Nobody Can Defeat Mickey Mouse!

When the original "Kingdom Hearts" was released, I thought it would be a dream come true, combining my love for Disney with my obsession for Squaresoft's role-playing games. But to my surprise, I was dissapointed with the original. Both Disney characters and Final Fantasy characters seemed placed in the game for no apparent reason other than to make an appearance, the combat system had plenty of flaws, and the game just lacked heart (no pun intended). I'm pleased to say that this time they got it completely right, and "Kingdom Hearts II" is not only far superior to the original, but is simply one of the best video games of any genre that I've ever played.

First, for those familiar with the original "Kingdom Hearts," a lot of familiar Disney worlds have returned, such as Atlantica (home to The Little Mermaid) and Olympus (home to Hercules), but rather than simply reusing the same graphics and level designs, they feel completely fresh. More importantly, unlike in the original "Kingdom Hearts," this time you feel like you're actually part of the movie that serves as the inspiration for the level. For instance, early on in the game, you get to visit Beast's Castle (from "Beauty and the Beast"). Rather than simply having the Beast fighting beside you on a level that has little to nothing to do with the movie as in the first game, this time the movie is retold with Beast isolating himself from Belle until he comes to his senses.

As a result of feeling like you're in the middle of a classic Disney movie, this game can be enjoyed not simply by role-playing fans, but also those who have never played a Final Fantasy title, and simply adore Disney films and characters. For a true Disney fan, there's simply nothing else like wandering around Winnie the Pooh's 100 Acre Wood or swimming beside The Little Mermaid underwater. And I strongly encourage all Disney fans to check out this game for that reason (it's the next best thing to taking a trip to Disney World...)

But they did a lot more than simply revitalizing the worlds from the first game, there's a whole bunch of new levels that will surprise anyone who wasn't already expecting them from reading about the game in a magazine. For instance, you get to travel into the past and visit the black & white world of "Steamboat Willie," where you clash with the original version of Pete (who, as anyone who's seen "House of Mouse" will know, is Mickey Mouse's nemesis), and you get to see Johnny Depp lookalike in the world of "Pirates of the Caribbean," and most absurd of all, you visit the world of "Tron" (you know, that old movie with the green and red racers, which I didn't even realize was a Disney owned property).

Another major difference from the original "Kingdom Hearts" is claerly in the fighting system, which is far more user-friendly. Not only do you have a lot more control over the camera angles so you can actually see the enemies you're fighting, but you have a much greater sense of freedom during combat (and when you're not using menu-driven fights like in the classic Final Fantasy games, you might as well make the fight feel as free as possible).

One of the best ways the game designers create a sense of freedom in the fights this time around is that at certain points during fights, you will be prompted to push the triangle button, which will cause your character to perform different actions (and I mean different for every type of bad guy you're fighting!) that work as long as you hit the button at the right time. I've seen similar types of button-timing used in other video games before, such as the recent mess of a sequel to an otherwise great series, "Prince of Persia 3: The Two Thrones." But this is honestly the first time I've ever seen a video game get it right, because the player is clearly prompted to press the button (rather than the flicker of white on the screen that requires perfect reflexes to push the button at the right time as in the Prince of Persia game I was mentioning).

Another great new addition to the fights in this game is the "Drive" system, which enables your main character Sora to literally fuse himself with Donald Duck or Goofy (your main two companions), and form a far more powerful Sora for a limited time (until your "Drive" gauge runs out, which can be refilled by getting certain capsules released when you defeat enemies). You can also use "Limit" techniques during a fight, which enable you to team up with another character (including the special characters unique to each world, such as Beast or even the awesome Auron from Final Fantasy 10 in the Hercules world) and perform a dual attack (I haven't seen anything like that since "Chrono Trigger" for the Super Nintendo, in which you could also perform unique combo techniques with multiple characters working together).

But the best aspect of fighting in "Kingdom Hearts II" has to be the bosses, which are truly intense. I don't care what some critics of this game say about the supposedly easy difficulty (I'm looking your way, IGN), some of the bosses are very challenging (particularly early on in the game before you gain some levels). Fortunately, if you die on boss fights, you have a chance that Mickey Mouse will come to your aid. And this is the best part of all, you get to control Mickey when he comes in, and he's ridiculously powerful (I have yet to lose once with Mickey). You can either choose to use Mickey to keep fighting, or Mickey has the ability to gather up energy necessary to bring Sora and company back to life when they get defeated (even if you're really good at the game, you may want to try losing once in awhile just because it's so fun to play with Mickey, who had absolutely no role in the original "Kingdom Hearts" except during the ending).

