Review - Kingdom Hearts III (2019)

         Alright guys, here we are. My review of Kingdom Hearts III, released in January 2019 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is the long-awaited third main title in the Kingdom Hearts franchise by Disney and Square Enix. The game acts as a conclusion to the Dark Seeker storyline in the franchise, and as such features every hero and villain introduced in the franchise up to this point. 

        So, as the player, we once again take control of Sora, who has lost his strength during the events of Dream Drop Distance. His first stop, along with Donald and Goofy, is the world of Olympus, where our trio teams up with Hercules to stop an attack on Thebes by a combination of the Heartless and the four Titans: Lava Titan, Wind Titan, Rock Titan, and Ice Titan. The Titans, of course, were unleashed by Hades, who is now making his ultimate attack on Olympus, his previous schemes involving Terra, Cloud, and Auron all having backfired on him, no pun intended. Sora, Donald, and Goofy, while helping save Thebes from the Heartless, have run-in's with Xigbar of Organization XIII, and Pete and Maleficent. Now, what are Pete and Maleficent doing? They're looking for a mysterious "Black Box," which the Organization is also searching for. This "Black Box" contains a complete version of the Book of Prophecies, which was penned many years ago by the Master of Masters. But, we'll deal with that later. 

        Anyway, after saving Thebes, it's up to the summit of Mount Olympus and to the Realm of the Gods, where Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules take down the Titans, get rid of Hades, and save Olympus. Sora, Donald, and Goofy depart, off for more adventures. Meanwhile, in the Realm of Darkness, Riku and Mickey are searching for any signs of Aqua, only to have a run-in with a Demon Tower, which cuts Riku's hair and cuts his Keyblade in half. Regrouping at the Mysterious Tower, Yen Sid sends Riku and Mickey to meet with Merlin and the three Good Fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather) to deliver new attire for Lea/Axel and Kairi. Also, Sora gets new attire, a Heartbinder (which allows for Summons in this game), and a new item called the Gummiphone. The Gummiphone is a smart phone that acts as a video caller, camera, and fits in Jiminy's Journal. And with that said, the bulk of Kingdom Hearts III truly begins. Yeah, everything up until Sora getting his new outfit, as well as the Gummiphone, was all the tutorial. Now, it's onto the main game. 

        So, the next stop is to Twilight Town, where Sora seeks a means of freeing Roxas' heart from his own. After a fight with some Nobodies, and an encounter with the Demon Tide, Sora, Donald, and Goofy reunite with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, who teach Sora about Lucky Emblems (which are a nod to Hidden Mickeys at the Disney Parks). After saving Remy from some Heartless, and picking up some fruit for him, it's off to the Old Mansion, where Pence logs in to Ansem's computer, and has it linked with Ansem's computer in Radiant Garden. By the way, that computer is being managed by Ienzo (formerly Zexion) who is working on maintaining things in Ansem's castle with help from Dilan and Aeleus (formerly Xaldin and Lexaeus). Unfortunately, the virtual Twilight Town can't be accessed, and therefore is unusable to bring Roxas back. Sora, meanwhile, meets with Scrooge McDuck, who has opened a bistro in Twilight Town called "Le Grande Bistro." And the chef running the place is Remy, referred to in the game as Little Chef. And, Scrooge and Remy send Sora to collect additional cooking ingredients across Twilight Town. And, Hayner and Olette are seen working for Scrooge in putting up posters for an outdoor film festival Scrooge is holding. On the posters are QR codes to download a promo game for the movie. This is for a set of mini-games called Classic Kingdom, which are LCD games based on old Disney cartoons like Giantland, Taxi Trouble, and so forth. 

