Post by Lezard on Jun 29, 2008 2:22:39 GMT -5
First of all, I’d like to apologize for having to change the Weekly Review to every other week, but I do not believe I’ll be able to keep it up constantly if I do one every week, as well as me trying to figure a good system for all this stuff with the Reviews, PSN updates, Nintendo Channel Updates, Weekly Game Releases, etc.
Now that I have said that, allow me to begin my 2nd GF (Gamer’s Fortress) Review!
“A Key opens Doors”
Well, it does doesn’t it? Whenever you come across a locked door, whether it’s in real life, in a video game, or in a movie, the first thought on your mind is to figure out what kind of Key you are going to need to open it and where to find such a Key.
Keys are the solution to everything, whether they be an actual Physical Key to go into a Keyhole or a Legend on a Map to allow a person viewing the map to be able to see what certain things are. The answer to all of life’s answers. The answer to the Universe itself. All of it consists in some kind of Key. This idea is put into a game produced by Square Soft (Now known as Square Enix) titled Kingdom Hearts. It not only expands the idea of Keys within the opening of doors, but also in Battle (Quite Literally) Here’s Review Number 2! Kingdom Hearts, released for the Playstation 2!
Section 1 – Graphics/Visuals
To start this review off, we’ll cover the visuals of the game. The game begins with an absolutely beautiful CGI sequence that shows Sora, the main character on his island, and in a number of other places, and eventually switches over to the main Kingdom Hearts Engine to get the game started as Sora falls into the “Training Area” of the game.
The main engine is nothing compared to the CGI Intro, but still is a great Graphics Engine. There are no blocky figures at any point in the game. The Engine is very much perfect, aside from some very minor details, such as some character’s eyes being flat on their face rather than Three-Dimensional when shown an angle from the side.
Other parts of the Graphics Engine are wonderful to view. The Character Renders are nearly perfect in every way as well as in every possible angle as you can see through the Journal of the game where you can view and turn each Character Model of Characters you’ve run into during your adventures. They look very Anime-Ish, but that doesn’t stop them from being perfect. There’s no blockish parts. They are all very smooth and detailed to the maximum. .
The same goes for the visuals of effects during battle and cutscenes, such as when you are using Magic, Summons, or just the visuals that appear when you block against an attack, get hit by an enemy, or hit an enemy with one of your Key Chains (Keyblade Weapons) When it is supposed to give off some sort of “Radiance” or Light, it is shown pretty well. There is not enough time for you to look and see if it lights up the ground below you, so no one can be sure if it’s 100% perfect, but that kind of perfection is not what really matters. You can’t tell about it anyways. So there’s not really much to complain about here
Section II – Story
Okay, so you’re basically expecting this section to be something along the lines of “Role Playing Game…Blah Blah Random Normal People come together and Save the World from Evil Dude Blah Blah Blah Same with all RPG’s” but this game may surprise you. True, the Final Battle is to “Save the World” and the main character may seem like a normal person at first but it may not be as Generic as you may think. Not all is as it seems and Assumption can be a very bad thing at times and could end up causing you not to be able to experience something you’d really end up enjoying.
The story starts out with these Normal people on this Normal island, whom want nothing more than to leave and visit other Worlds rather than sitting on their island all their lives. They want action, and that’s exactly what they get. Two of them disappear when a Dark Cloud covers the island and Shadowy Creatures appear all over the place.
The one that is remaining suddenly has an enormous Key in his hand, which seems to be able to fend off the mysterious Shadows. He later gets transported to another World, meets up with two “Royal Guards” from yet another World who were to find the wielder of this Key that he had gotten ahold of, and they set out to well…Save the World, or I should say “Worlds” The three of them travel from World to World to seal the openings between them to keep the Shadows from infiltrating and taking them over, little do they know there is something much, much bigger going on.
The thing that makes this RPG unique are what these Worlds are. Each of these Worlds aside from the first initial World are all Disney Movies. You are given the opportunity to explore the worlds of Movies such as Peter Pan, Aladdin, Hercules, and many, many others. Seeing all of these characters re-created and interacting with you and your party (Some of them joining your Battle Party) is a sight to see. Re-uniting yourself with the likes of Peter Pan, Beast, Genie, Ariel, and the others is very magnificent and a real treat, no matter your age.
Section III – Controls/Gameplay
Alright, let’s check out the Contol Layout:
Analog Stick (Left) – Move Sora
D-Pad – Scroll through Battle Menu
X- Confirm
Circle – Jump
Square – Guard/Dodge Roll
R1 – Lock On/Off
L1 – Switch Target
Start – Pause
Select – First Person Mode
It’s fairly easy to get a grasp on, for the most part. The part that will most likely give you a lot of trouble will be using the D-pad to scroll through the Battle Menu. A lot of people would expect the R or L buttons to scroll through the Battle Commands, such as Magic, Attack, Item, etc, but in this case, it’s the D-Pad so that the R/L buttons can be used for Locking onto and Switching Targets. Overall, it’s an easy Layout to get used to quickly.
