Review - Kingdom Hearts (2002)

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it's been a hot minute since I talked about a video game. So, just for fun, I thought I'd take a look at possibly my all-time favorite video game of the PlayStation 2 era: Kingdom Hearts. Created by Tetsuya Nomura, Kingdom Hearts was a collaboration between Disney and Squaresoft (now known as Square Enix), and it combined the gameplay style and a selection of characters from the popular Final Fantasy franchise with the myriad of worlds and characters from the immense library of Disney. So, how does this mashup of two very polar opposite sources go together? Let's find out as, in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the franchise (dear God, I'm old), we take a look at Kingdom Hearts . 

           So, the game tells the story of Sora, a teenage boy from the Destiny Islands, who is working with his good friends Riku and Kairi to construct a raft to travel to other worlds. One night, however, tragedy strikes and the Islands begin swarming with shadowy monstrosities called the Heartless. Heartless are creatures that are born of the darkness that exists within people's hearts.  After defeating a massive Heartless called Darkside, with help from a strange weapon known as the Keyblade, Sora is swept away as his island is destroyed by the darkness. Riku and Kairi also vanish, separated from each other and Sora. Meanwhile, in a world called Disney Castle, royal court magician Donald Duck finds a letter from the King, King Mickey, and reads it alongside of Goofy, Queen Minnie, and Daisy. After reading the King's letter, the Queen sends Donald and Goofy to help the King as much as they can by finding the one who wields a mysterious "key." The two, joined by chronicler Jiminy Cricket, take off in a vessel called the Gummi ship, and head off to help.

            Back to Sora, we see him awaken in a world called Traverse Town, where accessory shop owner Cid Highwind points him in the direction he needs to go. Sora looks around, hoping to find Riku and Kairi. Unfortunately, he only finds more Heartless roaming around, and he does his best to fight them off and finds his friends. Donald and Goofy, meanwhile, are following the instructions of the King, and are seeking a man called Leon. Leon, who is actually Squall Leonhart, finds Sora and seeks to take the Keyblade from him. Leon and Sora fight, and Sora passes out from exhaustion. Donald and Goofy are found by Aerith Gainsborough, and the two head off with her to get caught up on the situation, while Leon and Yuffie Kisaragi get Sora up to speed as well. After everyone is caught up on all the goings on with the Heartless, man named Ansem who had a now missing report on the Heartless, and so on, the Heartless attack, and Leon instructs Sora to find the leader of the Heartless attack. Sora, heading to the Third District, runs into Donald and Goofy, and the three team up to fight a massive Heartless called Guard Armor. Upon its defeat, Sora, Donald, and Goofy decide to travel to many worlds to fight the Heartless, find the King, Riku, and Kairi, and save the worlds from imminent disaster. Meanwhile, the trio is observed by a union of villains that are using the Heartless for nefarious purposes. The union of villains consists of Hades, Jafar, Captain Hook, Ursula, Oogie Boogie, and their leader Maleficent. 

         And it's here where we travel to many worlds based on Disney films. And the worlds we visit are as follows: Wonderland from Alice in Wonderland, Olympus Coliseum from Hercules, Deep Jungle from Tarzan , Agrabah from Aladdin , Monstro from Pinocchio, Atlantica from The Little Mermaid, Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Neverland from Peter Pan, and Hundred Acre Wood from Winnie the Pooh. Interestingly, the way to visit Hundred Acre Wood is through a book that is kept in the home of Merlin the Wizard in Traverse Town. In a number of the worlds, Sora, Donald, and Goofy team up with the heroes of each respective world (i.e. Tarzan in Deep Jungle, Aladdin in Agrabah, Ariel in Atlantica, Jack Skellington in Halloween Town, Peter Pan in Neverland, you get the idea) to fight the Heartless, defeat the villains, and seal the Keyhole. Okay, so each world has a Keyhole that leads to the heart of the world, and the Keyhole must be sealed with the Keyblade to prevent the Heartless from getting to the heart of the world and causing the world to disappear. 

