by PTD Contributor on July 14, 2006

Way back in 2002, Square Enix released Kingdom Hearts, an action RPG that combined elements of their smash hit Final Fantasy franchise with the gameplay of Brave Fencer Musashi and the dubious addition of various characters and scenarios from Disney animated films. This brutal concoction sounds like a fan-fiction writer’s wet dream, yet the final game resulted in one of the best PS2 titles to date with just a few nagging flaws. Its recent sequel, Kingdom Hearts 2, fixes most of the problems the original had, making the game a must own for RPG fans, Disney enthusiasts, and anime junkies.

Taking place right where the GBA spin-off Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories left off, Kingdom Hearts 2 details the further adventures of Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they strive to rid various Disney-themed worlds of the evil forces of the Heartless and the mysterious Organization XIII. Designer Tetsuya Nomura crafts a better story this time around, adding a welcome veneer of darkness and philosophy to the mix. Newcomers to the series should be warned: play through the first game before starting with the sequel; playing through Kingdom Hearts:CoM is highly advisable as well. I didn’t play too much of the GBA game before playing through the sequel and managed to be a bit confused with the plot during the first four hours of the game.

The sometimes monotonous “mash the X button” brand of gameplay has been tweaked this time around with the addition of Reaction Commands and the Drive Gauge. Reaction Commands add a Dragon’s Lair touch to the boss battles, requiring the player to press the triangle button at exactly the right moment to score a critical hit accompanied by an awesome animation sequence. The Drive Gauge works as an on-the-fly super-powered class change, which really helps out during the tougher boss fights. Players who despised the ultra simplistic Gummi Ship levels of the original should enjoy the improved take in the sequel, which feels more like a visually stunning Star Fox this time around.

Disney fans will enjoy the greater variety of worlds included this time around, particularly the Mulan, Tron, and Lion King levels. The one world that differs from the tweaked “kill all the enemies” gameplay is The Little Mermaid, which is filled with simplistic DDR-style mini-games featuring both original and classic songs from the movie. Players who don’t want to endure such sequences containing such memorable lyrics as “Come here, poopsies” and “Have a bit of funny finny fun” will be relieved to know that part of the game is optional.

Trying the game out on the hardest difficulty level, I found the sequel to be a bit more challenging than the original, especially towards the end of the game. The game looks a bit crisper than the original, faithfully capturing the essence of the varied Disney characters. Yoko Shimomura outdoes herself on the score, featuring music that is much more original this time around. Utada Hikaru’s Passion is more of an abstract techno song than Simple and Clean was, but manages to grow on you with time.

Kingdom Hearts 2 is a must for fans of the first game and for RPG fans in general. For those wanting to try out the action RPG genre, you definitely want to run through the first game before diving into the second.

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