         Now, the next series of worlds that Sora, Donald, and Goofy go to visit are predominantly new to the Kingdom Hearts franchise. One major holdover is The Caribbean, based this time on the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The new worlds this time are as follows: Toy Box (Toy Story), Kingdom of Corona (Tangled), Monstropolis (Monsters, Inc.), Arendelle (Frozen), and San Fransokyo (Big Hero 6). Now, I'm sure you noticed that two of the ones I mentioned, Toy Box and Monstropolis, are based on Pixar properties. And, yes, Pixar had a major input in terms of working with Tetsuya Nomura and his team in developing the stories for those two worlds. And, I will admit that seeing Sora, Donald, and Goofy as toys running around with Woody and Buzz, and as monsters running around with Mike and Sulley, was a genuine delight. Also, of the worlds I mentioned, only Kingdom of Corona, Arendelle, and The Caribbean stick to story elements from the movies they were based on. Toy Box, Monstropolis, and San Fransokyo all tell original stories set either after their respective movies, or in between two of the movies. For example, the events of Toy Box are set after Toy Story 2 but before Toy Story 3. Also, Merlin sets up shop at Le Grande Bistro in Twilight Town, where he has Pooh's storybook, which means that Hundred Acre Wood returns in this game, as well. 

         Now, one frequent complaint, especially in regards to Hundred Acre Wood, is the lack of variety of that world's locations and mini games. And, my argument is two-fold. First, the world was introduced so late in the game's story it wouldn't have made sense to have the Torn Pages be collectibles again, as they only would have been in two worlds in the game. Second, with so many OTHER mini games scattered throughout the game, just adding more for Hundred Acre Wood would have just been overkill. So, because of the variety of mini games throughout the main game, I am perfectly okay with Hundred Acre Wood being limited to Rabbit's Garden, with the mini games being three variations of the same game. But again, there are many mini games throughout the worlds of the game, like a Sledding mini game in Arendelle, a Dancing mini game in Kingdom of Corona, a Final Fantasy meets Titanfall type game called Verum Rex: Beat of Lead in Toy Box, and the Flash Tracer mini game in San Fransokyo. On top of that, there's the Heartless mini games surrounding special Heartless called the Flans, the cooking mini games involving Remy, and the Classic Kingdom mini games that you collect throughout the game. 

       However, one notable thing is that enemy types are pretty extensive in Kingdom Hearts III. Now, of course there's the Heartless, both with familiar forms and new forms, but the same also applies to the Nobodies and the Unversed. Yep, the Unversed are back, which means that Vanitas is back, as well. Also, in Toy Box, several toys fall under the Heartless' control, and Sora must defeat the toys to free them from the Heartless. And, it goes without saying that the New Organization XIII is the predominant threat of the game, and we have to fight them all by the end of the game. Ansem, Xemnas, Xigbar, Saïx, Young Xehanort, Vanitas, Terra-Xehanort, Marluxia, Larxene, Riku Replica, Luxord, Xion, and Master Xehanort. Although, we do see that both Demyx and Vexen were brought in to the New Organization XIII as well, but they don't get to fight much, and they end up betraying the Organization to help Ansem the Wise and Ienzo with their stuff. Yep, Ansem the Wise is plucked from the Realm of Darkness and is alive again. 

       Now, to counter the New Organization XIII, seven Guardians of Light are required. And, filling those ranks are as follows: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Lea/Axel, Ven, and Aqua. And, in the first attempt in the final battle at the Keyblade Graveyard, everything goes wrong, and Sora finds himself in the Final World, where after an encounter with Chirithy, and speaking with a few of the hearts laying around, including Naminé, Sora puts himself back together, and he saves his allies. In the second go around, the spirits of past Keyblade wielders, led by the spirit of Ephemer, aid Sora in defeating a massive maelstrom grown from the Demon Tide. And, yes, this was all a "thank you" from Nomura and his team for the players of the Kingdom Hearts mobile game Kingdom Hearts: Union X. 

        So, after the Organization falls, Terra is restored to normal, Roxas gains a body of his own (thanks to one of Vexen's replicas), and Xion switches sides, it's down to Master Xehanort, who eliminates Kairi, gains the X-blade, and opens the true Kingdom Hearts. However, Sora and his allies stop him, and they go after him in a location from his past: Scala ad Caelum. After a lengthy final battle, Xehanort faces the spirit of Eraqus, which has survived in Terra's heart. Accepting defeat at long last, Xehanort gives up the X-blade and departs from this life with Eraqus. Sora decides to use the Power of Waking once more, this time to save Kairi, even at the cost of his own life. 

