This review contains spoilers
Kingdom Hearts II...man what a game. This is what every sequel needs to be like. Great story, amazing gameplay, banger soundtrack, and fun mechanics.
The plot following on after Chain of Memories with Sora appearing a year older and having to defeat a new threat called Organisation XIII was sweet, but it got a little convoluted further down the path (which is what I expect from here on out) with the talks of Nobodies, light and dark being passed around here and there, hearts, and everything. One thing I didn't quite grasp with was Roxas as a whole for the first 3 hours of the game, and then sprinkled in later on in the story, but I'm guessing it's like a Torna situation where they show the character in one game with no detail on them as much, but they explain them even further in another game.
Some of the worlds that reappear from KH1 are all different and expanded upon with more story content to boot, but now we have new worlds which were fun to play, with worlds from Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, and they were so much fun to just waltz through. Shoutouts to Timeless River, a throwback to the 1940s Disney cartoons.
The combat is the same as it was in KH1 but it's been tweaked. Sora, Donald and Goofy still function the same way, however they all have access to new moves. Some are even mechanics to the game. First off, summons are back but there's only 4 in this game compared to 6 in KH1, with Genie being my personal favourite alongside Stitch. Next, the added drive forms were great giving Sora a boost in either strength, magic, giving him his moveset from KH1, or become a literal death machine. These were so good when mastered, but one downside being you can't rely on them as the game places an antiform in once in a while. Finally, they added limits into the game, which are super powerful moves that use all of Sora's MP but deal insane damage. Some of them are good for certain situations, but others like Donald's Duck Flare were broken.
The music is once again great as Yoko Shimomura always nails several of the tracks in this game. And if I thought the game was great, the post game was even better, having Sora compete in tougher cups with the new Paradox cups, the Mushroom XIII side quest, and now 15 superbosses to fight! Sephiroth having a tougher rematch with Sora is iconic for this game, the rematches with Organisation XIII from both the story and from Chain of Memories was fun, except the bosses Xaldin, Demyx, and Saix, they were not so fun to battle. But the true superboss, Lingering Will, was the best superboss in this game. Yes, he was hard and kicked my ass a few times, but once I learned his moves by surviving and gliding around, I beat his ass and was over the moon about. Oh and I tracked the death count for the fight, and it was only 9 deaths for the fight. Pretty impressive.
As an RPG fan, this game is absolutely recommended for most of the things I have said. My top Kingdom Hearts game as of this review, and I can see why a lot of people say this is their favourite game.
The plot following on after Chain of Memories with Sora appearing a year older and having to defeat a new threat called Organisation XIII was sweet, but it got a little convoluted further down the path (which is what I expect from here on out) with the talks of Nobodies, light and dark being passed around here and there, hearts, and everything. One thing I didn't quite grasp with was Roxas as a whole for the first 3 hours of the game, and then sprinkled in later on in the story, but I'm guessing it's like a Torna situation where they show the character in one game with no detail on them as much, but they explain them even further in another game.
Some of the worlds that reappear from KH1 are all different and expanded upon with more story content to boot, but now we have new worlds which were fun to play, with worlds from Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, and they were so much fun to just waltz through. Shoutouts to Timeless River, a throwback to the 1940s Disney cartoons.
The combat is the same as it was in KH1 but it's been tweaked. Sora, Donald and Goofy still function the same way, however they all have access to new moves. Some are even mechanics to the game. First off, summons are back but there's only 4 in this game compared to 6 in KH1, with Genie being my personal favourite alongside Stitch. Next, the added drive forms were great giving Sora a boost in either strength, magic, giving him his moveset from KH1, or become a literal death machine. These were so good when mastered, but one downside being you can't rely on them as the game places an antiform in once in a while. Finally, they added limits into the game, which are super powerful moves that use all of Sora's MP but deal insane damage. Some of them are good for certain situations, but others like Donald's Duck Flare were broken.
The music is once again great as Yoko Shimomura always nails several of the tracks in this game. And if I thought the game was great, the post game was even better, having Sora compete in tougher cups with the new Paradox cups, the Mushroom XIII side quest, and now 15 superbosses to fight! Sephiroth having a tougher rematch with Sora is iconic for this game, the rematches with Organisation XIII from both the story and from Chain of Memories was fun, except the bosses Xaldin, Demyx, and Saix, they were not so fun to battle. But the true superboss, Lingering Will, was the best superboss in this game. Yes, he was hard and kicked my ass a few times, but once I learned his moves by surviving and gliding around, I beat his ass and was over the moon about. Oh and I tracked the death count for the fight, and it was only 9 deaths for the fight. Pretty impressive.
As an RPG fan, this game is absolutely recommended for most of the things I have said. My top Kingdom Hearts game as of this review, and I can see why a lot of people say this is their favourite game.
Reviewed on Mar 16, 2023