Game Review: Kingdom Hearts 2

So this week's blog post will be on Kingdom Hearts 2. I made a blog post about KH two weeks ago, make sure you read it if you don't know anything about Kingdom Hearts. Also, there might be some spoilers in this blog post because I asume that you've played the first game, you have been warned.

Kingdom Hearts 2 picks up a year after Kingdom Hearts, the gap in time is covered by the game Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance. During this time they same group from the last game was busy protecting the many different worlds. I've never played Chain of Memories, so I don't really know what happens in full detail. But from what I've read, they are introduced to new characters and a new set of enemies that also show up in KH2.

Roxas

The game starts out with you playing as a new character that you've never seen before, his name is Roxas. You aren't really given any history about this new character, you just appear in a new place called Twilight Town. Roxas is in his summer vacation and all he wants to do it have fun with this friends. It seems that they are all pretty normal, but then strange things start to happen in the town.

Strange creatures start to apear in the town, but it seems that they are only interested in Roxas. He tries to fight them and then suddenly a Keyblade appears in Roxas' hand. Roxas is able to get rid of them, but he still doesn't know why they are there to begin with. Roxas and his friends decide that they want to do fun things for the summer, like going to beach among other things. So they start to take-up odd jobs to get the money. But there is always someone that stops them from getting to their destination. All we see is a man in a black suit that steals Roxas' belongings when they are about to do important things.

Along the way, Roxas meets another man in a black suit called Axel. Axel seems to know Roxas, but he can't remember anything about Axel. Axel tries to make Roxas remember, but he just can't. Roxas often has dreams of the adventures of Sora, but he doesn't remember ever meeting Sora or why he is having the dreams of someone else.

Finally, Roxas goes to an abandoned mansion that is near Twilight Town and he encounters more Nobodies. He meets a girl that lives inside the mansion named Naminé. Naminé tells Roxas that he is also a Nobody, while he doesn't quite understand what a Nobody is. He finds Sora, Donald and Goofy sleeping at the bottom of the mansion. At this time Roxas merges with Sora and all three of them wakeup from their suspended animation.

Sora

Sora looks way older than when he was in the first game, and to emphasis this they show that his clothes form the first game don't fit him properly anymore. He find the Three Fairies from Sleeping Beauty and they make him a new suit. The new clothes are far better than his original, and not just because they look cooler. The new clothes have new powers.

We are introduced to a new fighting system that include the Drive Gauge. While most of the fighting is the same as in the first game, the Drive Gauge gives Sora the ability to use party members to become stronger for a set period of time. If Sora merges with Donald, Sora gains the ability of using two Keyblades at once and his magical abilities are heighten. If he merges with Goofy, his physical abilities are heighten and he can also use two Keyblades at once. In the magical form, Sora glides thru the air and shoots out magical bursts from the tips of the Keyblades. When he is in the other form, he deals more damage from the strikes that he lands on his enemies. Eventually you are able to unlock a stronger combination that allows you yo use FOUR Keyblades at once.

The Drive Gauge can also let you summon someone from the Disney worlds just like in the last game. Just that this time around, they are a little more helpful than they were last time. This time the summoned partner fights along side you and is able to do independent attacks or is able to tagteam with Sora to land more powerful attacks.

Kairi

Sora isn't the only one that grew up, we are also introduced to Kairi and she looks WAY different than in the last game. At first she can't remember Sora, so she decides to go in a journey of her own to find Sora.

Riku

Riku also did some growing up of his own. I can't really talk about him, because it would reveal the ending fo the game. 

The new enemies of the game are the people from a group called Organization XIII. This is a very mysterious group, you don't really know that much about it until much later in the game. 

I like that picture because it shows who they are, but it doesn't give away a key part of the story. If you count them, they are only 12 so one person is missing from the group shot. You find out who that last person is later on, but in the meantime you'll have wait and see.

I like this game way more than the original, because I feel that the story is more complicated and maybe not as childish as the first. We see that they characters have grownup, and while they are not adults yet, they certainly behave a little more mature than in the first game. You can see this the most in Riku (once you actually meet him) and how he has changed into a more serious character.

The game engine is mostly the same as in the last game, so this means that players don't have to learn a whole new system so they are able to just start playing with out the need for many tutorials. But they also have new things added that it doesn't feel like the old game allover again. The characters seem much more developed in this game, maybe because we start to see that this game is more complicated filled with twists and turns.

Several of the Disney and Final Fantasy characters make a comeback as well as some new ones. For example, Cloud, Sephiroth, and Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 appear this game as again, but they now have the clothes that they wore in the movie Final Fantasy Advent Children.

Utada Hikaru makes a comeback as the singer for KH2's theme song. Like I mentioned in the first post, I absolutely love her and I'm glad that she was able to do it. I just hope that they stick with her for all the games that are still to come for this series.

Here is the a link to the theme song in English, but I personally prefer the one in Japanese.

This one is in Japanese, but it's the ending to the game. So don't watch it unless you want to know the ending. Then again, the text is in Japanese so unless you know how to read it you probably won't know what's going on. It's up to you.

That is all I have to say for Kingdom Hearts 2. I know that it might look like a little kids game, but it's actually a really good series. I won't be writing a blog on any more KH games, unless I get my hands on Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep for the PSP, but chances of that happening are really low. Thanks for reading.