       So, we get a set of happy endings, where we see Terra, Ven, and Aqua return to the Land of Departure (which Aqua restored from Castle Oblivion), Ven reunites with Chirithy, Roxas, Xion, Lea/Axel, and Isa/Saïx are joined by Hayner, Pence, and Olette at the top of the Station Tower in Twilight Town for a bit of sea-salt ice cream, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Yen Sid, Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie all return to Disney Castle, and Ansem the Wise and his apprentices use a replica to bring Naminé back. Finally, we see everyone on Destiny Islands, Riku, Terra, Ven, Aqua, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Naminé all having a fun day on the beach, with Kairi sitting with Sora, who vanishes from existence. 

         Okay, I've been holding this in, but I wanna talk about the voice over for this game, as it is fantastic. Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, Alyson Stoner, Jesse McCartney, Jason Dohring, Willa Holland, Paul St. Peter, Shanelle Gray, Robin Atkin Downes, Corey Burton, Mark Hamill, and Lara Jill Miller all do very well reprising their roles from earlier games. Unfortunately, Leonard Nimoy passed away shortly after the release of Dream Drop Distance, and thus Master Xehanort had to be recast. And, in my opinion, Rutger Hauer, most known for his role as Roy Batty in Blade Runner, was an excellent choice to take over the role of Master Xehanort. Unfortunately, he took passed away after the game's release, and was replaced for the Re:Mind DLC by Christopher Lloyd. And, Christopher Lloyd does an excellent job as well. As for the Disney voice actors, many of the movie cast members like Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Kevin R. McNally, Kristen Bell, Genesis Rodriguez, Jamie Chung, Scott Adsit, TJ Miller, and such were brought back to reprise their roles. And where they couldn't get the originals, suitable voice matches were brought on instead. And I will say it, I prefer Jared Butler's voice as Jack Sparrow over that of James Arnold Taylor in Kingdom Hearts II, because Jared Butler at least got it spot on to Johnny Depp's voice. 

         Now, I gotta mention some of the new mechanics in the game: for instance, Sora can now run up to a shimmering surface and initiate a wall run. Also, shot locks have been updated to also include a new mechanic called "air stepping." Also, we have the "Attraction Flow" combat mechanic, which allows Sora to summon a special attack themed around an amusement park ride. And each Attraction Flow ride is lit like a float in the Disney Parks' Electric Light Parade. Such attack include Pirate Ship, Mad Tea Cups, Blaster Blaze, Carousel, Splash Run, and the all-powerful Big Mountain Coaster. Lastly, we have Keyblade Transformations, which unleash very powerful attacks, and are unique to each Keyblade. Also, combo attacks return, and are based on which Disney world you're in at the time. And as I mentioned earlier, Heartbinders are the key to Summons for Disney characters, such as Wreck-It Ralph, Simba, Stitch, and Ariel, as well as the Dream Eaters from Dream Drop Distance.

        Also, the worlds of Toy Box and The Caribbean each have unique combat forms, as well. In Toy Box, Sora can gain control of Gigas mechs and defeat enemies with them. The Caribbean also has naval combat and undersea traversal with its own unique style of combat. Now, by comparison of other games with naval combat like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, yes the naval combat is much easier in Kingdom Hearts III, but that's to be expected since the Kingdom Hearts franchise skews much younger than the Assassin's Creed series does. 

          Now, while the gameplay and the Disney worlds are absolutely fantastic and amazing, especially with the open world nature of them, unfortunately, it's the main plot that feels the weakest in the game overall. But, I don't think that it completely drags the game down for me. If anything, it's a victim of Nomura's assertion that all of the spin-off games released after Kingdom Hearts II would tie into this game. Tying all of those characters, as well as their respective stories, into a single game and give them all closure is a daunting task, and certainly isn't easy. But, I think that Nomura and his team did a decent enough job in bringing an entire era of storytelling for Kingdom Hearts to an end. 

         Overall, I enjoyed Kingdom Hearts III. I really admired the level design, and how the mix of Unreal Engine and Kingdom Shader really looked fantastic in this game, especially in the world of Hundred Acre Wood, where everything has cel shading to give the feel of being inside of a storybook. So, I'm giving Kingdom Hearts III a rating of 4.75/5. 

        Alright, guys this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys on Saturday.