Facebook – Top 100 FAVORITE Video Games: 33

33: Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
Developer: Square Enix
Year: 2002

First thing’s fuckin’ last: If you hate this game you are one of three people:
1) Someone that thinks FF + Disney = a game for kids
2) Someone who hasn’t even played the game
3) Someone who tried it and hated the controls (this is the only way I won’t be mad at you, by the way)

Having said all this, the first option was the one that scared most of the potential players away from the get-go. Mickey Mouse and Cloud? In a single game? Of course its for kids! Or, at least, that’s what everyone thought. But one time through the game is all it takes to hook a player into this intriguingly unique franchise.

The plot revolves around Sora, a young boy with a big destiny. When his home land gets attacked by creepy black Heartless, he and his friends are thrust into the universe which is much larger than they thought, and populated by all kinds of different people. On his travels, Sora teams up with two new friends: Donald Duck and Goofy. The three form a team to search for Sora’s pals and the King, Mickey. Along the way they uncover a plot to unleash the power of the heart of all worlds, Kingdom Hearts, and the machinations of the evil Ansem, a dastardly fellow in a cool outfit who sounds like film badass Billy Zane (of Back to the Future fame, no less!). To stop him they must hop from Disney world to Disney world, locking the worlds at they go. This story is simple, at first, but hints at much deeper concepts about the soul, emotion, and the basic concept of friendship, something that can be dissected in any game, not just one with Disney characters featured on the cover.

The game looks like every one of the toons, too, and thats one of its greatest assets. From the  moment you wind up on Tarzan’s world you’ll find that every character is ripped faithfully from the films, rendered in an awe-inspiring display of 2D-to-3D modeling. One of the things that never works about cartoons is that its rare one of them looks good with 3D models. The game makers over at SE knew how to avoid this pitfall. The music, too, is ripped from the films, presenting the player with an instant tidal wave of nostalgic feelings toward levels, characters, and scenarios. You’ll find that the levels looking and sounding like the movies aren’t the primary reason for this sensation, however. No, the biggest thing the whole damn Kingdom Hearts series has going for it is the resourcefulness of Square Enix, paired with Disney being gung-ho about retrieving as many of the original voice actors as possible for the characters. No one will ever do Hades’ voice better than James Woods, and these game makers knew this.

The gameplay, itself, is where the game is at its most simple, being mostly an “X” button masher. Hitting foes with Sora’s Keyblade enough times kills them, resulting in money (spelled “munny” for some… stupid reason) and experience points, all of which can be used to upgrade the party with new attacks, weapons, and the like. But if you want to, you can make it a bit deeper by learning the equally simple magic system and combining them effectively. A fight like Sephiroth is insanely difficult on its own, but if you know when and how to cast Cure and chuck fireballs at the classic FFVII baddie, you’ll have a much (note: not that much) easier time. The camera, though – like Mario 64 – leaves something to be desired, finding tons of opportunities to piss the player off by hiding behind shit you don’t want it to hind behind. But the rest of the game makes up for this enough by presenting a great number of hours to enjoy the experience.

All in all, Kingdom Hearts is one of those games that could have been so much less than it was, but with a set of engaging characters, a sprawling and ever-evolving storyline, and faithful graphics and sound oozing out of its every detailed level, the first game immediately set itself up for a great franchise worthy of multiple sequels (and maybe not as many spin-offs). Sure, it did have the Gummi Ship. That can’t be denied. But, while it controlled poorly, SE knew better than to make it overly hard, instead opting to make it something one could pass through without even really trying. Heck, I don’t think I ever moved an inch during the last levels, just kept shooting. Had no problems. Except with how stupid the whole Gummi Ship thing was. Which it was. Least they fixed it up in the second game…

Classic Moment:
As I hinted at, the battle against Sephiroth is epic and insanely difficult. It goes on for freaking ever and he has so many cheap-as-hell instant death moves that its more than a little ridiculous. But its the goddamned best fight in the whole game. You’ll sweat, you’ll cry, and you’ll swear like a sailor as you go through his various stages, all the while Lance Bass’ voice work (yeah, Lance Bass. IMDB that shit. I’ll wait) taunts you. But when you finish the fucker off, you’ll stand with pride, wondering where the last 30 minutes of your life went…

Why KH1 > L4D series:
Its just a feel-good game with a good, touching storyline. Also, while L4D has some good music, it can’t touch Hikaru Utada’s awesome main theme for the game. Simple and Clean, I think, will go down as one of the best songs to be featured in any game, let along a Square game. Or, at least, it will be remembered as being better than “Eyes on Me” from Final Fantasy VIII… 

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Added March 27, 2017
My copy of 1.5+2.5 for PS4 shipped yesterday. Woop! I do love me some KH.