.

As of last night I've finally completed everything that the new Kingdom Hearts game on the DS has to offer, and I have to say . . . wow! Just . . . wow! Not only is it possibly the finest example of an rpg on any handheld to date, but the story manages to lift it well above any of the other games in the series to date, possibly even bettering the original. I don't say this lightly, I really played the hell out of this thing. I'm not going to give an spoilers for the game here because I don't want to ruin it for anybody, but to let you know I will be referencing the other games in the series:

The plot of the game concerns Roxas, a character we glimpsed in the finale of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and who we played as through the opening scenes of Kingdom Hearts II. He's Sora's Nobody, a kind of echo of the main character from the series created accidentally when events in the first game led Sora to become a Heartless for a short while. He has a huge amount of backstory and involvement in the plot of the second game, but is only on-screen very sparingly and gets somewhat lost in the mix (thought the Final Mix+ version adds more content). Personally I liked Roxas a lot and always felt it was a shame we never got to see more of him and his own sad tale. Until the release of 358/2 DAYS, which focuses on both him and his time spent as a member of Organisation XIII.

The game cleverly starts life three days after Roxas' creation, and so technically this is still while the first KH game's plot is running. After a set amount of days (the game counts them as you go) have passed the plot synchs with the events of Chain of Memories and then starts priming itself for KH2. BUT it doesn't rest on its laurels and just give us a background story, no. Indeed the plot of this game is a story in its own right and manages to add layers to the series that make playing KH2 a completely new experience. Axel in partcular, and his relationship to Roxas at the start of KH2 felt undeffined and overplayed the first time around. Now, with the knowledge of what has come before, we totally get him - and his eventual sacrifice to save Sora makes sense and rings with real emotional impact.

The game DOES feel guilty of falling into the trap of setting up events for the upcoming BIRTH BY SLEEP game on the PSP, especially in the final act where the impression is given that the Organisation's creation will be a part of that tale. But instead of feeling like a setup for another title, it adds a deep seated WANT to see the story complete from Birth by Sleep, to Kingdom Hearts, through Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days and into Kingdom Hearts II. Everything is falling into place for the KH series, and after the mish-mash of KH2's many plot threads things are finally making perfect and undeyable sense.

Graphically SquareEnix has made the DS stand up and dance. If you enjoyed the 3D graphics on Final Fantasy IV's remake then this is another big step up for the system. Cutscenes play out well with full motion video and professional voice acting from the stars who have always played their roles well, and aside from the odd cutscene that has been drafted into the game from KH/KH2 (which can be a little compressed at times, but still sound great) look wonderful and are animated wonderfully. The game plays beautifully, with the lack of an analogue stick only worrying you in the tutorial stages (which go on a bit) but by the time they are over you feel capable of anything with just a D-Pad. The camera isn't bad either, the only niggle being that the lock-on feature ocasionally puts your movement at a disadvantage when focusing on enemies directly above you, but a double tap of the shoulder button to cancel it will sort things out again smoothly.

Multiplayer, mission modes and challanges also make an appearance and are great for grinding up levels and gaining items for synthesis. I can't help but feel that the inclusion of 2 major currencies (Hearts and Munny) may have led to Munny being a tad redundant since it is only used for synthesis items, but it's a small quibble in a game that plays so wonderfully. Completists will have a ball, and the multi-play element is great. Take your mates (1 Roxas, 1 Sora, 1 Xion is our regular team) and beat the hell out of the games bosses or run around competeing for points among other goals. It's really good fun for local play only.

If you own a DS, buy it! If you don't and are a fan of the series then consider buying one and getting it - it's that good. I personally have just brought a PSP in preperation for Birth By Sleep in the hopes it will be even a fraction as good as this game is. A killer app for the DS if there ever was one.