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Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is far from being one of the best entries in the series. It has some good ideas, making exploration a more engaging part of the experience, but its narrative is too sparse and unfulfilling, having nothing new to say about its themes while refusing to advance the overarching story until the last moment. In that sense, Dream Drop Distance is much more akin to Re: Coded than something meaningful like 358/2 Days.
The plot exudes that yawning-inducing stench of a filler. Sora and Riku are summoned before Yen Sid and told they have to pass a test to be granted the title of Keyblade Masters. This “Mark of Mastery” exam is supposed to prepare them [...]
Birth by Sleep, originally released for the PSP, is a great prequel that succeeds in expanding the Kingdom Hearts’ universe and lore, even if it never quite justifies the existence of its three main stories, which encourage the player to basically play the same game three times even though it does not always reward them for the commitment.
The story follows the separated journeys of three friends, starting on the eve of an important exam. It’s night-time and the young Ventus is training with his childhood friends Terra and Aqua, who will need to prove they can become Keyblade Masters the following day. Before each one goes to bed, Aqua gives them pendants that symbolize [...]
—> The following review will comment heavily on the events of 358/2 Days. Beware of spoilers.
Kingdom Hearts 2 is a bigger, bolder sequel that goes all out in everything it does, delivering a more complex story and action-focused combat system. It has its obvious share of faults – at this point, it wouldn’t be Kingdom Hearts without them – but the game still has its heart in the right place: the story it tells, although bizarrely convoluted, remains tragic and moving.
The plot follows Sora’s awakening after the events of Chain of Memories, and his fight against Organization XIII, which is trying to form Kingdom Hearts by collecting hearts released from [...]
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, the 3D remake of the GBA title Chain of Memories, is a strange, disjointed, complex beast. It continues the story of Sora directly from where the first game left off, but with even more bizarre characters and plotlines, while introducing a new combat system that is cumbersome and unbalanced.
The story starts with Sora, Donald, and Goofy chasing Pluto for some news on the whereabouts of Mickey and Riku. Eventually, they end up finding a strange castle called Oblivion, where they start to gradually lose their memories as they explore the place in search of their friends.
Chain of Memories’ narrative continues to explore the same themes [...]
Kingdom Hearts is an ambitious crossover between Disney and Final Fantasy that, ironically, is at its best when it’s not covering either brand, but being its own thing.
The protagonist is a boy named Sora, who lives on an island and dreams of traveling with his friends, Kairi and Riku, to discover new places. One day, they start to build a raft to go sailing, but before they are able to depart, their homeworld is engulfed in shadows and, after a battle against a monster, Sora wakes up in another world. There, he meets Donald and Goofy, who are looking for a key that is supposed to help their king, Mickey Mouse.
The game begins with an uncanny atmosphere. It asks some [...]