        Throughout the game, Sora recruits several summon allies. The list of summon allies consists of Simba from The Lion King, Genie from Aladdin, Dumbo from Dumbo, Tinker Bell from Peter Pan, Bambi from Bambi, and Mushu from Mulan. On top of that, Sora must also collect the missing pages to Pooh's book, as well as the 99 puppies of Pongo and Perdita from 101 Dalmatians. On top of that, there are a number of tournaments at Olympus Coliseum, where Sora, Donald, and Goofy can fight the likes of Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, Hercules, Hades, Cerberus,  and the Rock and Ice Titans, on top of a whole mess of Heartless. Throughout the game, we also learn of a plot by the villains to gather the Princesses of Heart, who are seven maidens of pure heart, no sign of darkness in them whatsoever. Six of the seven are Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Jasmine from Aladdin, Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella from Cinderella. 

         The final two worlds of the game are Hollow Bastion, where we team up with Beast from Beauty and the Beast to stop Maleficent and Riku, who has teamed up with the villains in the game, and where we learn that the mysterious Ansem has shed his mortal form, become a Heartless, and possessed Riku, leading to a one-on-one fight between Sora and the possessed Riku, who is also using a Keyblade. It is during this fight that we learn that not only is Kairi the seventh Princess of Heart, but her heart had somehow migrated into Sora for protection. So, after defeating Riku, Sora uses Riku's Keyblade to release his heart as well as Kairi's. The process also frees the hearts of the other six Princesses, and Sora is turned into a Heartless. Kairi restores him to normal, and the two head back to Traverse Town alongside Donald and Goofy. After a moments reprieve, Sora, Donald and Goofy head back to Hollow Bastion to seal the Keyhole, and then it's off to the final world of the game: End of the World. 

          End of the World sees us fighting hordes of Heartless, coming face-to-face with the demonic Chernabog from the "Night on Bald Mountain" segment of Fantasia, and finally defeat Ansem after a lengthy battle. With the power of TWO Keyblades, Sora and King Mickey seal the door to Kingdom Hearts, the worlds are all restored to normal, everyone gets a happy ending, with Sora, Donald, and Goofy following a path to hopefully find both Riku and King Mickey. 

           Okay, so clearly the plot is all over the place, but if I'm being honest, it gets more convoluted as the franchise progresses. For this one game, as hard to follow as the plot is, it's not as bad as later entries will be. As far as gameplay goes, it's pretty much in par with the gameplay style of Final Fantasy X, which was the most recent Final Fantasy title at the time. Combine that with the whimsical magic of Disney, and boom: Kingdom Hearts. However, the voice acting is easily the best part of this game. Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, Hayden Panetierre, David Boreanaz, Billy Zane, Steve Burton, Mandy Moore, Lance Bass, and Christy Carlson Romano were all fantastic in this game, and the Disney voice cast, including the likes of Wayne Allwine, Tony Anselmo, Bill Farmer, Jim Cummings, James Woods, Kathryn Beaumont, Susanne Blakeslee, Scott Weinger, Chris Sarandon, Ken Page, Jodi Benson, and so on all do excellent jobs in portraying the many Disney characters we see throughout the game. 

           Now, the selection of Disney worlds in this game included some classic Disney movies like Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan, but predominantly centered on Disney Renaissance era movies like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and Tarzan , with The Nightmare Before Christmas being added into the mix as well. Heck it was actually a television commercial for this game that showcased Sora, Donald, and Goofy alongside Jack Skellington that caught my eye in regards to this game. And as soon as I played it for myself, I instantly became a fan. I also like that Sora, Donald, and Goofy take on physical attributes of the worlds they visit if the setting requires it. For example, in Atlantica, the three become sea creatures with Sora becoming a merman with a blue dolphin tail, and in Halloween Town, the trio become spooky Halloween creatures with Sora taking on vampiric traits.

           With gameplay that is genuinely unique, Disney worlds that are so rich in detail that it's amazing, and a visual look all its own thanks to a rendering technique known as "Kingdom Shader," I absolutely love the game Kingdom Hearts, and I'm glad it's withstood the test of time over the last twenty years. The gameplay may not have aged well, but it's still a classic. Now, having to consider several aspects before offering a rating, including acting, story, gameplay, visual design, and replay value, I'm giving Kingdom Hearts a 5/5. Seriously, I love this game, and the franchise that it spawned. 

       Now, will I review later games in the Kingdom Hearts series? Well, we'll have to see. Until next time, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys later.