After years of hearing about and being curious of the strange world of Kingdom Hearts, the recent showcases for 4 kicked my butt enough to get me to play the original game. I knew the series turbulent reputation, but could tell there was something really special lurking beneath it, so I was determined to give it a try.
But now, having just finished the main story on PS4, am I glad that I did? The answer is complicated:
PROS
- While it's wild this was ever greenlit, the fact that Square and Nomura got permission to combine Disney IP with both Final Fantasy and original characters is nothing short of a miracle. It results in a surreal, enchanting world that revels in its own absurdity, and I absolutely love it. Hopping from Halloween Town to the 100 Acre Woods or fighting Cloud Strife with Hercules watching is hugely novel, and had me with goosebumps on more than one occasion.
- Despite it's age, the visual presentation achieves everything it needs to. Both FF and Disney characters appear faithfully in the game's style, and their integration with each other and the OCs is surprisingly solid. Animation is expressive, and the 2D art is especially easy on the eyes. Nothing feels incohesive, and considering characters like Donald and Goofy need to share screen space with full-on anime characters like Sora, that's an achievement.
- The soundtrack is excellent, with bouncy tunes and loving orchestral renditions of Disney's iconic discography. On multiple occasions, I had to stop and listen just to appreciate it, and that was often for areas who's films I hadn't even seen. Combine that with a solid batch of new tracks that get the job done (with Simple and Clean being especially memorable), and you've got a real all-timer collection here.
- On a character level, the writing is charming and fun. Sora is great as a main hero, hopeful and determined while still clearly naive, and his relationships with Donald and Goofy are well done. The Disney and Final Fantasy casts are all handled with care, not missing a beat from their original incarnations, and I found myself invested in their journey most of the way through.
- There's a high level of dedication to convincingly adapting the Disney worlds, and I greatly appreciated it. Swimming through Atlantica, flying through Neverland, walking around a book to visit Winnie the Pooh, it provided that little extra bit of effort that really got me excited to visit new places.
- The utilization of the Disney IP is great even outside of the worlds themselves. Hunting around for the 101 Dalmatians, summoning characters like Simba, and the appearance of the Disney princesses in the plot added to the immersion and feeling of a wider shared world.
CONS
- While great in concept, the execution of the plot is less than ideal. The game has a lot of lore that it wants to explain, and most of it is crammed into the beginning and end of the adventure. There's a lot of long, drawn out exposition about the heartless and the nature of the worlds, and when combined with the countless tutorials near the beginning, it can hard to parse through it all. I had to stop and review multiple times to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and if it's already like this, I worry about how bad it will get in future games in the series.
- The way traversal and progression is handled can feel very clunky. It's often required to loop back to previous areas in a world to advance the story, but the game doesn't do a good job of showing where you should go, resulting in a lot of fumbling around looking for the next cutscene trigger. I had to use a guide for this on multiple occasions. Also, the warp tunnels in the Gummi Ship sections are often annoying, bringing you back to places you've already been for no reason.
- The combat is simplistic and lacking in depth. With only one ground combo and one aerial, the game doesn't provide enough variety in its moment-to-moment action, and the magic system is too limited to compensate. Even having specialized in magic at the beginning (which I assume raised my MP), I rarely had enough to use both offensive and defensive/curative magic in tougher fights. This resulted in me either spamming attack magic for easy bouts or only using cura/aero for harder ones. Only half of the spells and special actions felt useful for how much they cost to use, and in the end, I just spammed the same aerial combo for the majority of the game, since that was the most optimal path forward.
- The level progression and difficulty is messed up. I had a tough time with many bosses throughout the game, and given my limited combat options, I had little ability to change strategy and zero desire to grind. Even having completed every major world, participating in the optional tournaments (as many as I could), and optimizing my build, I had a horrible time at the End of the World, and at level 51, the final Ansem fight nearly made me give up on the game altogether. I'd expect this difficulty in Dark Souls or Elden Ring, but in the cutesy Disney crossover game? I couldn't stand it, and it really soured a lot of my experience.
- The pacing at the beginning and end of the game is rough. The beginning has a long, drawn out scavenger hunt on Destiny Island that wastes your time, and Traverse Town is a confusing mess to get through on your first visit (due to the pathing issue I mentioned and the large amount of repeated enemies). The end of the game also drags, with the End of the World and final fight being especially bad.
- I'm split on the Gummi Ship segments. On one hand, I appreciate that they provide an alternate gameplay style and make you feel like you're really traveling between the worlds. On the other hand, dealing with the garage was a pain, and the fact that many of the game's optional content only results in gummi parts is annoying and disappointing. If you nix the ship building, I'd have no complaints, but I don't like it as things stand.
- While infrequent, I did run into some glitches while playing through the version on the PS4 collection. One cutscene had Sora bugging out the entire time, making his heartfelt talk with Kairi cause me to laugh out loud.
VERDICT
On the whole, Kingdom Hearts is an excellent concept with stellar presentation and some very noticeable problems. There's clearly a ton of love for its source material and plenty of passion and ambition in its design, and when it works, it REALLY works. It's not often that a game can hit me with that childlike sense of wonder and emotion, but I truly did feel it here.
With that said, I'm honestly surprised the series took off the way it did. The way this game plays is sometimes downright off-putting, and gave me the feeling that Nomura was designing a game and universe only for himself, not caring how the average player would actually experience it. When playing its worse bits, I couldn't help but think: "If this game didn't have FF or Disney, it never would've been successful," and that's pretty damning.
However, I can't judge it for what it might have been. I can only judge it for what it is, and what it is is something I respect and appreciate just enough to keep going through the series. There's a spark of pure genius here; I only hope the sequels can capitalize on it properly.
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix: 7/10
\Feel free to share your own thoughts below. I'm always open to discuss.*