Now, onto Gameplay itself. Throughout the entire game, you will be controlling Sora, running around the Worlds, jumping onto platforms, opening Chests with your Keyblade, Opening Doors, and of course…Fighting. Aside from Fighting, it is simple to get around. You may have to scroll through the Battle menu to talk to a person, Open a Chest or Door, but it should not be too difficult to grasp if you take a good look at your surroundings at all times and be aware of things that don’t look like they belong.
As for Fighting, all I can say is this. Button Mashing, Button Mashing, Button Mashing. True, when someone hears the term “Button Mashing” they will most likely have a negative thought from the Reviewer. I don’t believe Button Mashing is all that bad of thing, really. Sure it takes the Wider Variety out of Gameplay, but it makes it nice and easy, and if the Gameplay is fun, then who cares if you have to Button Mash a little bit?
Since this is an Action RPG, you will be running around the battlefield freely once some enemies appear to attack you. When attacking with your keyblade, you will pretty much just be spamming the X button, while making the occasional trip to the D-pad to select Magic to use, or a trip to the Square button to perform a Guard or Dodge Roll to avoid getting damaged by attacks, but…the most you will be doing will be Spamming the X Button, with no seeming end. It may sound kind of dull to just Spam the X Button, but it does turn out to be quite the fun Battle Mode. You will be able to equip Abilities that you gain in your journey and that will be usable to make your strategies in battle vary. You’ll still be spamming the X Button, but Sora’s actions will be dramatically different.
Section IV - Music/Sound
The soundtrack to this game is very unique all in itself. It brings back memories with some remixes of some old Disney tunes, such as This is Halloween and Under the Sea as well as remixing an old tune that many Square fans will remember if you manage to find the final Hidden Boss of the Hercules World, Olympus Coliseum (Platinum Match) Aside from the various remixes, it has made a lot of good tunes of it’s own.
Kingdom Hearts has created a reputation for itself for making a unique kind of Game Music. The Battle Music is Bright, catchy, but at the same time can be very Dark and very intense. It’s got just enough of this and that to make it very unique and recognizable. You will not be able to forget some of the tunes you hear within this game and you will recall them upon hearing them later on after you’ve long since beaten the game.
Section V – Overall
Alright, Kingdom Hearts is a great, bright Action RPG that Square fans can adore as well as Disney fans to see some familiar faces coming back to them all bunched up in a big epic storyline. The visuals are fantastic, aside from the slight “Eye” problems, Gameplay is very intense and fun, though persistent of being most the same thing over again, fixable with certain abilities to equip, and the soundtrack will put a permanent record in your mind of it’s unforgettable style of music.
MY RATING: 9.5/10
Well, as I’m not sure what exactly I want to do for my next review, I will leave you in suspense and I will let you know a hint by next Sunday if I can. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the review!
Now that I have said that, allow me to begin my 2nd GF (Gamer’s Fortress) Review!
“A Key opens Doors”
Well, it does doesn’t it? Whenever you come across a locked door, whether it’s in real life, in a video game, or in a movie, the first thought on your mind is to figure out what kind of Key you are going to need to open it and where to find such a Key.
Keys are the solution to everything, whether they be an actual Physical Key to go into a Keyhole or a Legend on a Map to allow a person viewing the map to be able to see what certain things are. The answer to all of life’s answers. The answer to the Universe itself. All of it consists in some kind of Key. This idea is put into a game produced by Square Soft (Now known as Square Enix) titled Kingdom Hearts. It not only expands the idea of Keys within the opening of doors, but also in Battle (Quite Literally) Here’s Review Number 2! Kingdom Hearts, released for the Playstation 2!
Section 1 – Graphics/Visuals
To start this review off, we’ll cover the visuals of the game. The game begins with an absolutely beautiful CGI sequence that shows Sora, the main character on his island, and in a number of other places, and eventually switches over to the main Kingdom Hearts Engine to get the game started as Sora falls into the “Training Area” of the game.
The main engine is nothing compared to the CGI Intro, but still is a great Graphics Engine. There are no blocky figures at any point in the game. The Engine is very much perfect, aside from some very minor details, such as some character’s eyes being flat on their face rather than Three-Dimensional when shown an angle from the side.
Other parts of the Graphics Engine are wonderful to view. The Character Renders are nearly perfect in every way as well as in every possible angle as you can see through the Journal of the game where you can view and turn each Character Model of Characters you’ve run into during your adventures. They look very Anime-Ish, but that doesn’t stop them from being perfect. There’s no blockish parts. They are all very smooth and detailed to the maximum. .
The same goes for the visuals of effects during battle and cutscenes, such as when you are using Magic, Summons, or just the visuals that appear when you block against an attack, get hit by an enemy, or hit an enemy with one of your Key Chains (Keyblade Weapons) When it is supposed to give off some sort of “Radiance” or Light, it is shown pretty well. There is not enough time for you to look and see if it lights up the ground below you, so no one can be sure if it’s 100% perfect, but that kind of perfection is not what really matters. You can’t tell about it anyways. So there’s not really much to complain about here
Section II – Story
Okay, so you’re basically expecting this section to be something along the lines of “Role Playing Game…Blah Blah Random Normal People come together and Save the World from Evil Dude Blah Blah Blah Same with all RPG’s” but this game may surprise you. True, the Final Battle is to “Save the World” and the main character may seem like a normal person at first but it may not be as Generic as you may think. Not all is as it seems and Assumption can be a very bad thing at times and could end up causing you not to be able to experience something you’d really end up enjoying.
