Review: Kingdom Hearts 2

And here, after a long break, is my review for Kingdom Hearts 2.

KH2 is, unsurprisingly, very similar to KH1. The main character is (usually) the same, the supporting characters are the same, the gameplay is quite similar. The story is fairly similar as well, as least in terms of traveling from one disney world to another in order to defeat the heartless (or nobodies now, occasionally).

However, KH2 is, by and large, much more polished than the first game. First, and most obviously, the Gummi Ship levels - transition levels between larger disney worlds - are leaps and bounds above the gummi ship levels in KH1. They are no longer all drug-trip themed, the enemies you face are diverse, the gummi ship builder is more helpful and intuitive, and the rewards for doing the levels are much more... rewarding. The levels themselves are all very pretty, and very fast-paced - as it should be with a space-shooter, at least usually. All in all, the whole gummi ship system was revamped, and it shows. It's very, very fun in ways that the original wasn't - it now feels like something that design and testing time went into, and they didn't just shove it onto the main game to have something different in the main game - it is now fun, and not just different.

There are many changes within the main game as well. The combat is still largely the same (mash attack until the bad guy dies), but it has several new and shiny features. First among them is probably the "reaction command" system. Basically, every now and then, a "reaction command" will pop up - the game gives you an interesting combat option if you press triangle. These vary greatly, as anything from 'dodge' to 'grab the axe he dropped and smack him with it.' They do add depth to the system, but they can be ignored most of the time - they do make life easier for you if you do use them, though. I'm not in love with the system, though - it feels kind of limited, like they could've done some of these commands without sticking them onto a whole seperate system.

Secondarily, the magic system has been revamped. All spells other than cure cost a fixed amount of mana, and cure immediately drains all of your mana. Once your mana bar is empty, it automatically refills over a period of time. The end result of this is the opposite of what is the case in KH1 - there, every spell you cast that wasn't cure was largely a waste of mana. Here, spamming other spells is encouraged, because cure, while still the most useful spell in your arsenal, does not have a fixed cost, but simply drains all your mana. Thus, it doesn't matter how much mana you have left when you do finally cast it. It's quite a good system, I think - far better than KH1's system, anyway. The best spell is no longer the only spell you should ever cast.

A few more improvements have been made to the gameplay - one major one is the idea of forms. You can combine Sora with one or both of your party members in order gain a temporary power boost. It's quite nifty, actually - the forms are very fun, and a good addition to a varying arsenal of means of killing your enemies. It's like Star Wars: Force Unleashed - having a vast number of ways to kill your enemies makes random encounters much more interesting.

Navigating the worlds themselves is also much easier - they're much more linear, and a useful minimap has been added. Additionally, whenever you go into a zone you've never been to yet, the name displays as ????, making it easy to tell when you're walking in circles.

Additionally, the villains of KH2 are much more interesting. Organization XIII is group of sentient nobodies, each with his or her own elemental theme, bent on universal domination and generally getting in Sora's way. They are far more interesting than Riku and Ansem were in KH1, and far more personally involved in the plot.

That said, it's not all good - while there is much less getting lost in KH2, there's really not much to explore, and I do think that the various worlds do lose something for their linearity. A compromise between the two systems would probably be ideal - though I do think that KH2's system is still overall an improvement.

The actual meta-story in KH2 is also less comprehensible than that of KH1. It's not completely opaque, but certain parts could certainly stand to be clarified. Another issue is the sheer volume of story that happens in the last world - at least to me, something like 50% of the meta-plot happens in the last 3 hours of the game. The sheer volume of plot that is thrown at you, combined with the general confusion in regards to the plot itself means that while the final fight (very epic and very fun) is entertaining, just what Xemnas's (the leader of Organization XIII, and the big bad) ultimate goals were (other than generally taking over the universe) was fairly unclear.

But overall, I think that KH2 is a big step up for KH1. A great game, and if you like games in the genre, I think you should try it out.


Things to learn specifically from KH2:

Put love into parts of sequels that need it. By learning from your mistakes, you can really put polish onto a sequel and make it fantastic. The problem is that sometimes people feel the need to change things simply for change's sake in sequels - and while it's true, a sequel that changes nothing isn't a great idea, changing things that didn't work in one game and adding things onto the things that did work is the way to do it. The way to do it is to examine the previous game (and other games in the same genre, for that matter), see what it did wrong and fix it, see what it did right and put some extra oomph into those areas. I know this sounds obvious, but too many game developers, when they make a sequel, either fail to change something that didn't work in a previous game (and it therefore continues to not work in this game), or change something that did work just fine in a previous game, taking one of the great strengths of the previous game and making it weaker. One example (though admittedly, not a modern one) of the latter is Actraiser to Actraiser 2. Actraiser was a game that had elements of both platforming and sim-city in it. Both were fairly fun, and they combined into an interesting game. Actraiser 2 cut out the sim-city aspect, and it hurt the game by changing something fundamental about it for no adequate reason.

Fun minigames can be great and welcome breaks from the main game. If done well, a recurring minigame should make you look forward to subsequent sections of it for its fun. A minigame should not overwhelm you with its depth, and it CERTAINLY shouldn't force you to dive deeply into it. A minigame has the benifit, compared to the main game, of not having to be very deep, and taking advantage of that to make a quick, fun, but ultimately shallow minigame is not a bad design idea. That said, minigame depth in general can be a tricky issue, and one that I'll look into on a later date. Lufia 2's Ancient Cave is an example of a very deep minigame done well, for example.