Kingdom Hearts

A completely new idea for SquareSoft as they try putting their game creating skills to the limits. Jam packed with Disney characters and Disney worlds mixed with some of the most famous SquareSoft stars from the Final Fantasy series comes a PS2 exclusive RPG title, with the most stunning storyline and intense gameplay, polished up with some nice cartoony 3D animations, Kingdom Hearts is the next best thing from Final Fantasy X and is a great reason to get a PS2. When I first heard of it I thought it was just another crazy Disney idea for children and so then I completely ignored it until my cousin showed it off to me with his PS2 and now, it's a beauty!

To my opinion this game has got the best storyline since Final Fantasy VII & VIII days. The graphics and FMV's are soo sweet that it makes you wanna wet yourself!

But is this just another lame Disney title with Mickey Mouse and his friends on a gay adventure or is this something that needed a bit of Square to spark it up and give the whole story some balls, well here it goes!

You're a 14 year old boy named "Sora" and you live on an island known as "Destiny Island". After a kewl FMV you begin in a dark gothic like room with a picture of one of many Disney princesses on the floor. Here is where you will learn your basic in-game and fighting techniques. The battle system is completely different to the Final Fantasy series, in this all new Square-based adventure there are no turn based battles. It's pretty much a level gaining Zelda for PS2 because of the type of battles and how you gain EXP for the amount of enemy's killed. After you've learned the basics you will eventually have a choice of your strength's and weakness by choosing between three main items the Staff, Sword and the Sheild.

What ever item you choose first, thats gonna be your strength and weakness throughout the game. What ever item you choose 2nd that is what you'll be average at and what ever item you discard from the lot is the one that your character will not be as good with. The Sword's main purpose is attack while the Sheild is Defence and the Staff is Magic and Spells so what ever one you choose first will effect the abilities you learn throughout the game also your character's statistics. You also get to fight some pretty phat enemy's later on through the game. Once you've gone through the basic starting you begin on the island with cool scenary and a few characters that you may have seen before on other SquareSoft games. So from here on your Destiny begins with two of your closest friends Riku and Kairi.

Riku and Sora have been best friends ever since they were little and they both like competting for Kairi. Kairi is the only person who's been off the island and is the only person on the island from a different place, because of her you's decide to leave the island one day and to explore the many worlds out there. Kairi and Sora have been really close to each other for many years and it sounds like they're in love with each other only that Destiny stops them and new friendships begin and ah... Sora is a little pussy at times.

The night before you and your friends are about to leave the island then a big storm comes and the main bad guys the heartless come to attack your world during the night you end up fighting a massive boss and you end up getting the "Keyblade" the main weapon and the centre of the game. After all the chaos and fighting on the island a big black ball sucks everything up and the main story begins, you meet up with some of disneys all time stars Donald and Goofie, Throughout the game these two goons are your companions because when everything got sucked up into the black ball Riku and Kairi went to different worlds so now you go on the quest to find your friends and defeat the deadly Heartless and evil disney characters such as Hades from Hercules and Captain Hook from the Adventures Of Peter Pan.

Throughout your journey you will encounter harder enemy's and bosses, aswell as a few allies. It is the same as Final Fantasy but the combat mode is different. The graphics are the most stunning thing about this game and it really shows what the PS2 could do! The FMV's are truly clear and look realistic like when your looking at the ocean it looks exactly like your looking at the real thing! There are a few problems with the camera views but that's what you should expect from almost any RPG/Adventure game. So to sum it up I think anyone out there who has a PS2 and are into their RPG's should definitely get their hands on this game now!

"This game has got the best storyline since Final Fantasy VII & VIII days"

9.0 Excellent