The story starts out with these Normal people on this Normal island, whom want nothing more than to leave and visit other Worlds rather than sitting on their island all their lives. They want action, and that’s exactly what they get. Two of them disappear when a Dark Cloud covers the island and Shadowy Creatures appear all over the place.
The one that is remaining suddenly has an enormous Key in his hand, which seems to be able to fend off the mysterious Shadows. He later gets transported to another World, meets up with two “Royal Guards” from yet another World who were to find the wielder of this Key that he had gotten ahold of, and they set out to well…Save the World, or I should say “Worlds” The three of them travel from World to World to seal the openings between them to keep the Shadows from infiltrating and taking them over, little do they know there is something much, much bigger going on.
The thing that makes this RPG unique are what these Worlds are. Each of these Worlds aside from the first initial World are all Disney Movies. You are given the opportunity to explore the worlds of Movies such as Peter Pan, Aladdin, Hercules, and many, many others. Seeing all of these characters re-created and interacting with you and your party (Some of them joining your Battle Party) is a sight to see. Re-uniting yourself with the likes of Peter Pan, Beast, Genie, Ariel, and the others is very magnificent and a real treat, no matter your age.
Section III – Controls/Gameplay
Alright, let’s check out the Contol Layout:
Analog Stick (Left) – Move Sora
D-Pad – Scroll through Battle Menu
X- Confirm
Circle – Jump
Square – Guard/Dodge Roll
R1 – Lock On/Off
L1 – Switch Target
Start – Pause
Select – First Person Mode
It’s fairly easy to get a grasp on, for the most part. The part that will most likely give you a lot of trouble will be using the D-pad to scroll through the Battle Menu. A lot of people would expect the R or L buttons to scroll through the Battle Commands, such as Magic, Attack, Item, etc, but in this case, it’s the D-Pad so that the R/L buttons can be used for Locking onto and Switching Targets. Overall, it’s an easy Layout to get used to quickly.
Now, onto Gameplay itself. Throughout the entire game, you will be controlling Sora, running around the Worlds, jumping onto platforms, opening Chests with your Keyblade, Opening Doors, and of course…Fighting. Aside from Fighting, it is simple to get around. You may have to scroll through the Battle menu to talk to a person, Open a Chest or Door, but it should not be too difficult to grasp if you take a good look at your surroundings at all times and be aware of things that don’t look like they belong.
As for Fighting, all I can say is this. Button Mashing, Button Mashing, Button Mashing. True, when someone hears the term “Button Mashing” they will most likely have a negative thought from the Reviewer. I don’t believe Button Mashing is all that bad of thing, really. Sure it takes the Wider Variety out of Gameplay, but it makes it nice and easy, and if the Gameplay is fun, then who cares if you have to Button Mash a little bit?
Since this is an Action RPG, you will be running around the battlefield freely once some enemies appear to attack you. When attacking with your keyblade, you will pretty much just be spamming the X button, while making the occasional trip to the D-pad to select Magic to use, or a trip to the Square button to perform a Guard or Dodge Roll to avoid getting damaged by attacks, but…the most you will be doing will be Spamming the X Button, with no seeming end. It may sound kind of dull to just Spam the X Button, but it does turn out to be quite the fun Battle Mode. You will be able to equip Abilities that you gain in your journey and that will be usable to make your strategies in battle vary. You’ll still be spamming the X Button, but Sora’s actions will be dramatically different.
Section IV - Music/Sound
The soundtrack to this game is very unique all in itself. It brings back memories with some remixes of some old Disney tunes, such as This is Halloween and Under the Sea as well as remixing an old tune that many Square fans will remember if you manage to find the final Hidden Boss of the Hercules World, Olympus Coliseum (Platinum Match) Aside from the various remixes, it has made a lot of good tunes of it’s own.
Kingdom Hearts has created a reputation for itself for making a unique kind of Game Music. The Battle Music is Bright, catchy, but at the same time can be very Dark and very intense. It’s got just enough of this and that to make it very unique and recognizable. You will not be able to forget some of the tunes you hear within this game and you will recall them upon hearing them later on after you’ve long since beaten the game.
Section V – Overall
Alright, Kingdom Hearts is a great, bright Action RPG that Square fans can adore as well as Disney fans to see some familiar faces coming back to them all bunched up in a big epic storyline. The visuals are fantastic, aside from the slight “Eye” problems, Gameplay is very intense and fun, though persistent of being most the same thing over again, fixable with certain abilities to equip, and the soundtrack will put a permanent record in your mind of it’s unforgettable style of music.
MY RATING: 9.5/10
Well, as I’m not sure what exactly I want to do for my next review, I will leave you in suspense and I will let you know a hint by next Sunday if I can. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the review!