Customer reviews
Best Kingdom Hearts Game to Date. Conclusion to the Dark Seeker Sega
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2019
The wait if finally over. After 17 years, the trilogy (along with numerous games in between) finally reach it's end with the conclusion of the Xehanort's story arc.Story:Takes place after 'Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance' and 'Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage'For those who haven't followed along the 9+ games, you may get confused on some of the character interactions as they give subtle hints of past events, making you think they're plot holes in the story. But the core story and theme is easy to follow. Think of it as someone who never watched all the Marvel films leading up to an Avengers movie; you'll get the overall plot, may get confused on the details, but overall experience is still enjoyable.There is a 'A Memory Archive' for those who want to catch up on the story. It's a cliff notes version of major events leading up to Kingdom Hearts 3. It won't give you every single detail, just plot synopsis of the games.All you need to know is that Sora, the main character in the series is trying to search for the 7 Guardians of Light to stop Master Xehanort from putting the world into darkness. Problem is, Xehanort is also gathering the 13 wielders of darkness in order to do so. Prophesy has it that once the 7 guardians of light and 13 wielder of darkness gather, a mythical keyblade will form giving the wielder exponential power.Story focus on theme of friendship and light vs darkness. There's also time travel a la 'Butterfly Effect (film), body swaps, data version of characters which people are trying to decipher , and clones of characters from light and/or darkness from their hearts who are their own individual person...yeah you have to had played all the games to get it.There are also Disney Worlds mixed in, which are retelling of their respective films with Sora, Donald, and Goofydropped into the world. If you played any of the past Kingdom Hearts games, it'll feel very similar. Disney Worlds you'll visit include:Kingdom of Corona (Tangled),San Fransokyo (Big Hero 6),Toy Box (Toy Story),Monstropolis (Monsters, Inc.),Arendelle (Frozen)Olympus (Hercules)The Caribbean (Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End)100 Acre Wood (Winnie the Pooh)The returning worlds like Olympus and The 100 Acre Wood has more original story to them.Sora has a more emotional side to him than past games flushing out his character.For those who been following along having played all the games leading up to Kingdom Hearts 3, the normal ending won't be a real surprise, but the epilogue is well worth it with a character reveal leading up to the next sega.--Gameplay:Similar to combo based action-adventure hack and slash like DMC or Bayonetta series, but more lenient (exception hardest difficulty) and focus on fun factor and spectacle rather than exact button presses for devastating combos.Command menu for battle system from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II make a return.Some quality of life changes:-The gauges for party members now appear next to Sora's in the bottom right corner instead of above.- Reaction Commands replaced by Situation Commands like in KH 0.2.-Can now switch between three Keyblades on the fly during battle by pressing the Right Directional Button. Only can use one keyblade at a time (no duel wielding)-Keyblades can now level up to become stronger-Allies can invite Sora into special techniques-Can now cancel summons (Links) animations on the fly (but it does less potential damage overall)Battles are very fluid with a lot of forward momentum when battling. Way better than the first game in the series (Kingdom Hearts I), which is now almost unplayable with it's slow, floaty combat, traversal and horrible camera. Drastic change from when it started 17 years ago.You now get more options in battle with new abilities and mini-games unlocking as you progress, so it's no longer a pure hack-n-slash.You now have a party up to 5, giving a lot of team up combo potentialThere are now verticality traverse levels, no able to scale up/run up walls even in battles. Reminiscent of the battle cutscene in Kingdom Hearts 2There are keyblade form changes (duel bow gun, claws, use chariot to attack enemies, AOE attacks for example) with different finishers depending on the keyblade you wield. To get a form change you have to rack up combos presented with a meter that needs to be filled.Summons return along with Attraction Flow.Summons now called Links. These include Ariel's "Lagoon Showtime", Ralph's "8 Bit Blast", Simba's "Kingsflare", Meow Wow's "Wonder Balloon", and Stitch's "Plasma Encounter". Links uses up a full MP meter, so you have to decided on regular magic attacks or save up for a Link or summon.Attraction Flow is basically summons based on theme park attractions. These appear randomly when there's a green circle indicator on enemies. Attractions including "Big Magic Mountain", "Pirate Ship", "Blaster Blaze", "Splash Run", "Magic Carousel", and "Mad Tea Cups". They are interactive (go into first person shooter, QTE for higher combo/massive damage) to switch up the gameplay. To can also skip the QTE and do standard damage.For magic, now can cast fourth tier spellsThere are high score type mini-games available after complete the story of a given worldGummy ship. No longer on rails. Have free range of motion with open exploration. Most battles and exploration are optional, but will miss out of items, exp, and collectables if you plan to skip.You can use your Gummiphone which can take selfies and photos from first person.There's a scavenger hunt mini game where you can take pictures of hidden lucky emblems (Micky Mouse Emblems) found throughout the worlds. Taking pictures of these will unlock stat boosts. There are also Game & Watch* type mini-games on the Gummiphone.*Simple, two-dimensional video games based on the handheld LCD games popular in the 1980's--Graphics/Audio:Amazing graphics. Slightly better than 'Kingdom Hearts 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage' with more empathises on lighting and particle effects. A huge leap from past games seeing Kingdom Hearts 2 was on the PS2 and most games after the fact were on handhelds, excluding the HD remix (which were not built from ground up). Characters emote more and feel more lively than past games.Each of the Disney Worlds have there own art-style, but the game tries to balance everything out for the game engine/overall art design across of the game. Some are not as good as the film themselves, like Rapunzel's hair in the film have individual strands, while in game her hair are more clump together. Understandable seeing the game in an interactive medium, and the budget for the Tangled film was ridiculously high. Nevertheless the game is breath taking to look at especially the environments.Audio and sound are excellent. Voice actors are on point and have really good delivery. There is some subtle banter and jokes between party members that are also enjoyable. Soundtrack is stellar with new tracks and homage to past games.Overall, had a blast playing this game. A love letter for Kingdom Hearts fans, and a enjoyable ride from newcomers (just note that you may get confused if you look to into it too much).
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2019
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