About the only aspect of the fighting system that they did not improve from the original is the flaw in using healing items that it takes a really long time for your life to be restored. The result of this frustrating and preplexing aspect of the fight is that you could get hit by an enemy after you use a potion to cure yourself and wind up dying, so you can't let your life even get close to the bottom unless you want to really play it risky (but as the game progresses, you do get some abilities to help you combat this problem, such as Goofy sustaining at least 1 HP with a certain ability after getting hit with a massive attack).

Aside from the improved fight system and settings for the Disney worlds, a third improvement from the original game is with the infamous Gummi Ship, which was for many, the worst thing about the first "Kingdom Hearts." While it probably won't be anybody's favorite part of "Kingdom Hearts II" either, the Gummi Ship is now a passable, and at times, very enjoyable, experience uncommon to any other role-playing game, in which you use a spacecraft (you can even design your own spacecraft when you get enough parts to do so) to shoot up other flying ships as you fly from one world to the next. The real difference here from the original "Kingdom Hearts," besides the obvious graphical improvement on the Gummi Ship levels, is in the interesting angles that your ship takes (at one point, you're basically flying upside down and shooting at vehicles on a planet's surface on the top of the screen), and you continue to change angles in ways that keep the playing fresh. Additionally, you can go back into a Gummi Ship level after clearing it and play for additional bonuses, such as new ships.

Now I've talked a lot about the drastic improvements in this game from the original "Kingdom Hearts." But what about for those who have never played the first game? As I alluded to earlier, Disney fans will find a lot to love (with appearances from Daisy Duck, my personal favorites Chip and Dale, Winnie the Pooh and company, Mulan, Scrooge McDuck, etc., the list goes on and on). And for Final Fantasy fans, there's also plenty of cameo appearances. Although I'm afraid that this is generally only the case for those who have played Final Fantasy VII and on (starting with the Playstation 1), and the only appearance from a Final Fantasy character who graced the Super Nintendo is Setzer, the gambler from FFIII (if going by the American titles). But at least for the Playstation Final Fantasy games, you get to see very early on Vivi from FFIX, Squall from FFVIII (for some reason, named "Leon" in both this game and the original), and even Aeris from FFVII (granted, some of these characters appeared in the original game, but feel more developed this time around).

However, I should mention that for those who have never played the original "Kingdom Hearts," and in particular, the large majority of fans who have not played "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" for the Game Boy Advance, you will be a little lost in the plot during the early part of the game (which features what is essentially a three hour tutorial that remains interesting by giving hints towards a Matrix-esque plot in which all is not as it seems). Nevertheless, despite the fact that I also had no clue who Roxas was, the main character that you start the game with until Sora returns, nor what the hell Organization XIII was, the game does a good job of filling you in the details pretty soon, and it seems as if some of the details are intentionally left ambiguous to keep the plot interesting.

Moving on to the graphics, I have to say, I am very impressed. The opening movie had me saying "wow" at various points, which I don't think I've done while playing a video game since "Final Fantasy 10." And they did a great job of capturing the graphical style of whatever world you happen to be in. For instance, when in the "Steamboat Willie" area, Donald Duck looks like he used to in classic Disney cartoons, or in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" area, the graphics have a very dark and muted quality that almost looks like a painting, rather than a video game.

The music is equally impressive (with the exception of the ludicrious section of The Little Mermaid level that seems like it could have been inspired by "Brittany's Dance Beat"), and Disney fans will hear a lot of familiar tunes (such as that song where they spell out the letters of Mickey Mouse's name when you enter Disney Castle). There's also some generally good voice acting (it's always amusing hearing Donald Duck getting into a fight), and I was personally happy that they got Dale's voice right (he doesn't sound like Chip, he sounds like he did from the "Rescue Rangers" television show). About the only dissapointment I had with the voice acting is that they didn't get the same actor to play Auron from Final Fantasy 10, and nobody else can get that cool voice quite right.

To sum up, for anyone who loves Disney and role-playing games as I do, this game is pure ecstacy, and this time they really got it right. But the game is also a must-have for any Disney fans (with a fairly accessible playing system) or fans of classic Squaresoft RPG's, who can get a lot more depth out of the play system if they want to (and may be surprised to find that Disney is not just for children, and that those characters are also a lot of fun). And for those who don't fall into any of these categories, the game should still keep you engrossed enough from start to finish and prove enjoyable, even if it won't have tons of replay value or be a game you remember forever. Quite simply, there's a lot to love here, and "Kingdom Hearts II" has captured my heart (that time, cheesy pun was intended).